Check Point eases security update steps

By the end of the year Check Point plans to release software and a service that will let customers more easily update its security platforms.

Called Universal Updatability, the software will apply to all of the company's platforms, says Gil Shwed, chairman and CEO of Check Point. He says they include security software for individual machines accessing a network via VPN gateways and internal security gateways to VPN gear.

This is the latest step in Check Point's grand plan announced two years ago to address perimeter, internal and Web security. The company followed up by issuing a slew of new products to meet that goal. This spring, it continued by adding its NGX management software, which aims to make it simpler to run network security day-to-day and to update software on Check Point's various products.

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

By the end of the year Check Point plans to release software and a service that will let customers more easily update its security platforms.

Called Universal Updatability, the software will apply to all of the company's platforms, says Gil Shwed, chairman and CEO of Check Point. He says they include security software for individual machines accessing a network via VPN gateways and internal security gateways to VPN gear.

This is the latest step in Check Point's grand plan announced two years ago to address perimeter, internal and Web security. The company followed up by issuing a slew of new products to meet that goal. This spring, it continued by adding its NGX management software, which aims to make it simpler to run network security day-to-day and to update software on Check Point's various products.

The new software features will tie together updates for Check Point VPN-1, Integrity endpoint security, Connectra SSL VPN gear, InterSpect internal security gateway and Eventia analyzer software, which gathers network data and correlates security events. The software will be augmented by an update service that will let customers review and accept new features and have them automatically downloaded to the appropriate Check Point products in customer networks, Shwed says.

For instance, if there is a defense for a newly discovered threat, Check Point could distribute an update to defend against it that might be applied to a VPN-1 gateway or to InterSpect, and via a service, the update would be distributed automatically to the appropriate devices, Shwed says. "Everything gets updated in real time, online, without the limitations of other approaches," he says.

Check Point faces challenges from wealthier competitors Cisco and Juniper, which are also trying to develop comprehensive, unified network security. Both have announced their own broad security schemes that involve using networking gear to enforce policies rather than adding security devices separate from the networking gear, as is Check Point's strategy.

The software needed to carry through on Universal Adaptability will be a minor release, says Shwed, for those companies that have made the major shift to NGX. Those who have made the change will find the new upgrade service similar to the company's SmartDefense services, which distributes new software to Check Point products, but in a more cumbersome way. Shwed says somewhere between 15% and 20% of Check Point customers subscribe to SmartDefense services.

Read more about security in Network World's Security section.