CipherTrust appliance protects corporate resources

Messaging security vendor CipherTrust this week is expected to announce an initiative to extend its outbound communication protection beyond e-mail.

Early next year the company plans to release IronNet, a gateway appliance designed to enforce compliance and prevent information leaks by filtering outbound HTTP and FTP traffic. Augmenting the e-mail and instant-messaging security appliances the company already sells, IronNet aims to protect the remaining channels from which employees can send protected or proprietary information outside corporate walls.

Managed security service provider Gladiator Technology in Alpharetta, Ga., serves about 300 community banks and credit unions that grapple with compliance issues stemming from regulations such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Gladiator uses CipherTrust's IronMail appliance as part of its service to secure clients' e-mail communications, and is considering adding IronNet to its portfolio. "They have to do certain things to meet those regulations and get through the auditing process, and that's a financial strain," says Ralph Sikes, CIO of Gladiator. "As these technologies improve with the ability to secure more layers [of communication], it puts that in reach of the [small to midsize business] market and allows them to have solutions they wouldn't have been able to have a year ago."

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Messaging security vendor CipherTrust this week is expected to announce an initiative to extend its outbound communication protection beyond e-mail.

Early next year the company plans to release IronNet, a gateway appliance designed to enforce compliance and prevent information leaks by filtering outbound HTTP and FTP traffic. Augmenting the e-mail and instant-messaging security appliances the company already sells, IronNet aims to protect the remaining channels from which employees can send protected or proprietary information outside corporate walls.

Managed security service provider Gladiator Technology in Alpharetta, Ga., serves about 300 community banks and credit unions that grapple with compliance issues stemming from regulations such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Gladiator uses CipherTrust's IronMail appliance as part of its service to secure clients' e-mail communications, and is considering adding IronNet to its portfolio. "They have to do certain things to meet those regulations and get through the auditing process, and that's a financial strain," says Ralph Sikes, CIO of Gladiator. "As these technologies improve with the ability to secure more layers [of communication], it puts that in reach of the [small to midsize business] market and allows them to have solutions they wouldn't have been able to have a year ago."

CipherTrust competes with SurfControl, Tumbleweed and MessageLabs.

Unlike CipherTrust's e-mail and IM appliances that scan messages coming into and going out of an organization, IronNet in its first release will only protect outbound traffic. The company is looking into developing capabilities that would protect inbound traffic as well, says CipherTrust CTO Paul Judge.

IronNet uses multiple detection techniques to scan outgoing traffic for information that is protected under federal regulations, as well as for proprietary or inappropriate information, Judge says. Outbound communication containing flagged information can be blocked, quarantined, alerted and encrypted.

Users of IronNet and other CipherTrust appliances can establish unified policies that are enforced across the products, using CipherTrust Central to manage these policies and generate reports.

Pricing for IronNet will start at $6,000. n

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