Forefront Security for Office Communication Server Beta Now Available

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Today at the Tech Ed IT Professional Conference, Microsoft announced the availability of the first public beta of Forefront Security for Office Communications Server, the latest addition to the Forefront line of enterprise security products.  Forefront Security for Office Communications Server provides anti-malware scanning, keyword filtering, and file blocking for Office Communications Server 2007, and will be generally available in the second half of 2008.

You can download the beta here.

Forefront Security for Office Communications Server has some nice features, including:

  • Multiple anti-malware scanning engines provide better protection: Microsoft Forefront Security for Office Communications Server provides enhanced protection against IM-based malware by including multiple scanning engines from industry-leading security partners. As tests we published on this blog last year showed, Multiple scanning engines increase the chances that emerging threats will be quickly caught.

  • Keyword filtering and file blocking reduce liability: Microsoft Forefront Security for Office Communications Server helps reduce corporate liability by blocking IM messaging containing inappropriate content, while file and keyword filtering technologies prevent the sharing of out-of-policy files, unauthorized corporate confidential information or offensive language in IM conversations.

  • Integration with Office Communications Server: Forefront Security for Office Communications Server protections are integrated with Microsoft Office Communications Server to provide high performance malware scanning optimized for enterprise instant messaging environments. Forefront Security for Office Communications Server includes automated signature updating, IM notification alerts, and built-in management controls to simplify administration.

  • Integration with multiple server roles: Forefront Security for Office Communications Server integrates with the Access Edge, Director and Front End server roles in Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise Edition, as well as the Office Communications Server Standard Edition Server role.

  • Provides protection for federated connections and public IM users: By integrating with Office Communications Server Access Edge, Forefront Security for Office Communications Server ensures that all external communications - including those to and from external public IM clients or federated networks - are secure.

  • Localization: Forefront Security for Office Communications Server will be localized into eleven languages.