Stonesoft today announced the availability of the Stonegate IPS-1205 appliance. Designed to secure gigabit networks, this intrusion prevention system (IPS) appliance ought to protect intranet users and data center services against advanced attacks while maintaining gigabit network speeds.
The Stonegate IPS-1205 ought to offer internal network users efficient protection against client-side attacks. Unlike traditional attacks that originate from outside the network, client-side attacks are initiated within the organization’s internal network. When users are browsing infected websites, these attacks come in as responses to internal network user requests. At gigabit network speeds, these threats can cause significant infection and damage across the network.
“The need to protect the network from internal threats and attacks is dire, but so is the need for organizations’ networks to operate at gigabit speeds. With this appliance, Stonesoft is telling organizations that they can finally have both benefits – the highest level of security without sacrificing the speed of traffic across the network”, said Jeff Hajek, senior VP of operations, Stonesoft, Inc.
One of the appliance’s advanced IPS capabilities ought to include protection against malware that may spread from infected USB sticks to laptops and further to internal networks. According to Stonesoft the IPS limits the damage by preventing the worm from spreading within the internal network, thus giving administrators time to clean the infected machines and patch vulnerable operating systems and applications.
The Stonegate IPS-1205 also ought to give admins monitoring of network protocols and applications, as well as Web content control capabilities. Malicious network traffic can be blocked automatically and unwanted Web content can be controlled with built-in category-based Web filtering at any network location. Erratic protocol behavior and applications are automatically logged and reported, which shortens troubleshooting time.
The appliance also ought to offer reliable and cost-efficient protection for data center services. The solution provides virtual patching for servers and services by protecting vulnerable servers awaiting patching within the next available maintenance window. The appliance ought to ensure full-duplex gigabit protection under real-life traffic conditions without putting service availability at risk. The solution also scales when bandwidth requirements increase and new servers are added to the data center.
The Stonegate IPS-1205 is available in May 2010. (Source: Stonesoft, Inc./GST)