Danware Launches Powerful New Security Product -- NetOp Desktop Firewall

Market Wire, December, 2004

How can you keep your corporate laptop safe from malicious programs when you are travelling? And how can you be certain that infected material can't "escape" and infect your corporate network when you get back to the office? Today, Danware, the world's leading provider of high-quality remote control software for professional users, announces the release of a new product line, the NetOp Desktop Firewall. This powerful new product promises to provide an answer to the issue of corporate laptop security.

The NetOp Desktop Firewall is specifically designed to protect corporate businesses from the particular security risks they face with their many laptop users. This groundbreaking new product not only monitors traffic in and out of a laptop but also the processes running on it, thus keeping the laptop safe from malicious programs. The protection can be centrally controlled, and corporate policies will rule even when laptops are connected to a non-corporate network.

In addition to traditional firewall control, the NetOp Desktop Firewall offers a unique, powerful tool for protecting corporate laptops. Unlike most personal firewalls, the NetOp Desktop Firewall doesn't just monitor traffic in and out of a computer, but also the processes running on it.

Craig French Hendry, Product Manager at Danware, explains, "Our new product, NetOp Desktop Firewall, ensures that laptops coming into a corporate network, going within the perimeter firewall, will not introduce an infection into the entire corporate network when they connect. What's more, the NetOp Desktop Firewall can be centrally managed, ensuring that users can't override security policies and that change in policy can be immediately enacted and rigidly enforced. With this new desktop firewall, administrators will have the ability to manage each PC on their network by defining and adjusting profiles and security settings in real-time."

Companies have started to realise that a perimeter firewall is not enough. All it takes is one single computer behind the perimeter communicating unrestricted material for security to be jeopardized. Laptops that leave and then return to a trusted corporate network pose a serious security risk when they connect to the network again. As Thomas Raschke, Program Manager, European Security Products & Strategies, IDC, comments: "A little known but very serious threat is the fact that more than half of all the security-related incidents that result in quantifiable damage stem from within the firewall, for example as a result of disgruntled employees, careless partners, or other authorized users that either intentionally or unintentionally introduce malicious programs and damage an organization's network."

Centralized Management of Corporate Laptop Security

With the NetOp Desktop Firewall, Danware offers the ability to centrally control and manage the firewall configuration of all the desktop firewalls in a network. Administrators and security managers can easily, and in real-time, define and manage the security level of each PC. By centrally applying profiles, administrators can ensure that security settings are adjusted automatically according to the computer's environment. And processes can be allowed or disallowed centrally, meaning that malicious programs can be eliminated within the first few critical minutes of an infection.

Security at the Driver Level

Unlike standard personal firewalls where the process or application control, if any, is very basic, the NetOp Desktop Firewall offers sophisticated process control. The perfect supplement to a perimeter firewall, NetOp Desktop Firewall provides security that is 100% at the driver-level -- granting maximum protection to the user, even if the firewall application itself is not running. The firewall is in effect always on, ensuring all network traffic is blocked and any risk of a security breach when the system is started is eliminated. Driver-level security for both communication and process control makes it possible to stop both unwanted attacks on the computer and also unwanted processes from running. This technology also puts the security control in the hands of the administrator, preventing ordinary users from making unauthorized changes to the security level of their laptops or even from disabling the firewall when it suits them.

Intelligent Network Detection

The NetOp Desktop Firewall can recognize different security profiles depending on a user's location. Unlike other personal firewalls that might recognize the environment but depend on individual users to ensure that security is upheld, with the NetOp Desktop Firewall, the appropriate security profile is automatically selected based on the type of environment. There is no need for any individual user intervention and users can't interfere with the security level. For example, users will be able to do what they need to do when using their laptop at home, but the security level shifts to high-level protection when they return to work, so that their company and colleagues are protected.