Panda GateDefender Integra SB

Panda's latest UTM (unified threat management) appliance focuses on small businesses, with an all-in-one security package that delivers an SPI firewall and teams it up with a plethora of features, including Panda's antivirus measures, antispam, web content filtering, IPS, antimalware and more.

You have two deployment options, and if you want the firewall can choose the routing mode. We didn't need this, so we opted for the transparent mode and simply popped the Integra between our LAN and existing firewall, where it passed all traffic through without any need to reconfigure our network clients.

The browser interface opens with a status screen showing network connections, the latest updates and active modules. Details on inbound and outbound traffic are provided along with lists of files scanned and viruses, spam and spyware caught for each protocol. Virus signatures are downloaded automatically and you can also run on-demand updates.

To use the Integra's policy-based security you need to set up network definitions that include IP addresses, LDAP servers, users and domains. Then you can create policies that enforce AUPs and web access restrictions.

Settings and profiles define how security modules behave and who or what it's applied to. You can use policies for antimalware, content filters, antispam and web filtering, but not IM and P2P, which is applied globally. The IM and P2P controls only allow you to pick from a list of common apps and either allow them or block them.

CloudMark handles antispam measures and delivered good results during testing. Using live email accounts, we set the appliance to tag and pass identified spam and suspect messages. Each Outlook client had rules to place tagged messages in separate folders, and after one week it returned a perfect score, with zero false positives.

URL filtering is looked after by Cobion, which offers 21 main URL categories and over 60 sub-categories. Performance wasn't as good as Panda's antispam module. To test it we blocked the main gaming and gambling category and Googled for online bingo sites, where we were allowed access to 11 of the 40 sites visited.

Panda's antivirus scanner can be applied to selected protocols where it will either disinfect or delete viruses. As the Integra has a hard disk you can send infected emails that can't be cleaned to a quarantine area.

If the Integra spots inbound and outbound email that's been generated by viral activity it will delete them. Protocols selected for virus scanning will also be checked for spyware and you can redirect or delete phishing messages, or insert a warning message into them.

For a small business UTM appliance, the Integra SB offers a well priced package that will cover most users' needs. Web content filtering could be better but the appliance is easy to deploy and its antispam abilities can't be faulted.

Price when reviewed: £850 (£978 inc VAT)