Network Associates Announces World's First Integrated Security Product Line To Universally Support VeriSign, Entrust, and PGP Certificates
Secure Inter-Application Authentication Enables Groundbreaking 'Active Security'
Entrust Technologies and VeriSign Join Network Associates Premiere Partners Program
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Network Associates (Nasdaq: NETA - news), the worldwide market leader in network security applications, today announced a strategic alliance with VeriSign (Nasdaq: VRSN - news) and Entrust Technologies (Nasdaq: ENTU - news) that will deliver standards-based support of the world's leading Public Key Infrastructures (PKIs) across its broad line of security products. To ensure authenticated integration that cannot be altered or forged, Network Associates will add universal support for Entrust, VeriSign, and its own PGP authentication into all future releases of its integrated security product line, Net Tools Secure, beginning in December. For the first time ever, firewalls, encryption applications, intrusion vulnerability scanners, virtual private networks, and event management applications will all be able to communicate securely in a concerted effort to stop hackers more effectively.
''Network Associates has assembled a tremendous set of security products and has a clear vision for integration,'' said Stratton Sclavos, president and CEO of VeriSign. ''VeriSign enables companies of every size to take advantage of this vision right out-of-the-box without the necessity of deploying and managing a full public key infrastructure on their own.''
''Network Associates is enhancing the integration of security applications in ways that clearly benefit our mutual customers,'' said John Ryan, president and CEO of Entrust Technologies. ''Entrust's public key infrastructure complements this goal by providing an open, robust, and managed security system that enables encrypted and authenticated communications and has consistently won the industry's highest possible awards for security software quality.''
As the only security vendor with best-in-class firewall, intrusion protection, vulnerability assessment, anti-virus and encryption applications, Network Associates is committed to delivering unprecedented integration between previously independent components of a corporate network security system. Through a concept known as ''Active Security,'' Network Associates is enabling its security products to operate in concert, actively communicating alerts between applications and adapting security policies of these applications for real-time active response when critical security threats are detected.
To enable this secure integration, Network Associates products will be optimized to accept digital certificates from either PGP, Entrust Technologies, or VeriSign, regardless of which PKI provider is in use. Network Associates will also embed its own PKI functionality into all integrated security suites for customers who have not deployed a general-purpose PKI provider. By providing universal out-of-the-box authentication and authorization between its security products, Network Associates ensures that Active Security management communications are protected from misuse by hackers and other unauthorized users.
''The integration of Net Tools Secure with solutions from some of the premier digital certificate providers means greater interoperability for users and IS decision makers alike,'' said Jim Hurley, managing director of the information security practice at Aberdeen Group. ''IS managers bitten by user frustration and the high cost of configuring, managing and maintaining incompatible security point-solutions will want to take a look at how the combination will help.''
''Real integration between individual security products can only occur if active response communications can be securely authenticated,'' said Peter Watkins, general manager of the Net Tools Secure division at Network Associates. ''By enabling our applications to work seamlessly with the major authentication standards, Network Associates is the only vendor who can offer an integrated suite of active security products that is truly more than the sum of its parts. We are very pleased to welcome VeriSign and Entrust Technologies as Network Associates Premiere Partners.''
Today's announcement that VeriSign has joined the Network Associates Premiere Partner Program further expands on the relationship between VeriSign and Network Associates, announced earlier this year. In addition to increased product integration, VeriSign and Network Associates will also open a Net Tools Secure ''Live Test Lab'' web site early next year, enabling customers to easily obtain free certificates to evaluate the Network Associates product line using VeriSign's authentication services.
The addition of Entrust Technologies to the Network Associates Premiere Partner Program also expands on previously announced integration efforts between the two companies. Earlier this year, Entrust included VIPER, the Network Associates VirusScan API, with all shipments of the Entrust Enterprise Desktop Suites(TM), allowing customers to automatically and transparently scan for viruses upon decryption of protected e-mail messages. Entrust Technologies also announced today that it is providing free certificates for web and virtual private network (VPN) applications.
With headquarters in Santa Clara, California, Network Associates, Inc. is a leading supplier of enterprise network security and management software. Network Associates' Net Tools Secure and Net Tools Manager offer best-of-breed, suite-based network security and management solutions. Net Tools Secure and Net Tools Manager suites combine to create Net Tools, which centralizes these point solutions within an easy-to-use integrated systems management environment. For more information, Network Associates can be reached at (408) 988-3832 or on the Internet at nai.com.
SOURCE: Network Associates
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