Positive Control Networks (POSCON)

Check Point Expands UTM Appliance Line

2008-05-07T07:18:00.000-07:00

With Increased Security Performance and Lower Entry Point Model CheckPoint is expanding its appliance line.

Broader range of UTM-1 Total Security appliances available with the most comprehensive network protection

The three new UTM-1 Total Security appliances consist of the following models:

UTM-1 Total Security 270 featuring 400 Mbps firewall throughput, 100 Mbps VPN throughput, two managed sites and four ports
UTM-1 Total Security 570 featuring 1.1 Gbps firewall throughput, 250 Mbps VPN throughput, three managed sites and four ports
UTM-1 Total Security 3070 featuring 4.5 Gbps firewall throughput, 1.1 Gbps VPN throughput, five managed sites and 10 ports

Contact Positive Control Networks for more details and pricing www.positivecontrolnetworks.com

Nuclear Lab Breach - Los Alamos

2007-11-01T06:18:00.000-07:00

Three USB thumb-drives were involved in a security breach at Los Alomos Labs. Those small storage drives contained 408 separate classified documents ranging in importance from Secret National Security Information to Secret Restricted Data (nuclear weapons).

Pointsec would have secured this.

Laptop Stolen

2007-10-20T03:58:00.000-07:00

Stolen Laptop Holds Home Depot Employee Data (October 16 & 17, 2007) A laptop computer stolen from a car contains personally identifiable information of approximately 10,000 Home Depot employees from across the country. It is unknown if the data was encrypted.

---This is unacceptable. All Data holding customer information should be encrypted. Pointsec...

Pentagon shuts down systems after cyberattack

2007-06-22T06:41:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Department of Defense took an estimated 1,500 computers offline Wednesday after a security breach within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). Full Story..

Check Point Software Wins Award

2007-05-20T06:12:00.000-07:00

Check Point’s Integrity endpoint security suite won our silver award for endpoint security, with users praising its ability to perform policy-based access control and the range of policy checks that can be performed. A high percentage of users also gave Check Point Integrity high marks for enforcement options and integration with existing infrastructure. Logging and reporting, scalability, ease of installing, configuring and administering also scored well, while vendor service and support and ROI were voted good or excellent by more than 50% of Integrity users. Read Full Story http://www.checkpoint.com/press/2007/searchnetworking051407.html

The Crossbeam C-Series Operating System (COS) 6.0 brings flexible network security design with Layer 2 bridging

2007-05-05T08:55:00.000-07:00

Layer 2 bridging support eliminates the need for network topology changes when a new security application is added, giving IT administrators the power and flexibility to decide the best design for their network. In Layer 2 mode, the C-series platform and accompanying applications are transparent to a potential hacker, adding yet more facilities to improve the security posture of the network. Read Full Story... http://www.crossbeamsystems.com/press_070424.asp

Ultra Tough, Ultra Secure

2007-05-05T08:49:00.001-07:00

Check Point VPN-1 UTM Edge Industrial unified threat management appliances are specifically designed to handle extreme conditions and provide complete and comprehensive security for factory floor systems such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. They are built using the same security technology protecting 100% of Fortune 100 companies and offer the most comprehensive centralized management system. Read full article... http://www.checkpoint.com/products/home_promo/edge-industrial.html

Check Point's IPS-1 Intrusion Prevention Solution Delivers Accurate and Granular Attack Prevention

2007-05-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP), the worldwide leader in securing the Internet, today announced the immediate availability of IPS-1™ (former technology acquired from NFR Security) dedicated intrusion prevention system (IPS) solution delivering accurate, real-time attack mitigation, unmatched management, granular forensic analysis and flexible deployment enabling enterprises to protect against worms, automated malware and other hybrid threats, both known and unknown. Read full article http://www.checkpoint.com/press/2007/ips1043007.html

Secure Alert-Secure Computing

2007-03-10T09:19:00.000-08:00

Secure Computing Warns of New Security Threat: First Virus to Attack Both Email and Web Protocols

Secure Computing's TrustedSource researchers have noted that a growing number of worms are using a technique called server-side polymorphism to evade traditional signature-based anti-virus detection. Changes or updates to the malware are made transparently--manually or automatically. New versions can be repackaged and tested against the leading AV software to ensure newer versions will go undetected.
The Storm worm successfully utilizes this technique, releasing a new binary every 15 minutes to 1 hour. Our testing has confirmed that new versions of this threat have, in fact, failed detection by AV software engines as expected.

Check Point adds new NAC capabilities

2007-03-06T05:29:00.000-08:00

Check Point Software is announcing a supplemental NAC architecture this week that integrates its deep-inspection firewalls with Intel-based network interface cards to block rogue behavior.

See full article on NW http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/030507-checkpoint-nac.html

Check Point Launches UTM-1 Firewall Appliance

2007-03-05T14:28:00.000-08:00

The uncompromising level of security that has made Check Point a security leader is now available in an easy to deploy and manage unified threat management (UTM) appliance.

This is big news for the Check Point company and big news for the security field. This should shake up a few of the major firewall hardware players like Cisco and Juniper. Hopefully Check Point can make it stick.

Read more here:
http://www.checkpoint.com/products/home_promo/utm-1_022007.html

Review:
http://www.networkworld.com/reviews/2007/020507-checkpoint-test.html

Attack on Root Internet DNS Servers

2007-02-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

DNS servers were the targets of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS)attack over a 12-hour period on Tuesday, February 6. While there was"minor degradation of service" the attack had no significant impact.Investigators are trying to find out where the attacks came from.

Read More Here: http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=2184

2007-01-25T10:21:00.001-08:00

Check Point VPN-1 Power VSX NGX Reduces Costsby Virtualizing Network Security

Customers increase performance, flexibility and scalability with a reduction in security hardware requirements
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., January 22, 2007 - Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP), the worldwide leader in securing the Internet, today announced an upgrade to Check Point VPN-1 Power VSX NGX, the virtual version of Check Point VPN-1 Power - the world's premier integrated firewall, VPN, and intrusion prevention gateway.
Check Point VPN-1 Power VSX is a virtualized security gateway that allows managed service providers (MSSPs), including application and telecom service providers, as well as enterprises with virtualized networks to create up to 250 virtual security systems - including firewall, VPN and intrusion prevention - on a single hardware platform.
Product updates include advanced clustering that efficiently distributes virtual systems among cluster members, enabling linear growth in performance, real-time monitoring of traffic-load distribution and reduced synchronization traffic. By virtualizing network security with the enhanced VPN-1 Power VSX Check Point, customers can reduce capital investments in hardware and save on overall operational costs associated with hardware acquisition and maintenance.
"Enterprises want to continue to grow their network without incurring large equipment and real estate costs," said Rich Weiss, director of product marketing at Check Point Software Technologies. "Leveraging virtualization to address this problem, the new VPN-1 Power VSX will reduce ongoing capital investment, limit the physical space needed for security hardware, and improve the manageability of network security, policy development and enforcement."
The new, more scalable version of VPN-1 Power VSX also increases hardware efficiency through new resource controls that ensure that the consumption of CPU resources by each virtual system is optimally adjusted for overall efficiency and network security. With the new release, customers can squeeze the highest performance out of their hardware investment by enabling control of CPU resource utilization by each virtual system – limiting the CPU time available to a lower priority virtual system, and assigning more capacity to mission-critical virtual systems.
Additionally, increased efficiency is achieved through a new lightweight network quality of service (QoS) control that provides granular management of various traffic types. The new QoS control supports the Differentiated Services protocol and allows the assignment of unique transmission characteristics to individual classes of traffic with minimal impact on performance to ensure high-quality end-user experience with advanced applications. As a result, large enterprises and managed service providers reduce the need to build out costly network and security infrastructures in order to ensure the quality of high priority communications.
"Check Point VPN-1 Power VSX plays a key role for our customers that utilize VoIP applications," said Ron Steffen of Sharper Technology, a Check Point Gold Partner. "VoIP requires low bandwidth, but is highly sensitive to latency and drops, so this application can be given preference over high-volume, low-priority traffic that has a low sensitivity to latency and drops."
New Benefits of VPN-1 Power VSX NGX Include:
Throughput Limitations Eliminated - New linear growth clustering technology in VPN-1 Power VSX provides more efficient distribution of virtual gateways - optimizing overall performance and network security scalability as the number of virtual gateways grows.
Lowered Operational Costs – Resource controls in VPN-1 Power VSX improve overall cost efficiency, minimizing spending for costly network security infrastructure builds.
Business-Focused Control - New lightweight network QoS control enables administrators to make necessary changes for special requirements of varying traffic types. With minimal impact on performance, traffic is prioritized for overall efficiency and network security to align resources with mission-critical business operations.