InfoExpress is merging its LAN and WAN access-control appliances into one product that will let customers simplify local or remote network access policies.
InfoExpress is merging its LAN and WAN access-control appliances into one product that will let customers simplify local or remote network access policies.
Called CyberGatekeeper, the gear comes in two models, CG 1000 and CG 2000, and can check out 50 to 10,000 endpoints at once to see whether they comply with security requirements.
Until now, the devices were sold on the same hardware platform with either the LAN software or WAN software, but not both. The new configuration with both sets of software costs the same as each of the former configurations separately.
CyberGatekeeper devices sit on a corporate network and determine whether computers trying to gain access meet standards such as having updated anti-virus software in place, proper registry settings, operating system patches and the like. If not, the InfoExpress gear can reject access, restrict access to a limited network segment or trigger a pop-up that instructs users what upgrades the computer needs to meet security policies.
If the device is logging on remotely, CyberGatekeeper intercepts traffic between the VPN gateway and the firewall, dropping traffic from devices that fail the policy check. If it is a LAN device, it can enforce policies via LAN switches. The switches can reassign access privileges for the port the device is plugged into.
InfoExpress products perform tasks that overlap with those performed by Cisco’s emerging Network Admission Control (NAC) and Microsoft’s announced Network Access Protection, that is, to secure endpoints – computers, handhelds, Internet-enables phones – before granting network access, says Pete Lindstrom, a security analyst with Spire Group. InfoExpress says it plans to issue new software next year that supports NAC.
Lindstrom says vendors such as Sygate and Check Point via its Zone Labs acquisition support similar endpoint checks, as do many SSL VPN vendors whose gear screens just those devices trying to connect over the SSL VPN. “It’s just-in-time security that can evaluate the client, has a quarantining capability and can direct the client to remediation,” Lindstrom says.
The software for the devices now support Nortel switches. Previously, CyberGatekeeper supported only Cisco switches.The software also supports 802.1x port-level authentication, which makes it possible to use any 802.1x LAN switch as an enforcement point for CyberGatekeeper.
The new release, called CyberGatekeeper 3.0, adds support for wireless LAN switches Airspace makes, making it possible to ensure devices connecting via wireless access points don’t violate security.
Also new with CyberGatekeeper 3.0 is support for Juniper’s SSL VPN gear, making it possible to screen remote machines that are making SSL connections. Previously, the software would check devices equipped with Juniper’s SSL remote-access client.
CyberGatekeeper 1000 costs $10,000 with a license for 50 simultaneous user devices and ranges up to $250,000 for one that supports 5,000 user devices. CyberGatekeeper 2000 costs from $30,000 to $500,000 with support for 250 to 10,000 endpoints.
