WatchGuard Launches New Service to Resolve Security Gap

WatchGuard Technologies, a Seattle-based network security company, has announced the release of DNSWatchGO, a new cloud-based security service that automatically detects and blocks phishing attacks, command and control callbacks and data exfiltration attempts against users both inside and outside the network perimeter.

Available as a stand-alone solution and through Passport, the company’s security services bundle, the new service offers DNS-level protection and content filtering as well as automated end-user security awareness and education features that are designed to help prevent future security incidents.

“As the workforce becomes increasingly mobile, businesses need to be able to protect against the increasing attacks that take place outside of their core network. They need to be able to monitor off-network traffic, filter access to malicious and unwanted content, and protect users even when they’re not using a VPN,” said Andrew Young, SVP of product management at WatchGuard. “DNSWatchGO was built to deliver these capabilities and extend our industry-leading layered protections to secure remote workers beyond the network perimeter, while also educating and training them on security best practices in the process.”

The solution extends the DNS-level protection and content filtering provided by WatchGuard’s existing DNSWatch service to monitor and correlate outbound DNS requests from off-network users against an aggregated list of malicious domains. All endpoint attempts to connect with known malicious infrastructure are blocked, users are redirected and the traffic is routed to DNSWatch servers for further investigation and malware removal.

The service also provides automated phishing protection and education to end-users users in real-time. When employees click on an email or link that the platform has identified as a phishing attempt, they are immediately redirected to resources that provide education about phishing attacks and best practices for prevention. Additionally, the solution provides clear analyses for each blocked attack, which are delivered to IT administrators and MSPs for context and internal action.

Channel Impact^®
The service brings off-network content filtering to user-based security stacks. This combined with the education component, can be a useful supplement to security postures.