Forum Systems and Kenai Systems Announce Strategic OEM Relationship; Forum Expands Web Services Security Suite with Kenai's Vulnerability Assessment and Management Technology

Business Wire, Feb 1, 2005

SALT LAKE CITY & ROCKLIN, Calif. -- Forum Systems, Inc., the leading provider of Trust Management and Threat Protection Web Services Security Solutions, and Kenai Systems, Inc., a leading provider of web services vulnerability assessment and management solutions, today announced an OEM agreement that enables Forum to integrate Kenai's eXamineST technology into its full suite of products including Forum XWall(TM) Web Services Firewall and Forum Sentry(TM) Web Services Security Gateway.

Malicious web services exploits can be extremely detrimental to an organization because they target critical business processes and not simply web servers. While best practices for web services security are still in their infancy, there is a mounting recognition that malfunctioning and poorly tested applications are a tremendous risk to the enterprise. By implementing a systematic quality assurance program that addresses functionality, performance, availability and vulnerability, companies can mitigate the risk of failures, accidents and cyber attacks.

"The extraordinary demand for Web services vulnerability assessment and management technology has driven our decision to expand our distribution partnership with Kenai into a closer OEM relationship. Finding and fixing weaknesses as early as possible in the development cycle just makes sense. By incorporating Kenai technology into our market-leading products, Forum is now able to offer the only closed-loop Web services security solution," said Wes Swenson, President and CEO of Forum Systems.

Kenai's eXamineST is an advanced Web services inspection and testing tool that works with existing development and network operations tools offering:

--Support for WS-Security XML Encryption enabling developers to encrypt individual Web Services data elements or complete web services documents

--Support for WS-Security Digital Signatures enabling developers to add a digital signature to individual web services data elements or complete web services documents

--Support for WS-Security User Security Tokens enabling developers to create security tokens. It includes support for Username/Password and X.509 Certificate Token Profiles

--Validity checking of WSDL Requests and Responses, as well as the ability to manipulate any value that may be required or furnished by a web service

--WS-I conformance tests to support interoperability guidelines from the Web Services Interoperability Organization

Kenai released eXamineST in December, 2004 as a significant upgrade to its eXamine 1.0 software, a general-purpose Web services inspection tool. "Best practices in Web services security begin during Web services development," said Bill Kesselring, CEO of Kenai Systems. "Using eXamineST in concert with XWall or Sentry will help Forum's enterprise customers detect and eliminate Web services vulnerabilities before they are exploited. Forum's decision to partner with Kenai and to integrate eXamineST into their Web services security solutions validates enterprise customers' need for powerful vulnerability inspection and prevention solutions."

About Forum Systems

Trustworthy, ubiquitous and robust Web services can only be achieved by combining security controls that are proactive, always on and systematic. Forum Seamless Security Solutions Architecture (Forum S3A(TM)) is an adaptive approach to building security minded service-oriented applications and data-level networks using life-cycle solutions including vulnerability management, testing systems, firewalls and gateways. Forum products are available as software, PCI-card and appliance options and comply with government requirements including FIPS Certification, Common Criteria EAL 4 and JITC DoD PKI Certification. Forum Systems is an active a member of OASIS and WS-I helping mature standards such as WS-I Basic Profiles, SAML and WS-Security. Customers can immediately benefit from Forum technology that comes bundled with leading security vendor products including Microsoft ISA Server 2004, NetContinuum NC-1000 WSE and Oblix COREid and COREsv.

Forum Systems, Inc. is the Leader in Web Services Security(TM) with a comprehensive suite of trust management, threat protection and information assurance solutions for the automated Web. Forum Systems flexible hardware, software and embedded products make vibrant business communications possible by actively protecting XML data and Web services across networks and business boundaries. Forum's products have been chosen by over 80 Fortune 1000 industry leaders and are winners of Network Computing Magazine's Well-Connected 2004 Award and Product of the Year 2004 Award, Network Computing Magazine's Editor's Choice 2003 Award, Network Magazine's Product of the Year 2003 Award and DEMO 2004 Invitation. Forum XWall Web Services Firewall is the industry's only XML Firewall selected by InfoWorld LEADERBOARD 2004. http://www.forumsys.com/

About Kenai Systems

Kenai Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of Web services vulnerability assessment and management (VAM) solutions. Kenai Systems' solutions will enable businesses to realize the important strategic and financial benefits of Web services, without compromising their network security or increasing their security management costs. Kenai Systems was founded in April, 2004 and is headquartered in Rocklin, Calif. For more information, contact 916-783-6960 or visit www.kenaisystems.com.