VirtualConnect Technologies, an Internet security provider, yesterday announced that it has partnered with ScanSafe Inc., a managed web security company, to offer its customers ScanSafe's Web Filtering, Spyware Screening, Web Virus and IM Control solutions.

According to the company, the solutions require no hardware, maintenance or upfront capital costs and deliver real-time protection from threats. ScanSafe services increase productivity, reduce bandwidth utilization and offer a low total cost of ownership than hardware or software solutions. The service can be rapidly deployed and is delivered through scalable, high-performance, Internet-level processing centers, ensuring that customers can perform URL filtering and malware scanning in real-time, so users experience no latency. In addition, ScanSafe provides businesses with easy-to-use tools to create, enforce and monitor Web and IM use policy.

ScanSafe says that the threat protection is its patent-pending Outbreak Intelligence proactive heuristics technology, which provides protection from inbound and outbound threats, including zero-hour threats that appear before a signature is available. This is coupled with third party anti-virus engines providing multi-layered protection against malware and unwanted content.

"Securing the Web and IM from viruses, spyware, adware and unwanted content is a critical security concern for all businesses," said David Setzer, President, VirtualConnect, "However, the options available to small and medium-sized organizations to take control of this crucial aspect of their network security have been limited. By partnering with ScanSafe, the company that pioneered managed Web security, we're now able to provide our SMB customers with the best available Web Security and IM control in a managed service that's easy to deploy and affordable."

"Web and IM threats are a significant pain point for businesses worldwide," said Roy Tuvey, President, ScanSafe. "As a managed service, ScanSafe solutions remove this pain point by eliminating malware and unwanted content before it reaches the corporate network, freeing internal IT resources to focus on projects more directly related to a business core competency."