Competing Security Vendors Join Forces and Create Industry
Initiative to Make the Web Safer
Independent Product Evaluation Will Provide Objective Assessment of Application
Security Vendor Claims
WASHINGTON, CSI Conference, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at the Computer
Security Institute's 31st Annual Security Conference and Exhibition, the
leading vendors in the application security market announced they have joined
forces to help define more consistent and reliable standards for customers. Jeff Pancottine, Senior Vice President and GM, Security Business Unit for F5
Networks (NASDAQ:FFIV), Shlomo Kramer, CEO of Imperva, Gene Banman, CEO of
NetContinuum and Bob Walters, CEO of Teros have invited Check Point Software
Technologies, Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks, McAfee and Symantec to join them
in submitting their products to an independent application security evaluation
conducted by ICSA Labs, the global leader in information security product
certification.
"With a wide array of security technologies to choose from and a lack of
criteria for what constitutes adequate application protection, selecting
appropriate solutions to protect the Web-enabled enterprise is daunting," said
Mary Ann Davidson, chief security officer for Oracle Corp. "Objective,
independent standards for evaluating Web application security solutions will
make it easier for IT security executives to make better informed purchasing
decisions." According to a joint statement issued by the companies: "Each of our companies
offers architecturally different solutions, and we compete with each other in
the marketplace. At the same time, we are united regarding the minimum criteria
that any security product must meet to provide acceptable protection for
mission-critical Web applications. We believe these minimums are not being met
by many vendors, despite marketing claims that strongly imply such protection. The result is a false sense of security that exposes consumers and corporations
to a higher risk of identity theft and other similar data loss threats. Our
goal is to pave the way for minimum standards that will ensure the safety of
consumers as well as corporate and government environments on the Web." "This kind of multi-vendor collaboration is a positive development for buyers
of application security. Like the established test criteria for network
firewalls, a standard set of baseline criteria for application firewalls can be
helpful in reducing the effort in product selection. Maintaining vendor
neutrality will be a critical success factor for this effort moving forward,"
said Greg Young, research director with Gartner Inc.
Application security is slated to become a $2 billion market over the next five
years according to a recent industry survey by research firm Yankee Group
("Spending on Application Security Accelerates Security BPO," September 2004). However, the lack of established industry best practices, combined with
inconsistent and confusing vendor claims, have made it difficult for IT
decision makers to identify products that provide legitimate protection against
Web application exploits. The result is a greater risk of identity theft and
security breaches that expose confidential data and violate customer
confidentiality.
"Web applications often link directly to sensitive business data, making them a
prime target for hackers intent on stealing financial and identity data. Organizations that do not take this threat seriously expose themselves to
significant risk and increased legal liabilities," said Jim Slaby, senior
analyst at The Yankee Group. "Open initiatives by vendors to self-regulate
their industry benefit customers by helping establish minimum baselines for
comparing security products and sorting through sometimes confusing marketing
messages." To assist security buyers, ICSA Labs Premier Services will carry out an
independent third-party evaluation of products that purport to provide
application security.
Web Application Security "Challenge" Details Formal invitations for the Web Application Security Challenge have been
extended to Check Point Software Technologies, Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks,
McAfee and Symantec. In order to accept this challenge, vendors must notify
ICSA Labs of their intent to participate by November 22, 2004. ICSA Labs has
reserved testing resources to accommodate these evaluations, which are open
only to currently shipping products. The results of all vendors who accept and
successfully pass the Web Application Security Challenge will be posted on the
ICSA Labs web site at the conclusion of testing. The testing criteria for the
Web Application Security Challenge are available for review at
http://www.icsalabs.com/services/AppSec_Requirements.pdf.
About Teros Teros is the global leader in application security. The company's mission is to
guarantee the availability, integrity, and performance of Web and Web
Services-enabled applications by defeating all known and unknown application
attacks and accelerating application performance. Global 1000 corporations,
small and medium-sized enterprises, and government agencies rely on Teros to
secure critical applications, as well as protect sensitive corporate and
customer information. Teros is listed as a "visionary" company in Gartner's
Magic Quadrant for enterprise firewalls and is named a "winner" in the
rapidly-growing application security gateway market by Yankee Group. Teros is
privately held with headquarters in Santa Clara, California. To contact Teros
call 408-850-0800, visit us on the web at http://www.teros.com/, or write to .
About NetContinuum NetContinuum is the leading provider of ASIC-based application firewalls that
deliver the highest level of protection available for web applications and web
services. The NetContinuum Application Security Gateway product line
drastically reduces the risk associated with doing business over the web and is
the only product on the market to pass rigorous independent certification from
ICSA Labs for protection against both network and application-layer security
threats, including data theft, cross-site scripting, SQL injection, command
execution, information disclosure and authentication bypass. NetContinuum is
listed as the most "visionary" company in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for
enterprise firewalls and is named a "winner" in the rapidly-growing application
security gateway market by Yankee Group. NetContinuum boasts an impressive
customer base comprised of Fortune 1000 enterprises, government agencies and
service providers. For more information, please visit
http://www.netcontinuum.com/ or call 408-961-5600.
About Imperva Imperva developed the first Dynamic Profiling Firewall(TM) to provide total
application security -- including protection from Web application, database,
and worm attacks -- with no manual configuration or tuning. The firm's
SecureSphere gateway appliances are deployed in leading financial, healthcare,
and retail organizations around the globe. Imperva is named a "winner" in the
rapidly-growing application security gateway market by Yankee Group. Led by
Shlomo Kramer, a Check Point Software Technologies founder, Imperva is
privately funded by Accel Partners, US Venture Partners, and Venrock
Associates. For more information, visit http://www.imperva.com/, or call
650-345-9000.
About F5 Networks F5 enables organizations to successfully deliver business-critical applications
and gives them the greatest level of agility to stay ahead of growing business
demands. As the pioneer and global leader in Application Traffic Management, F5
continues to lead the industry by driving more intelligence into the network to
deliver advanced application agility. F5 products ensure the secure and
optimized delivery of applications to any user -- anywhere. Through its
flexible and cohesive architecture, F5 delivers unmatched value by dramatically
improving the way organizations serve their employees, customers and
constituents, while lowering operational costs. Over 6,000 organizations and
service providers worldwide trust F5 to keep their businesses running. The
company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington with offices worldwide. For
more information go to http://www.f5.com/.
About ICSA Labs Premier Services ICSA Labs, a division of TruSecure Corporation, offers vendor-neutral testing
and certification of security products. Hundreds of the world's top security
vendors submit their products for testing and certification at ICSA Labs. The
end-users of security technologies rely on ICSA Labs to authoritatively set and
apply objective testing and certification criteria for measuring product
compliance and reliability. The Premier Services group within ICSA Labs
provides security product vendors with private and public evaluations performed
by the industry's most respected experts. Premier Services also offers
evaluation testing for corporations and end-users looking to analyze the myriad
of offerings within a technology space.
As a part of ICSA Labs Premier Services, ICSA Labs has created the Premier
Services Alliance program that consists of a select group of industry-leading
vendors that provide products, services and proprietary methodologies to
complement the testing and certification process. SPI Dynamics, the expert in
Web application security testing and assessment, is a founding partner of the
ICSA Labs' Premier Services Alliance program. As a part of the program, SPI
Dynamics provides ICSA Labs with unequivocal expertise and intelligence on Web
application vulnerabilities and threats through direct access to SPI Dynamics'
distinguished internal research and development team of top security experts,
SPI Labs (http://www.spidynamics.com/SPILabs/index.html).
For more information about Premier Services, please visit:
http://www.icsalabs.com/.
Editorial Contacts:
F5 Imperva
Holly Hagerman Christina Armstrong
Connect Public Relations Connecting Point Communications
801-373-7888 415-442-4029
NetContinuum Teros
Leslie Kesselring Marc Gendron
Kesselring Communications Marc Gendron Public Relations
503-656-2847 781-237-0341
DATASOURCE: NetContinuum CONTACT: Holly Hagerman of Connect Public Relations, +1-801-373-7888, or , for F5; or Christina Armstrong of Connecting Point Communications, +1-415-442-4029, or , for Imperva; or Leslie Kesselring of Kesselring Communications, +1-503-656-2847, or , for NetContinuum; or Marc Gendron of Marc Gendron Public Relations, +1-781-237-0341, or , for Teros Web site: http://www.icsalabs.com/ Web site: http://www.f5.com/ Web site: http://www.imperva.com/ Web site: http://www.teros.com/ Web site: http://www.netcontinuum.com/
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