Solid Slate Of New Wares Debuts At InfoSecurity Show

With security the top priority of enterprises for the foreseeable future, it's no shock that vendors keep pushing the innovation envelope.

At InfoSecurity 2003, a conference and expo targeting enterprise security that opened Monday in New York City and wraps up Thursday, a slew of security providers rolled out a solid slate of creative new wares.

Among the vendors which introduced security products:

Network Intelligence released the newest version of its security event management (SEM) software, enVision 2.001. The new software, which is integrated into Network Intelligence's own line of security appliances, sports additional device support, improved analysis of security events -- it can handle as many as 50,000 sustained events per second, according to Network Intelligence -- and a new method of calculating the severity of events based on Homeland Security's severity levels. Although enVision is being demonstrated at InfoSecurity, the updated software won't be available until Dec. 19.

Cryptolog launched Unicity, a software-only solution that deploys digital certificates to end users based on 'zero knowledge' authentication and virtual smart cards. 'Zero knowledge' authentication is a way to prove a user's identity without revealing his password to the verifying agent. Unicity uses the technique to issue digital certificates -- used to authenticate users for financial transactions, to access protected documents, and to encrypt and sign e-mail messages -- without the need for cumbersome hardware, said Cryptolog. Designed around a virtual smart card server, with plug-ins or Java applets provided to end-users, Unicity replaces physical security methods, such as issuing smart cards or USB-based tokens that plug into PC ports.OpenService used InfoSecurity to unveil Security Threat Manager 2.0, the latest edition of its real-time threat assessor and security monitor. New to STM 2.0 are improvements to its reporting skills -- it now links detected threats to the lines of business they target, giving administrators a clearer picture of what's actually under attack -- topology visualizations that provide a graphical view of threat activity and allow IT staff to 'drill down' into the attack.

NeoScale Systems announced the impending release of CryptoStor for Tape 1.2, a high-speed tape protection appliance that compresses, encrypts, and digitally signs data as it's recorded on physical or virtual tape libraries. Scheduled to ship in the first quarter of 2004, CryptoStor 1.2 integrates with existing tape backup applications, and uses AES encryption to secure both network- and direct-attached libraries running connected to the network via either Fibre Channel or SCSI links. New to 1.2 is support for IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, adding to existing support for backup apps from Veritas, Legato, Hewlett-Packard, and Computer Associates. The appliance will be priced starting at $20,000, with free upgrades available to current customers.

CyberGuard rolled out its new Global Command Center, a centralized firewall and virtual private network (VPN) manager. Based on a client/server architecture, Global Command Center lets administrators access, share, and synchronize firewall configurations across the enterprise; create and enforce firewall and VPN policies; and monitor and control firewall activity from a central location. The software relies on an object-based approach that lets IT staff define firewalls, or groups of firewalls or VPNs as a single object within a graphical interface.