BANGALORE,INDIA:McAfee Inc. today announced the release of its next generation firewall, McAfee Firewall Enterprise version 8.

With this new release, McAfee has expanded existing application protection delivered by its enterprise firewall appliance product line, giving security administrators visibility, recognition and policy enforcement  of over thousands of applications that are invisible to conventional firewall technology,a release said.

By integrating with McAfee’s real-time, cloud-based global threat intelligence, McAfee Firewall Enterprise and McAfee Firewall Enterprise Profiler provide increased visibility into external and internal threats and vulnerabilities, protecting customers more efficiently and reducing both compliance and operational costs.  With 350 threat researchers and one hundred million data collection sensors in operation, McAfee’s global footprint is unmatched in the network security market.  The products leverage McAfee’s large install base and unique threat intelligence capabilities, providing customers with the most insightful and comprehensive view of the evolving threat landscape available. Application intelligence from McAfee Labs will provide comprehensive threat protection for existing as well as newly developed network applications.

The release adds that today’s Web 2.0 applications expose organizations to new threats and to policy and compliance issues related to application detection and control.  Based on high-performance application security, McAfee Firewall Enterprise appliances combine application identification and user awareness to provide market-leading network enforcement that map easily to corporate security policies. The pioneering user-based activity monitoring and visualization technology provides a level of clarity not possible with other network security products.

“Mobile users, modern web-based applications and ever more sophisticated cyber criminals have combined with the economic environment to create the perfect storm. By expanding application protection capabilities, backed by the researchers at McAfee Labs, McAfee provides a new value proposition to customers,” said Charles Kolodgy, research vice president, IDC Security Products. “McAfee Firewall Enterprise provides comprehensive application threat and malware blocking, as well as industry-leading URL filtering and reputation-based blocking capabilities. With this new release, McAfee is expanding the level of application protection customers can receive from their firewall.”