Symantec announced a series of updates to its Network Security for the Cloud Generation offering on June 7, providing new capabilities to help protect distributed enterprises.

A core component of Network Security for the Cloud Generation is Symantec's Web Security Service (WSS), which is being integrated with the company's endpoint protection technology. The new SD Cloud Connector component now enables organizations to combine WSS with software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) connectivity to help protect distributed enterprises. Symantec is also bringing web isolation technology to WSS, further improving web protection.

"In the past, users were prevented from accessing malicious and risky sites," Mark Urban, vice president of product strategy and operations at Symantec, told eWEEK. "Now, with web isolation, the advantage is that organizations can safely allow web browsing, including access to unknown or potentially risky sites, such as uncategorized traffic, without the need to block access."

Symantec's web isolation technology comes from the company's acquisition of Fireglass in July 2017. Urban said that since Fireglass was acquired by Symantec, there have been numerous core advancements to the web isolation technology, such as integration with Symantec's Global Intelligence Network.

The web isolation technology now in WSS joins other web capabilities that aim to limit risks. WSS has integrated content analysis, machine learning, antivirus and advanced malware sandboxing to provide threat prevention and information security on file uploads and downloads, Urban said.

Endpoint Protection

Symantec is also integrating its Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) and SEP Mobile technologies with WSS to provide a more comprehensive approach to protecting IT assets. SEP includes application isolation controls for the endpoint as well as deception capabilities that were first announced in October 2017.

Urban emphasized that the WSS/SEP combination is not a bundled offering, but rather is an actual product integration.

"The integration allows the SEP and SEP Mobile agents to be configured to route web traffic to WSS for the enforcement of network security and compliance policies, eliminating the need for a separate WSS agent," he said. "It lowers the deployment cost and simplifies traditional and mobile endpoint device management."

SD-Cloud

With SD-WAN technology, an organization is able to make use of public internet links to create a distributed WAN. Urban explained that Symantec's new SD Cloud Connector works with SD-WAN technology to automatically connect any enterprise branch location to a local WSS data center.

One of the use cases for SD Cloud will be to help secure the use of Microsoft Office 365, he said.

"We have performance accelerators like content peering with Microsoft built into our cloud network, and with the SD Cloud Connector, the customer can also allocate a fixed percentage of their internal network bandwidth for O365 application use," Urban said. "SD Cloud Connector delivers resilient connectivity with security and performance enhancements for WSS."

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eWEEK and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.