Bake-off: Unified Threat Management

eSoft's InstaGate 404e
Reviewers sent a Trojan virus to a server under InstaGate's protection. InstaGate blocked the virus, and the activity was immediately logged under Anti-Virus in Threat Monitor, which identified the Trojan signature file and the client to which it was sent.

The device has system firewall policies already in placedictating rules for IPSEC, PPTP and Web access. These system policies cannot be modified, but an administrator can add his or her own customized firewall policies. Quality of Service policies can be defined. Priority and rate limits can be set.

Setup is easy with the interface. Setup and management are accessed through an SSL connection via a Web browser. Setup time depends on how many SoftPaks have been purchased to install. For testing, reviewers installed the gateway antivirus, intrusion prevention and site-filtering SoftPaks.

Installation ends with the device synchronizing with the SoftPak Director, a platform from which the appliance receives real-time software and signature.

The Bottom Line
First, it's worth mentioning that eSoft's device is tailored more for the SMB space while Sophos' and SonicWall's are more enterprise products. That said, the Instagate 404e has a lot of pep when it comes to detecting and blocking intrusion attempts. SonicWall is our pick for this bake-off because it can detect intrusion attempts and log them in a detailed way. Also the ability to see your data against what SonicWall is seeing in the wild is invaluable.