Must have if you have Symantec Proxy Server
Rating: 8 out of 10
IncentivizedUse Cases and Deployment Scope
We are one of the first users of Symantec Content and Malware Analysis in the region. We've been using the solution since the Bluecoat. This service/product line in fact was a two product Content Analysis (CAS) and Malware Analysis (MAS). Than it has been merged in a single service. It's the part of Bluecoat/Symantec services ecosystem. Main usage is the integration with the proxy servers. I have made several deployments in multiple regions. It works
smoothly with proxy servers. It's communicating through the ICAP. High availability and redundancy is set through proxy settings by selecting multiple ICAP servers tab. I don't like to use the load balancer for HA in the setup as the load balancers have negative performance effect on file transmission. File types and conditions are set on the proxy servers than CAS makes the static and heuristics analysis. MAS is used sandboxing and APT. It's very effective in finding out the 0 days and prevents the malwares. Central management is done through the CMS in which enforces the common security standards throughout the organizations. It has a built-in url detection engine using the same service with the bluecoat family. Symantec URL categorization service is marvelous. Using the Symantec Endpoint on the clients completes the ecosystem with full TX sharing.
Pros
- 0 day detection and prevenion
- Flawless integration with Symantec Ecosystem
- Integration with other vendors supporting ICAP is also working
- Custom and golden image support
- High performance on busy environments
- Many threats are already detected and prevented through the CAS, it improves the performance drastically.
- Already builtin virustotal integration
- Reference to updates and updates information where I can see the product/service detecting which APTs
- Multiple Antivirus engines which you can select/subscribe
- Manual submission of file is supported through the gui
- URL manual submission is also supported
Cons
- API support is lacking
- Symantec/Broadcom security vision in general
- Symantec support is not perfect
- You can't run the product as a standalone network device
- No packet capture capabiliy or work in span mode
- You need a dedicated hardware to make it run
- You need to buy
Likelihood to Recommend
If you have Symantec based environment including Symantec proxy and endpoints, Content and Malware Analysis is the obvious choice. You can't run the CAS-MAS as a standalone deployment, you need proxies or ICAP supported devices capable to send the files/URLS. It's not a network security device where you can flow/direct the traffic to C/MAS. It does not have UBA, NBA or NTR features, it is just working for analyzing files as expected.