Equiinet SentryPilot

Aimed primarily at larger businesses, this latest addition to Equiinet's range of security appliances focuses on protecting networks against email spam and viruses. The hardware isn't particularly exciting, as the appliance is built around an elderly MSI motherboard and a 1.2GHz Celeron processor, although you do get 1GB of PC133 memory.

Installation is a swift affair. You simply point a web browser at the unit to access its tidy browser interface. The SentryPilot can operate in a range of network scenarios. It may be configured to use a LAN or modem-based Internet connection and, for the latter, a quick-start wizard helps create a dial-up profile. We set up the SentryPilot with a LAN connection to our main proxy server for Internet access and then configured all internal test clients to use the appliance as their proxy. Versatility is the name of the game, as the SentryPilot also has a standard parallel port and is able to function as a basic print server.

You can force users to log on to the SentryPilot and place them in groups that determine what email and web access privileges they have. Time bands determine when these are active and you can apply customised white or blacklists. Content filtering comes courtesy of N2H2, and during blacklist creation you can select from around 40 content categories that you want blocked.

Email virus scanning doesn't get any better, as this is handled by Sophos - a Labs Winner in our last corporate anti-virus round-up (see issue 100, p192). Suspect messages may be discarded, returned or diverted and new signatures are downloaded automatically every hour. A spam-assessment feature scores each message on its spam qualities and can divert or discard those deemed a nuisance. This score is also placed in the message header and may be used locally by email clients with their own rule sets. The appliance also integrates with the SpamCop blacklist service, although you're expected to make a donation to use this.

Author: Dave Mitchell