CyberGuard Offers Embedded Firewall Network Card

Enterprise Networks & Servers, Feb 2004

CyberGuard Corp. has announced general availability of the SnapGear by CyberGuard PC1635, an embedded firewall network card that fits into standard peripheral slots in PC desktops and servers. The new card allows deployment of advanced network security functions, such as virtual private network and firewall and intrusion detection, that protect individual servers and desktops from internal and external threats.

"CyberGuard's SnapGear PCI635 brings centrally managed hardware security to the individual user by embedding firewalls inside local desktops and servers," said Sanjay Iyer, senior analyst at The Linley Group. "A distributed, hardware-based firewall complements perimeter firewalls, providing the best protection against attacks from within the enterprise and an excellent means to contain the spread of worms. The distributed security approach is going to become a required component of defensein-depth practice for enterprises in an increasingly insecure world.

The SnapGear by CyberGuard hardware-based distributed security approach puts a PCI635 firewall and intrusion detection system as close as possible to every host system that requires protection, eliminating the possibility of internal attack from behind the firewall. The PCI635 can be configured to prevent desktop users from tampering with security settings, further reducing the threat of security breaches from people on the internal network.

Because this is a NIC-based firewall/VPN/IDS device that is independent of the host, the PCI635 makes the desktop system quite immune to Windows vulnerability exploits. This is important since software-based security solutions can be rendered useless if the OS is exploited, compromising the computer and potentially the internal network.

"It's no longer enough to set up a firewall at the front of the network and trust everyone behind the firewall," said Gregg Rosenberg, CEO of RICIS, a SnapGear by CyberGuard distributor. "Considering that the majority of real-world security problems my customers encounter occur on internal networks, having the PCI635 limit what users can do across the corporate network through an embedded firewall on every server and desktop is as good as it gets. We have many customers using SnapGear firewalls to even subdivide internal networks."

Core features in all of SnapGear by CyberGuard VPN/firewall products include the following:

IPsec (Internet protocol security) and PPTP (point-to-point tunneling protocol) VPN with dynamic stateful firewall based on SnapGear Embedded Linux, a secure Linux distribution embedded in more than 20 million devices; and

Web-based configuration, management and monitoring GUI.

Unique new features of the SnapGear by CyberGuard PCI635:

An intrusion detection system (IDS) based on Snort that increases security by identifying known security attacks;

A slot-in card design, which places the firewall inside the computer to be protected, eliminating internal security threats from attacks behind the firewall;

Support for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 server, and Linux.

www.cyberguard.com