New Exchange Online Protection for 2013

The next version of Microsoft’s online service for protecting e-mail from malware arrived in Feb. 2013, in conjunction with the update of Office 365 applications (such as Exchange Online) to their 2013 versions. Exchange Online Protection is the replacement for Forefront Online Protection for Exchange, and new customers will get Exchange Online Protection immediately while existing Forefront Online Protection customers will be switched sometime before the end of 2013.

Changing to a Single Scan Engine

Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is the next version of an Exchange antimalware protection service running in Microsoft’s data centers. It replaces Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE), which was previously called Forefront Online Security for Exchange, and before that Exchange Hosted Filtering. EOP allows customers with Exchange Server(s) deployed on-premises to leverage Microsoft’s data centers to remove malware, spam, and inappropriate content from e-mail in transit. Incoming or outgoing e-mail, and e-mail between internal users, can be routed through the service to block viruses, spam, and inappropriate content. The same service is also used to protect Exchange Online subscribers.