Product Reviews

While the majority of security appliances have a Linux kernel at their core, MailFrontier's Gateway Appliance m1000 employs Windows Server 2003. The reason is simple: MailFrontier's key product is its server software, which uses this OS as its platform. The Gateway Appliance m1000 comes with all components preinstalled, aiming to offer a plug-and-go network security solution.

Features on offer are extensive. You get MailFrontier's anti-spam measures, plus protection against DoS and directory harvest attacks. Policy-based management is used throughout and optional anti-virus scanning is also available using engines from Kaspersky or McAfee. The appliance also introduces MailFrontier's unique anti-fraud capabilities. These watch out for phishing attacks attempting to gather users' personal or corporate information with fraudulent emails.

The base system comes with the anti-spam, anti-phishing and policy-management modules already activated, and you can purchase optional anti-virus modules, which include subscriptions for automatic downloads of engine and signature updates. Installation depends on the mode of operation, as the appliance is able to function in an all-in-one mode where it handles all mail, scanning and quarantining. Alternatively, you can use a split architecture, where one appliance acts as a control centre and others perform scanning duties.

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all-in-one mode, we found installation easy. The m1000 can be accessed either by a remote desktop connection for full server configuration or a web browser link, which takes you directly to the MailFrontier administrative interface. Integration with LDAP is a key feature of MailFrontier, as this allows different security policies to be applied on a per-user or group basis. LDAP authentication also lets users have different rights, so you could easily designate some as administrators with full access to the appliance, others as managers allowing them to see reports, and some as group administrators who can look after multiple users.

The web interface is tidy and easy to navigate. It provides status information from a dashboard of graphs showing all activity along with the top recipients of spam. Cheekily, you even get an ROI calculator to show how much money MailFrontier is saving your company.

When MailFrontier scans a dodgy message, it will only ever classify it as a single threat. The highest priority is placed on directory harvest attacks followed by a viral infection, with policy-based actions coming next. Fraud is next on the list and spam brings up the rear.

The appliance battles spam with various techniques. These include user-defined blacklists and those provided by MailFrontier, by domain and mailing lists. You can select any number of these and apply them to different users and groups, as well as choose from five settings that determine the ferocity of the checks. Viruses get the same tough treatment. In all cases, you have plenty of choice on how suspect messages are handled. Policies are a strong feature too: you can use filters on message content and attachment type, and have multiple policies applied to different users, plus inbound and outbound traffic.

We were impressed with the m1000. It's effective against spam straight out of the box, and it compares well on price with many other enterprise-level options.