Core Security Unveils IMPACT Pro v9 Pen-Testing Software

New release expands enterprise management functionality, security testing capabilities

June 29, 2009

BOSTON—June 29, 2009—Core Security Technologies, provider of CORE IMPACT Pro, the most comprehensive product for proactive enterprise security testing, today announced CORE IMPACT Pro v9, the latest installment of its flagship penetration testing software solution. The new version of CORE IMPACT Pro provides IT security managers with an unmatched level of visibility into their enterprise IT risks, allowing them to replicate real-world cyber attacks that reveal critical exposures on a regular basis.

Get Actionable Data on Real-World Risk With IMPACT Pro v9 penetration testing software, organizations can assess their vulnerability to data breaches and many other attacks in a way that is comprehensive, realistic and safe. Software-based penetration testing also offers tremendous value by enabling organizations to effectively perform internal security self-assessment as frequently as their environments demand, creating a repeatable process that allows them to actively measure and benchmark security posture on an ongoing basis, while providing actionable data for effective remediation.

The new release specifically extends the world's leading commercial-grade penetration testing software solution by adding new enterprise management functionality and expanding the depth and breadth of the product's real-world security testing capabilities.

"IT managers are expanding the use of risk assessment within their enterprise security programs. To make risk assessment work they must create metrics by which to measure their progress over time and actively test their defenses against real-world attacks," said Charles Kolodgy, research director at IDC. "By performing penetration testing, security teams can better monitor, benchmark and remediate exploitable weaknesses. In fact, the US Federal Government and Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards mandate frequent penetration testing."

New Enterprise Management Capabilities Enhance Reporting and Compliance IMPACT Pro v9 provides top-level visibility into organizations' IT-based risks, as well as the actionable data needed to address those issues. New capabilities for managing and reporting on penetration testing processes and results include:

New capabilities for consolidating data from multiple penetration tests into an aggregated report

New Attack Path reports that provide visual representation of multistaged threat behavior, allowing IT security managers to see how attacks can progress and escalate privileges across multiple assets

New and updated reports to assist with regulatory compliance including a new FISMA report and the inclusion of CVSS vulnerability severity scores in IMPACT Pro's PCI Vulnerability Validation reports

Additional Breadth for More Comprehensive Security Testing CORE IMPACT Pro v9 enables customers to test their environments against a broad range of threats, both within and across major attack vectors (web application, endpoint and network). New features include:

Web application fingerprinting capabilities that enable testers to run known exploits for commercial off-the-shelf web applications, in addition to the product's dynamically created web application exploits

Built-in database intelligence that allows testers to uncover specific data exposed by web application vulnerabilities without requiring them to have knowledge of specific database queries o Ability to run IMPACT Pro network, endpoint and web application penetration tests over WiFi networks for added convenience

"While many organizations use manual penetration tests and vulnerability scanning to assess their security challenges, the continued expansion of cyber-threats and mandated IT security controls means vulnerability management has to be taken a step further," said Larry Pesche, manager of IS Security and Disaster Recovery at Care New England. "CORE IMPACT Pro software gives us the ability to isolate our most significant points of risk faster, allowing us to better prioritize necessary remediation."

Additional Depth for Increased Testing Realism CORE IMPACT Pro v9 allows customers to assess the real-world cause and effect of a data breach by taking the same types of actions an attacker would after gaining access to an organization's IT infrastructure. The new release adds new pre- and post-exploitation capabilities that assist with both proactive security testing and post-breach forensic analysis, including:

New pre-exploitation capabilities:

New OS fingerprinting capabilities allow testers to profile targets in a way that is more advanced and less invasive than that used by other security testing solutions

New evasion techniques for testing the effectiveness of web application firewalls (WAFS), intrusion prevention systems (IPS), and data leakage prevention (DLP) systems

Enhanced client-side automation for testing an endpoint system against multiple client-side exploits with a single click, adding efficiency and speed to security assessments

New post-exploitation capabilities:

New password and cookie gathering capabilities extend the tester's ability to replicate real-world cyber attacks by pinpointing the true implications of a system compromise

Support for post-exploitation capabilities in SQL injection tests against web applications that leverage IBM DB2 databases, enabling testers to reveal the potential fallout from successful attacks

Enhanced client-side agent connection capabilities allow testers to extend the "listening period" of deployed client-side agents for additional realism

New client-side module autorun capabilities automatically run post-exploitation modules after an endpoint system is compromised, adding efficiency to client-side tests

New browser man-in-the-middle attack capabilities allow testers to exploit the default configuration of browsers, forcing browser traffic to be executed via proxy through the penetration testing system

"CORE IMPACT Pro v9 offers enhancements to reporting as well as to the depth and breadth of the product's capabilities for cyber attack replication. Not only does the new release help organizations to measure real IT risk and take their vulnerability management processes to the next level, but it also enables them to address regulatory and stakeholder mandates to proactively assess where mission-critical systems and data can be exploited by cyber criminals," said Mark Hatton, CEO of Core Security Technologies. "CORE IMPACT Pro provides customers with the actionable data they need to immediately address their most significant exposures, which is vital to defending against cyber attacks."

About Core Security Technologies Core Security Technologies is the leader in comprehensive penetration testing software solutions that IT executives rely on to expose vulnerabilities, measure operational risk and assure security effectiveness. The company's CORE IMPACT product family offers a comprehensive approach to assessing the security of network systems, endpoint systems, email users and web applications against complex threats. All CORE IMPACT security testing solutions are backed by trusted vulnerability research and leading-edge threat expertise from the company's Security Consulting Services, CoreLabs and Engineering groups. Based in Boston, Mass. and Buenos Aires, Argentina, Core Security Technologies can be reached at 617-399-6980 or on the Web at: http://www.coresecurity.com.

Contacts: Justin Drake or Megan Prock Schwartz Communications