SAN JOSE, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- February 5, 2007 --Cisco® (
NASDAQ:
CSCO) today announced
significant new capabilities for enhanced collaboration among several
products and services in its security portfolio, simplifying the ability
for organizations to control and contain information security threats in a
more coordinated, flexible fashion across networks while streamlining
management and protecting confidential communications to remote users.
The collective enhancements involve Cisco's Intrusion Prevention System
(IPS), Cisco Security Agent (CSA), Cisco Security Mitigation Analysis and
Response System (CS-MARS), Cisco Security Manager (CSM) and Cisco's Secure
Sockets Layer virtual private network (SSL VPN). Together, the enhancements
mark the latest evolution of Cisco's Self-Defending Network -- a
comprehensive framework incorporating various endpoint and network security
products into an integrated, collaborative and adaptive security solution
for organizations of all sizes.
According to Mick Scully, vice president of product management for Cisco's
security business, the increasing danger of information security threats --
both from their profit motive and impact to productivity -- make
collaborative threat control and protection of confidential communications
more than just an IT requirement. It's a mission-critical business
requirement.
"As organizations become more distributed, traditional approaches to
network security must give way to more progressive requirements," Scully
said. "Organizations can't rely on standalone or one-dimensional security
products anymore. They need to unify individual security components -- from
network and endpoint devices to centralized analysis and management tools
-- into an integrated security system. That system should constantly
coordinate protection wherever threats extend. Collaborative security
allows organizations to extend network availability, share information and
improve operational efficiency with greater peace of mind."
Collaborative Threat Control: Securing the Whole Network
Cisco's enhanced security portfolio includes Cisco IPS 6.0, CSA 5.2,
CS-MARS 4.3, and CSM 3.1 -- four products that combine to coordinate
visibility, network-wide protection, simplified policy management and
dynamic threat mitigation in order to maintain business continuity. These
releases strengthen Cisco's approach to coordinated defense by extending
beyond the typical standalone nature of these product classes and
establishing a vital relationship between the network and its endpoints.
This helps ensure that all potential entry points can be protected in a
coordinated fashion.
For example, information-sharing between IPS 6.0 and CSA 5.2 minimizes
false positives and helps enable IPS appliances to block threats before
they proliferate. IPS 6.0 also features adaptive "day zero" anomaly
detection and behavioral analysis that identify worms and other malicious
activity by searching for suspect network traffic patterns, and it
integrates with third-party scanners to enrich threat analysis used to take
protective actions. Other adaptive features include the ability to
dynamically adjust "risk ratings" based on attack relevance and to deploy
automated event and action filters that correspond to specific operating
systems.
"The sophistication and coordination inherent in Cisco's IPS 6.0 provide an
intelligent, enterprise-wide threat-control solution that paves the way for
greater productivity," said Tami Martin, intrusion detection system
engineer for Argonne Labs. "Collaborative security systems allow operations
to proceed fluidly, regardless of threat conditions outside our walls.
That's a refreshing thought. At the end of the day, Cisco gives us more
than just a productivity advantage. It gives us a competitive advantage --
secured business operations."
The enhanced security collaboration also extends to new quality of service
(QoS) and wireless controls in CSA 5.2. For example, CSA 5.2 enables
policies for mobile endpoints like laptops to restrict ad hoc service
system identifiers and encryption methods and to require secured VPN
connections from out-of-office locations. Together these new policies help
businesses protect increasingly mobile workforces.
With tight coordination between IPS 6.0 and CSA 5.2, network-wide threat
activity is conveyed to CS-MARS, which aggregates information within a
single appliance. It conducts sophisticated network behavioral analysis
and, after understanding the threat landscape, coordinates with CSM 3.1,
which applies appropriate changes to policies across the enterprise.
"What you have is network-wide threat intelligence gleaned from systems and
devices that talk together and coordinate protection end to end," Scully
said. "It allows customers to identify various threats -- policy
violations, vulnerabilities, exploits, and anomalous behavior -- and
simplify management of their threat-control systems. Collaborative
intelligence enables simplified, cost-effective control, resulting in
adaptive response to real-time threats."
"Collaboration is the key requirement for our security strategy, and
Cisco's system approach to collaborative security is unparalleled in the
marketplace," said Carl Goodman, information services manager for
California-based Premier Valley Bank. "We rely on Cisco's collaborative
security solutions to coordinate protection across our business. We rely on
the managed IT services provider HEIT Consulting as a strategic partner to
bring this to life. Together with Cisco and HEIT, we're able to secure our
internal operations, protect our customers and comply with industry
regulations. Simply put, Cisco and HEIT alleviate much of our stress around
security."
SSL VPN Enhancements Within Cisco ASA Strengthen Remote Access Security
In addition to its advances in collaborative threat-control, Cisco
announced a new wave of SSL VPN enhancements to the software that drives
its Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) family of products, which offer
integrated firewall, IPS, anti-malware, and VPN functionality. The latest
ASA 8.0 software raises the bar for SSL VPN solutions, complementing
Cisco's proven IPsec solutions with features that lower IT's cost of
ownership even as organizations become more distributed and their users
more mobile and remote. ASA's SSL VPN updates include:
-- Clientless VPN with enhanced portal design for highly customizable
user experience including personalized bookmarks, RSS feeds, and
localization support.
-- Cisco's next-generation "AnyConnect" VPN client, with broader
operating system support for Microsoft Vista and Windows, MAC OS X, and
Linux.
-- Cisco AnyConnect Mobile VPN client supports Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket
PC Edition.
-- Optimized network access for voice over IP (VoIP) and other latency-
sensitive traffic.
-- Ability to create "smart tunnels" that provide policy-driven
applications specific access without requiring administrative rights.
-- Embedded Certificate Authority (CA) and additional user credential
options simplify authentication.
-- Direct mapping of Windows Active Directory membership to VPN access
simplifies IT's security management by automatically granting users
appropriate VPN permissions.
-- Posture-assessment extensions adjust users' VPN permissions more
efficiently.
-- Intuitive management via ASA's Adaptive Security Device Manager, CSM
3.1.
"Capgemini opens up the knowledge of our entire organization to all of our
employees, and Cisco's SSL VPN offering helps enable secure access to our
mission-critical applications for thousands of consultants across customer
sites," said Alex Zuiderwijk, network and security manager for Capgemini
Netherlands. "Even on customer-managed PCs where access privileges are
limited, we can offer our consultants customized access to essential
network resources in a secure way."
Enhancements to Lifecycle Security Services Enrich Threat-Control
Operations
Cisco Lifecycle Services maximize benefits of these collaborative
enhancements by helping customers deploy solutions more efficiently. Cisco
has introduced additional capabilities to its Security Services portfolio,
including a new Security Center portal, Cisco Security IntelliShield Alert
Manager Service, and Cisco IPS Signature Management Service.
The Security Center portal provides a central source of information on
current security activity, guiding Cisco products and services to mitigate
threats. Cisco IPS Signature subscriptions provide access to the Cisco
Security IntelliShield Alert Manager's database to offer broad intelligence
on IPS events. This enhancement, combined with an upcoming feature allowing
customers to correlate IPS signatures to IntelliShield alert information,
helps speed the remediation of potential attacks. In addition, the Cisco
IPS Signature Management Service simplifies day-to-day operations of IPS
devices by deploying and tuning signature updates as they become available.
About Cisco Systems
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