Secure Passage Upgrades FireMon Security Analysis Solution

PRESS RELEASE

OVERLAND PARK, KS " Feb. 24, 2009 " A perfect global storm threatens to engulf firewalls, routers and switches. The storm is fueled by a rising tide of configuration and rule changes driven by compliance regulations, mergers and acquisitions, layoffs, budget cuts, and security threats. Findings from a survey by Secure Passage and a University of Illinois study validate the storm's existence. In the survey, 73 percent of respondents considered firewall rule bases to be either too complex or out of control. The University of Illinois study concluded that attempting to manage firewalls configured with as many as 50,000 rules is becoming "mission impossible even for guru network administrators."

In the midst of this storm, IT security teams struggling to manage firewall, router and switch rule bases are clamoring for automated security analysis and compliance solutions that will ease the resource-intense process of analyzing firewall policies. Secure Passage's flagship product, FireMon, has responded to their distress signals.

FireMon, an automated security analysis and compliance solution for firewalls, routers and switches, is redefining the way organizations address their security analysis and compliance needs. Its scalable, open and secure architecture provides easily customized compliance audit reports; accurate analysis and understanding of how device rule bases impact security, compliance and network operations; fully automated functionality that delivers substantial ROI by reducing the number of resources needed to perform analysis and audit processes; and increased device lifespan and improved performance.

With the latest FireMon version, resource-strapped IT teams can:

Reduce the number of administrators and consultants needed to perform security and compliance analysis and audits, and the amount of time associated with these tasks

Meet regulatory compliance standards at reduced cost for all major regulations, including PCI DSS, Basel II, ISO/IEC, GLBA, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPPA, SB1386, FISMA, and FIPS

Generate on-demand, auditor-friendly, customized audits and reports to prove compliance

Be automatically notified, in real time, about unauthorized rule changes and their impact

Simplify analysis and gain visibility and understanding into how configuration changes will impact security, compliance and network operations

Maintain analysis, alerting and monitoring as additional devices are added to expanding networks

Increase device lifespan and performance by identifying unused rules that can be eliminated, thereby reducing the CPU power needed to process traffic

"Like all major health care organizations, Integris Health has deployed many firewalls as part of its network access, security and compliance strategy. Secure Passage's FireMon solution has enabled us to successfully manage our firewall policies, ensure correct access and maintain effective security and compliance postures," said Integris Health CISO Rob Marti. "We will continue to use FireMon, its flexible architecture, scalability, automated functionality and ease of use gives us absolute confidence in our access, compliance and security strategy."

"For almost two decades, organizations have relied on firewalls to control access to applications and data. Over time, changing business initiatives, increased security threats, and compliance mandates have fattened firewall rule bases, placing considerable strain on IT security teams struggling to manage firewall access policies," said Spire Security Research Director Pete Lindstrom. "IT security teams contending with high degrees of network device complexity should turn to automated policy management tools to ease their management burden, get a handle on out of control policies, and create a more efficient IT environment." "We recognized the future of this market early on and worked closely with hundreds of large global enterprises and partners to understand their requirements, and we have developed a solution that enables them to achieve compliance, be secure, and stay in business," said Secure Passage Co-Founder and CEO Gary Fish. "I believe in this market and have invested my own personal capital to fund development of FireMon and create Secure Passage as the company to deliver this solution so that large global enterprises can address these business challenges."

About Secure Passage Secure Passage is the leading provider of security analysis and compliance solutions that simplify and automate the analysis of configuration and change management processes to enhance security, optimize performance, and speed compliance reporting. The company's flagship product, FireMon, analyzes changes and performs audits in real time; simplifies policy management; and enforces configuration governance across firewalls, switches, routers, and other network devices. FireMon is the only solution on the market that can be customized to meet the unique audit and compliance reporting requirements for networks of all sizes while enabling IT organizations to do more with less effort. Enterprise-strength deployments of FireMon around the world support more than 25,000 security devices from vendors such as Cisco, Juniper, Check Point, and McAfee. For more information, visit www.securepassage.com.