The Cisco ASA 5500 Series Content Security and Control Security Services Module (CSC-SSM) combines comprehensive malware protection with advanced traffic and message compliance for Cisco ASA Family of multifunction security appliances. The result is a powerful solution that provides strong protection and control for business network communications, stops network threats including viruses, worms, spyware, spam and phishing, controls unwanted visitors and web content while reducing the operational costs and complexity of deploying and managing multiple point solutions.

Product Overview
The Cisco ASA 5500 Series Content Security and Control Security Services Module (CSC-SSM) delivers industry-leading threat protection and content control at the Internet edge providing comprehensive antivirus, anti-spyware, file blocking, anti-spam, anti-phishing, URL blocking and filtering, and content filtering, all available in a comprehensive easy-to-manage solution delivered by industry leaders. The CSC-SSM bolsters the Cisco ASA 5500 Series' strong security capabilities providing customers with additional protection and control over the content of their business communications. The service module provides additional flexibility and choice over the functionality and deployment of Cisco's award-winning Cisco ASA 5500 Series Family of appliances.

The Cisco ASA 5500 Series CSC-SSM helps businesses more effectively protect their networks, increase network availability, and increase employee productivity through the following elements:
- Comprehensive malware protection: Incorporates Trend Micro's award-winning antivirus and anti-spyware technologies. The CSC-SSM can prevent virtually all known malicious code from entering and propagating across the network. This helps prevent disruption of business critical applications and services, prevent valuable key systems and employee downtime and reduce the costly process of cleaning up after an infection.

- Advanced content filtering: Integrates URL filtering, content filtering and anti-phishing technology that helps protect the business and individual employees from the theft of confidential information as well as reduce potential legal liabilities associated with content in violation of network use policies. It can also aid businesses comply with network content regulations such as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and the Data Protection Act.

- Integrated message security: Integrates anti-spam technology that removes the vast majority of unsolicited e-mail before it gets to the mail server, increasing employee productivity and preventing wastage of valuable network bandwidth and storage resources.

- Customization and tuning capabilities: Provides administrators with the ability to customize control over spam and content functions to suit specific corporate policies or network environments.

- Ease of management and automatic update capabilities: Ships with intelligent default settings and an intuitive interface integrated with the ASA 5500 Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM) to ease initial configuration, deployment and ongoing operations. Automatic updates of all CSC-SSM components including scanning engines and pattern files, ensures that the network is always protected against the latest threats with minimal administrative effort.