News

Forefront Web Protection Services Will End in December

• By Kurt Mackie
• 11/04/2015

Microsoft gave word that the end of the year will see the end of its Forefront Threat Management Gateway Web Protection Services.

The service will stop getting updates on Dec. 31, 2015, Microsoft noted, in a blog post this week. The discontinuation originally was announced back in 2012, when Microsoft explained its plans to end various Forefront enterprise security products.

Forefront Threat Management Gateway Web Protection Services is a subscription-based option for use with Microsoft's Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 product, adding URL filtering and antimalware protections. The Gateway product, like all Forefront products, also will be coming to an end. However, Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 will reach the end of its "extended support" lifecycle on April 14, 2020.

Apparently, Microsoft has no replacement solution for its Forefront Threat Management Gateway Web Protection Services, according to this Microsoft blog post, which shows no current solution for "Secure Web Gateway." However, organizations can use third-party cloud-based solutions instead, according to Microsoft MVP Richard Hicks.

Hicks noted a few years ago that Zscaler's cloud-based solution can be used to add security to Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010. It adds "URL filtering, dynamic Web content control, virus and malicious software scanning, and HTTPS inspection capabilities," he explained in a blog post.

As for the Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 product, substitutes can be had from Bluecoat, Cisco, Juniper and Websense, according to a Microsoft partner document (PDF).