Juniper upgrades security software with threat intelligence, VPN package

Juniper Networks has added new components to its security portfolio to help customers get a better handle on potential threats as well as improve risk detection and response.

The new products are aimed at figuring out who and what devices are on the network and then offering the security intelligence to help them address threats at every point on the network, said Samantha Madrid vice president of Security Business & Strategy  at Juniper Networks.

Security is always a challenge but even more so now when customers have mass-scale remote workforces, Madrid said. 

Madrid cited a recent Juniper-sponsored IT survey by Vanson Bourne that found 97% of respondents said their companies faced challenges securing their organizations’ network effectively.

“It bears repeating that the IT challenges present before the sudden increase in remote work have been amplified significantly against a burgeoning threat landscape, populated by prolific, highly motivated ‘bad actors’ who constantly innovate and take advantage of every opportunity to thrive and remain undetected,” according to the study.

New ATP features

With that as a backdrop, Juniper added a new feature to its Advanced Threat Prevention (ATP) cloud and appliance-based malware detection and prevention platform, called Adaptive Threat Profiling.  Adaptive Threat Profiling uses Juniper’s Security Services enabled on its SRX Series firewalls to classify traffic based on the endpoint OS, and Juniper says, “this feature is focused on tracking and mitigating threat actors within a network.”

Adaptive Threat Profiling, “allows you to configure security or IDP policies that, when matched, inject the source or destination IP address into a threat feed, which can be leveraged by other devices,” Juniper says.

It does so by informing ATP Cloud of specific threats detected by Adaptive Threat Profiling, which is enabled on SRX firewalls. That threat knowledge is distributed by ATP Cloud on feeds to other SRX devices so they can take further action against the malicious traffic, Juniper says.

Adaptive Threat Profiling can also let users create security intelligence using Juniper’s SecIntel data and their own network information to create threat feeds based on who and what is currently attacking the network and who the attack is targeting.

“Many security attacks are customized to a particular target and Adaptive Threat Profiling lets users customize their own security protection using threat intelligence gathered from their own network,” Madrid said.  “All new threats are then distributed to other points in the network that talk to the impacted device—it creates a real-time closed loop of network intelligence and action.”

Juniper also said it has integrated its SRX firewalls, ATP Cloud and Juniper Mist Cloud services with WootCloud’s HyperContext to identify devices connecting to the network, and automatically segment them, apply additional threat prevention policies, enforce additional authentication or block them outright according to their type and risk level, Madrid said.

WootCloud HyperContext is an agentless service that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect wired or wireless devices on the network. The idea is to give customers the ability to do risk assessment, isolate problems and kick devices off the network when necessary to prevent security problems, Madrid said.

New VPN app

Bumping up its remote-access security offerings, Juniper also rolled out its Secure Connect VPN application.  The package supports IPsec and SSL-VPN security for remote access and can be tied into Juniper’s other services such as its WAN Assurance to ensure all security policies and advanced threat protection features are supported whether the user is at  home, in a branch or using SD-WAN connectivity, Juniper said.  

Juniper has offered VPN services, but they have typically been through partnerships. Secure Connect is Juniper’s own, Madrid said.