Every day, new viruses are released that have destructive consequences for businesses worldwide. Some have the ability to spread within hours and affect computers and networks of all sizes. Viruses, worms, Trojans and spyware programs cause serious financial damage to companies through data deletion, loss of productivity, network computer downtime, IT administrative overhead and bandwidth consumption. As these attacks become more dynamic and malicious in nature, businesses are forced to look past client-based protection and stop viruses before they have a chance to inflict damage. SonicWALL has responded to these threats by developing scalable, high-speed gateway anti-virus, anti-spyware and intrusion prevention for its PRO 2040 security gateways. SonicWALL Gateway Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware and Intrusion Prevention Service delivers intelligent, real-time network security protection against viruses, spyware, worms, Trojans and application exploits. Utilizing a configurable, high-performance deep packet inspection architecture, SonicWALL Gateway Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware and Intrusion Prevention Service secures the network from the core to the perimeter against a comprehensive array of dynamic threats including viruses, spyware, worms, Trojans and software vulnerabilities such as buffer overflows, as well as peer-to-peer and instant messenger applications, backdoor exploits, and other malicious code. This unique solution features a high-performance deep packet inspection engine that delivers threat protection directly on the security gateway by matching downloaded, e-mailed and compressed files against an extensive signature database. Because new threats emerge daily and are often unpredictable, the signature database is constantly updated to deliver the highest protection possible against an ever-changing threat landscape. New signatures are created and added to the database by a combination of SonicWALL's SonicAlert Team and third-party sources. As an added layer of security, SonicWALL Gateway Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware and Intrusion Prevention Service provides application layer attack protection not only against external threats, but also against those originating inside the network.