REDWOOD CITY, CA--(Marketwire - Jul 26, 2012) - Qualys®, Inc., a pioneer and leading provider of cloud security and compliance solutions, today announced at Security B-Sides Las Vegas that its FreeScan service -- a popular free service that allows organizations to scan web sites or publicly facing IP addresses for vulnerabilities, malware and SSL issues -- now includes support for Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). Using FreeScan, organizations can now scan IPv6 devices to detect possible vulnerabilities and take the steps necessary to remediate them.
IPv6 is the new communications protocol developed to succeed IPv4 due to IP address space limitations. While organizations adopt IPv6 and utilize its new features to improve network performance and connectivity, the proliferation of devices poses new challenges for security that many organizations may not be prepared to face. For example, if there is a lack of expertise in IPv6 networking, deploying IPv6 ready devices, such as desktops and laptops with modern operating systems, can cause problems as IPv6 traffic may bypass firewalls, intrusion detection systems and other security protections, allowing IPv6 traffic to reach unintended recipients.1 In addition, as IPv6 adoption grows, it could increasingly become a target for attackers.
"While there is a movement for organizations to move to IPv6, they may not be prepared to take the steps necessary to secure these devices," said Scott Crawford, research director for EMA. "Qualys FreeScan is a useful service that allows businesses to test the security posture of IPv6 devices on the Internet after deployment and make sure they are properly configured to help defend organizations against cyber attacks."
Powered by the QualysGuard® Cloud Platform, FreeScan is an easy-to-use service that allows customers to perform security scans on web sites or publicly facing IP addresses. The scan results provide guidance on remediation to fix identified vulnerabilities and remove malware infections.
"We are pleased to add IPv6 support to FreeScan to help organizations securely adopt IPv6 by providing them a free and useful service," said Philippe Courtot, chairman and CEO for Qualys.
During Security B-Sides Las Vegas, Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of Qualys, will speak on a panel on IPv6 security on July 26, 2012 at 6 p.m. For more information on using Qualys FreeScan to scan IPv6 devices, visit: https://community.qualys.com/blogs/qualys-tech/2012/07/26/how-to-scan-ipv6-address-with-qualys-freescan. To use FreeScan, visit http://www.qualys.com/freescan.
About QualysGuard Cloud Platform
The QualysGuard Cloud Platform and its integrated suite of security and compliance solutions provide organizations of all sizes with a global view of their security and compliance posture, while drastically reducing their total cost of ownership. The QualysGuard Cloud Suite, which includes Vulnerability Management, Web Application Scanning, Malware Detection Service, Policy Compliance, PCI Compliance and Qualys SECURE Seal, enable customers to identify their IT assets, collect and analyze large amounts of IT security data, discover and prioritize vulnerabilities and malware, recommend remediation actions and verify the implementation of such actions.
1 Draft Proposal filed with the Internet Engineering Task Force on April 27, 2012: "Security Implications of IPv6 on IPV4" by Fernando Gont of the UK Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure
About Qualys
Qualys, Inc. is a pioneer and leading provider of cloud security and compliance solutions with over 5,700 customers in more than 100 countries, including a majority of each of the Forbes Global 100 and Fortune 100. The QualysGuard Cloud Platform and integrated suite of solutions helps organizations simplify security operations and lower the cost of compliance by delivering critical security intelligence on demand and automating the full spectrum of auditing, compliance and protection for IT systems and web applications. Founded in 1999, Qualys has established strategic partnerships with leading managed service providers and consulting organizations including BT, Dell SecureWorks, Fujitsu, IBM, NTT, Symantec, Verizon, and Wipro. The company is also a founding member of the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA).
For more information, please visit www.qualys.com.
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