NSS Labs Awards "Approved" Rating to IBM's Network Intrusion Prevention System

Market Wire, May, 2008

NSS Labs, a world leader in independent security product testing and certification, today announced it has awarded IBM's network intrusion prevention system (NIPS) product its highly regarded "Approved" rating.

IBM Proventia® GX6116's 6Gbps throughput is the fastest NIPS tested to date by NSS Labs and showed excellent security effectiveness coverage for the most critical vulnerabilities.

"We put the product through over 1,500 individual evaluations in our real-world test lab that cover a wide range of scenarios to evaluate its security effectiveness and performance as well as its management and usability capabilities," said Rick Moy, President of NSS Labs. "Running a total of 579 exploits that covered a wide range of operating systems and applications, the Proventia GX6116 detected and blocked a total of 555 (95.9%). Of the 505 attacker initiated exploits, the Proventia GX6116 missed only two, giving an amazing detection total of 99.6%."

The full report discussing the product's strengths and weaknesses can be viewed at http://nsslabs.com/ips/iss-proventia-gx6116 .

NSS Labs' transparent, scientifically repeatable certification process ensures the highest levels of independence, diligence and integrity. NIPS products are tested to verify their stability and performance, determine the accuracy of security coverage, and ensure each device will not block legitimate traffic. NSS Labs also offers product testing programs for payment card network environments.

"The Proventia GX6116 delivers unprecedented protection and scalability for large enterprises, bolstering IBM's ability to securely enable next-generation networks," said Carolyn Schreiber, Director, Business Line Management, IBM Internet Security Systems (ISS). "NSS Labs' thorough certification gives information technology and security organizations unparalleled independent validation of the Proventia GX6116's performance, security effectiveness and usability."

The Proventia GX6116 is the third Proventia Network IPS appliance to receive NSS' "Approved" rating, joining the Proventia GX4004 (June, 2006) and the Proventia GX5108 (August, 2006).

About NSS Labs

Founded in 1991, NSS Labs is the globally recognized leader in independent security and performance testing and certification. NSS Labs performs the most comprehensive, high-performance security validation in the industry. Our proven methodologies reflect real-world traffic and usage conditions, helping information security professionals understand how products will work in their environments. NSS Labs is a participating organization in the PCI Security Standards Council, and is solely responsible for its test criteria, methodologies and reports. Clients include brand names like IBM, Cisco, Juniper Networks, SourceFire, McAfee, Fortinet, Radware, and Third Brigade. For more information, visit: www.nsslabs.com .

Contact: David Oates david@stalwartcom.com 858.750.5560