Webpulse usage information for Messaging Gateway
Article ID: 270775
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
You have learned that the Messaging Gateway URL Reputation feature is being deprecated and you would like more information on how to continue to be protected from malicious URLs.
Environment
Release : 10.7.5
Cause
The legacy URL Reputation feature of Messaging Gateway was a DNS based feature that could significantly increase the load on DNS during times of heavy mail traffic, potentially causing degradation of the feature's effectiveness.
Resolution
To decrease reliance and load related to DNS, the Messaging Gateway is moving away from utilizing DNS for URL Reputation. In version Messaging Gateway version 10.7.5 and newer, the URL Reputation feature is being replaced by the integration of the Symantec WebPulse service.
This integration brings some new conditions to your Spam Policies (Spam > Email):
Most of these new conditions are implemented in default policies with default actions, so you may not need to take direct action to take advantage of this new feature:
However, you may want to consider modifying the default actions to better meet the needs of your business, such as adding a "Modify clickable URLS in message" action to disable or replace the offending URL (or one of the other available actions).
The WebPulse URL categorization also allows you to create a rule for customer-specific URL categories, but this rule does not have a default entry so you will need to create it. You will need to allocate the categories for the rule in "Spam" > "Customer-specific URL Category Settings", and then create the rule itself in "Spam" > "Email", utilizing the "If a message contains Customer-specific URL content" condition. The image below is just an example, please create the rule to best fit the needs of your business:
Important Note: The WebPulse feature connects to Broadcom for the evaluation of URLs. You must make allowances for these connections in your network security. The list of domains used for the WebPulse feature can be found in the following document:
Additional Information
The following documents are useful references for WebPulse integration:
Creating a Customized URL Category List
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