Microsoft Forefront is a discontinued family of line-of-business security software by

Microsoft Corporation Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

. Microsoft Forefront products are designed to help protect

computer network A computer network is a collection of communicating computers and other devices, such as printers and smart phones. In order to communicate, the computers and devices must be connected by wired media like copper cables, optical fibers, or b ...

network servers A server is a computer that provides information to other computers called " clients" on a computer network. This architecture is called the client–server model. Servers can provide various functionalities, often called "services", such as sh ...

(such as

Microsoft Exchange Server Microsoft Exchange Server is a mail server and calendaring server developed by Microsoft. It runs exclusively on Windows Server operating systems. The first version was called Exchange Server 4.0, to position it as the successor to the relat ...

and

Microsoft SharePoint Server SharePoint is a collection of enterprise content management and knowledge management tools developed by Microsoft. Launched in 2001, it was initially bundled with Windows Server as Windows SharePoint Server, then renamed to Microsoft Office Sh ...

) and individual devices. As of 2015, the only actively developed Forefront product is

Forefront Identity Manager Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager (FIM) is a state-based identity management software product, designed to manage users' digital identities, credentials, and groupings throughout the lifecycle of their membership in an enterprise computer syste ...

Components

Forefront includes the following products: * Identity Manager: State-based identity management software product, designed to manage users' digital identities, credentials and groupings throughout the lifecycle of their membership of an enterprise computer system

Rebranded

* System Center Endpoint Protection: A business

antivirus software Antivirus software (abbreviated to AV software), also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware. Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the name ...

product that can be controlled over the network, formerly known as ''Forefront Endpoint Protection'', ''Forefront Client Security'' and ''Client Protection''. *

Exchange Online Protection Exchange Online Protection (EOP, formerly Forefront Online Protection for Exchange or FOPE) is a hosted e-mail security service, owned by Microsoft, that filters spam and removes computer viruses from e-mail messages. The service does not require ...

: A

software as a service Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike o ...

version of ''Forefront Protect for Exchange Server'': Instead of installing a security program on the server, the customer re-routes its email traffic to the Microsoft online service before receiving them.

Discontinued

* Threat Management Gateway: Discontinued server product that provides three functions:

Routing Routing is the process of selecting a path for traffic in a Network theory, network or between or across multiple networks. Broadly, routing is performed in many types of networks, including circuit-switched networks, such as the public switched ...

firewall Firewall may refer to: * Firewall (computing), a technological barrier designed to prevent unauthorized or unwanted communications between computer networks or hosts * Firewall (construction), a barrier inside a building, designed to limit the spre ...

and

web cache A web cache (or HTTP cache) is a system for optimizing the World Wide Web. It is implemented both client-side and server-side. The caching of multimedia and other files can result in less overall delay when web browser, browsing the Web. Parts o ...

. Formerly called ''Internet Security and Acceleration Server'' or ''ISA Server''. * Unified Access Gateway: Discontinued server product that protects network assets by

encrypting In cryptography, encryption (more specifically, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plain ...

all inbound access request from authorized users. Supports

Virtual Private Network Virtual private network (VPN) is a network architecture for virtually extending a private network (i.e. any computer network which is not the public Internet) across one or multiple other networks which are either untrusted (as they are not con ...

s (VPN) and

DirectAccess DirectAccess, also known as Unified Remote Access, is a VPN technology that provides intranet connectivity to client computers when they are connected to the Internet. Unlike many traditional VPN connections, which must be initiated and terminated ...

. Formerly called ''Intelligent Application Gateway''. * Server Management Console: Discontinued web-based application that enables management of multiple instances of Protection for Exchange, Protection for SharePoint and Microsoft Antigen from a single interface. * Protection for Exchange: A discontinued software product that detects viruses, spyware, and spam by integrating multiple scanning engines from security partners in a single solution to protect

Exchange Exchange or exchanged may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Exchange (film), or ''Deep Trap'', 2015 South Korean psychological thriller * Exchanged (film), 2019 Peruvian fantasy comedy * Exchange (TV program), 2021 Sou ...

messaging environments. FPE provides an administration console that includes customizable configuration settings, filtering options, monitoring features and reports, and integration with the

Forefront Online Protection for Exchange Exchange Online Protection (EOP, formerly Forefront Online Protection for Exchange or FOPE) is a hosted e-mail security service, owned by Microsoft, that filters spam and removes computer viruses from e-mail messages. The service does not require ...

(FOPE) product. After installation, managing FPE on multiple Exchange servers can be done with the Protection Server Management Console. Additionally, FPE can be managed using Windows PowerShell, a command-line shell and task-based scripting technology that enables the automation of system administration tasks. * Protection for SharePoint: A discontinued product that protects

document libraries. It enforces rules that prevent documents containing malware, sensitive information, or out-of-policy content from being uploaded. Protection Server Management Console or

Windows PowerShell PowerShell is a shell program developed by Microsoft for task automation and configuration management. As is typical for a shell, it provides a command-line interpreter for interactive use and a script interpreter for automation via a langua ...

can be used to manage Protection for SharePoint Server on multiple servers. * Security for Office Communications Server: Protects computers running

Microsoft Office Communications Server Skype for Business Server (formerly Microsoft Office Communications Server and Microsoft Lync Server) is a real-time communications server software that provides the infrastructure for enterprise instant messaging, presence, VoIP, ad hoc and ...

from malware. Formerly called ''Antigen for Instant Messaging''.Forefront for Office Communications Server
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History

The predecessor to the Forefront server protection products was the Antigen line of antivirus products created by Sybari Software. Sybari was acquired by Microsoft in 2005, and the first Microsoft-branded version of the product was called Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint (FSSP) Version 10. FSSP Version 10 supports Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services version 3, whereas FPSP (the last version of the product) supports Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 SP1, or Windows SharePoint Services version 3 SP1.

References

External links

*
Microsoft Forefront Server Protection Blog
on TechNet Blogs {{Microsoft Security Products Computer security software