Proofpoint launches virtual security beta
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(InfoWorld) - Proofpoint Inc. launched a beta version of security software for systems using virtualization technology from VM Ware Inc., the company said Monday. The product -- Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway for VMware -- is aimed at the increasing number of enterprises using VMware to reduce the amount of hardware in their data centers, said Andres Kohn, Proofpoint's vice president of product management. The final version should be available by the end of the year. VMware makes virtualization software that allows multiple copies of an operating system to run on a machine's hardware, using more of its data-processing capability. It allows enterprises to run fewer servers and benefit from lower energy and maintenance costs. Proofpoint's says its product is the first virtual security appliance for e-mail. The software provides antispam and antivirus protection plus data privacy and intellectual property protection features. "It's still very early in the virtual appliance space," Kohn said. "We want to give our customers the flexibility." The product uses the same code base as the software that runs on Proofpoint's hardware security appliances, said Keith Crosley, director of corporate communications. Proofpoint's Messaging Security Gateway for VMware acts like a hardware appliance, but runs on VMware infrastructure. The software can be downloaded to a VMware image running on a machine, Kohn said. It will run on x86 desktops or servers running VMware's Player, Workstation, Server or ESX Server. Proofpoint has different pricing based on what functions are included and how many mailboxes an organization is using. Users can run unlimited images on an unlimited number of servers. Proofpoint gave a sample cost for a one-year license of US$10,000 for 250 users, which would include spam and virus detection, zero-hour virus detection and content compliance functions. The beta is available for download onÂ Proofpoint's Web site . Â
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(InfoWorld) - Itâs not easy being Ben Fathi. As corporate vice president of Microsoftâs Security Technology Unit, Fathi took the place of longtime STU leader Mike Nash in March amid a larger management shake-up just days after Microsoft announced that the shipment date for Vista was slipping yet again. After Nashâs high-profile tenure, Fathiâs charge is more subtle: building what he calls a âtrust ecosystemâ around Vista and its new security features and promoting the companyâs secure development practices. But first he must help get Vista out the door. Fathi sat down to talk with InfoWorld Senior Editor Paul Roberts at the recent Security Standard Conference in Boston about Vistaâs progress, and the world after Vista. InfoWorld: Recently thereâs been some back and forth with Symantec about issues such as Vistaâs Kernel Patch Protection feature for 64-bit systems, as well as some public criticism of Vista code for having security holes. What should enterprise folks make of that? Ben Fathi: First, on the paper Symantec published: We thank them for their input. I think itâs unusual for a partner to go public with a paper like this on a beta product, but they did identify a few issues. To the best of my knowledge, all those were already fixed in more recent beta releases. We love to hear feedback on beta products. Thatâs why weâre in beta. Itâs a test. Weâll fix them as long as they report them to us. As for the kernel patching, we fundamentally believe that the current model of kernel patching is broken and not sustainable. We never recommended it or supported it on any version of our operating systems. As weâve been telling our vendor partners, this is the only chance we have, as 64-bit computing becomes available, to start with a clean architecture and build on top of that. We want to work with you to find ways to extend the kernel functionality by having a clean architecture, APIs, and filters. â¦ instead of patching instructions and data structures in the kernel. In the long term, what we want to do is move a lot of these functionalities to a hypervisor that sits under the kernel to make the kernel even smaller and the trusted computing base even more secure. We still have a window of opportunity here. â¦ and weâre working with two or three vendors in the space to come up with that kind of architecture. One of the other comments thatâs been made is that [Kernel Patch Protection] is anti-trust. That weâll go back in with our own products and get around it. Thatâs absolutely not true. Weâd never do that. IW: You recently patched a beta version of Vista. Is it a bad sign that youâre patching beta Vista? BF: I believe that Vista is significantly more secure than any version of XP or anything else weâve shipped in the past. Just SDL (secure development lifecycle) in general and the process of penetration testing and hardening kernel services. These all created a stronger, defense in depth strategy. What I would say is, Yeah, there will be patches and vulnerabilities as we move forward. What weâre hoping is that by creating these layers of defense, weâre giving customers, especially enterprise customers, a longer time to test and make sure things are not broken. IW: Do you see your job description and responsibilities changing after Vista? BF: There are six different areas that we call âBig Betsâ that have been identified in my division. I will mention two. The first, Application ID, is a way to identify an application that includes an executable, the library it uses, configuration files, registry settings, any patches that are applied to it. So youâll have a cryptographically signed version of the application, and youâll be able to identify that and whitelist or blacklist that. When we talk about a trust ecosystem today, the ability to trust people based on an ID and trust machines based on an ID, we canât do that with applications. If itâs called powerpoint.exe, we go and run it. So having strong IDs based on the application and [making] sure they havenât been tampered with after download is an important investment for us. The second area is isolation. Creating guest operating systems that sit on top of hypervisors allow us to create better isolation mechanisms so that even if malware comes in, it only affects one subset of the machine and not everything else. Weâve done some great work on server hypervisors and server virtualization. We need to extend that to the client. Weâre seeing partners do that already, and so weâre going to invest in that space.
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Start-up company Haute Secure, which was founded by four former Microsoft employees, has released a beta version of a real-time malware-blocking tool that also stops malicious content from reaching PCs.
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Security-conscious IT managers stand to gain a promising new option today, as a novel tool from software virtualisation pioneer VMware enters beta testing.
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Public beta versions of Norton Internet Security 2007 and Norton AntiVirus 2007 for Windows Vista released.
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Beta search app creates vulnerabilities that may threaten your data's   security.
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'Virtual security solution' is designed to slow virus and malware attacks.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft Corp. has released a test version of its new Forefront Security for SharePoint software designed to support upcoming versions of Microsoft's portal software. The beta code, released Thursday, gives administrators a way to plug as many as five antivirus scanning engines into SharePoint Server 2007 and SharePoint Services 3.0 in order to root out malicious or unwanted documents. The product is based on theÂ Antigen softwareÂ Microsoft picked up in its June 2005 acquisition of Sybari Software. Another Sybari-based product, Forefront Security for Exchange went into beta in July. This latest SharePoint release features a new Microsoft Antivirus engine, performance enhancements, and better management features. It also comes with better support for languages other than English. "Until now we've only had English versions," said Joe Licari, director of product management for Forefront. "This release will localize in 11 languages including Japanese and Chinese." Microsoft is tying the rollout of Forefront Security of SharePoint to the release of its SharePoint Server 2007 and SharePoint Services 3.0 products. The commercial version will be available for download by year's end, and then on DVD during the first quarter of 2007. The beta release can beÂ downloaded here. Â
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Virtual fail-over for virtual security on a virtual LAN Check Point has added cluster support and more granular controls to its virtual firewall software, memorably named Check Point VPN-1 Power VSX NGX.â¦
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Microsoft's beta version of its Windows AntiSpyware application is available for download.
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CA is seeking beta testers for the 2008 version of its Internet Security Suite Plus, its all-in-one application for protecting against viruses, phishing attacks, spyware, spam and other Web borne threats. The software bundles together CA's other products, including eTrust Personal Firewall and the popular PestPatrol.
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Grisoft has launched the AVG Mobile Security suite for mobile phones, now available as a free beta.
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The new native IPsec implementation for 2.6.x kernels greatly improves the security of Linux systems.
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Check Point and McAfee unveil products designed to help companies protect their networks.
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Web-services security company releases appliance designed to authenticate access into business networks.
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TechWeb - Czech security company Grisoft posts a public beta for the newest version of its suite that runs on Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD systems.
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Identity 2.0 company Sxip releases a new login and password management