Appliances to feature VPN/firewall, filtering and IDS capabilities.
Symantec next month plans to ship three new gateway security appliances for use by small to midsize businesses as combined VPN/firewall, Web filtering and intrusion-detection systems.
Symantec next month plans to ship three new gateway security appliances for use by small to midsize businesses as combined VPN/firewall, Web filtering and intrusion-detection systems.
The Symantec Gateway 300 series is less powerful than the company’s high-end 5400 security gateway line, which includes an intrusion-prevention system that can block all known attacks at gigabit speeds. The new models – the 320, 360 and 360R – will only recognize about 15 of the most prevalent attacks, including computer worms, which network managers can decide to block.
“In order to run at full-line range, we would have to limit the number of signatures it would detect,” says George Sluz, Symantec’s group product manager. The Gateway 300 models are not powerful enough to handle intensive IDSs or content inspection.
But the new series is relatively low-priced, ranging from $400 to $750, and it is a step above last year’s Gateway 100 and 200 series, which reached maximum speed of 8M bit/sec.
Sluz says the new series relies on technology acquired in Symantec’s purchase of Nexland last year. “They were our partner in the 100 and 200 series, and now we have full access to their source code,” he says.
While the Gateway 300 series does not perform anti-virus content inspection directly at the gateway, it offers a way to check desktops internally to make sure they have the latest anti-virus signature updates and anti-virus software activated.
“Sometimes people turn off the anti-virus, especially when they’re adding new software, and they don’t turn it on again,” Sluz says. The Gateway 300 series is designed to facilitate policy enforcement to restrict use of the network unless anti-virus software policy is followed.
The new series also provides a way to do Web-based content filtering by setting up a URL with “deny” or “allow” lists of Web sites.
The products also are designed to adapt as a WLAN firewall gateway.
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“We have a wireless option slot with it so you can order it an access point kit,” Sluz says. It will have a 802.11g wireless transceiver and will support WLAN 802.11b and 802.11g clients. This conversion would outfit the Gateway 300 to act as a WLAN gateway that could provide firewall and IPSec-based VPN support.
Symantec will ship its own VPN client with the series but is undergoing testing with ICSA Labs to ensure its VPN client will work with others.
And while Symantec will license its products to support up to 75 simultaneous users, the company says it doesn’t restrict the number of users for each gateway or charge extra. “The gateways will actually support more, between 100 to 200 users,” Sluz adds.
