Forum Systems Offers Free Web Services Firewall
Salt Lake City, UT – April 14, 2004 – Forum Systems, Inc., leading provider of trust management and threat protection Web services security solutions, today announced that Forum XWallT Web Services Firewall with XIPT (XML Intrusion Prevention) is available as a free software package for download at http://www.forumsys.com/software_download.htm.
The trial version is offered to qualified developers for 90 days. “One of the most difficult tasks a developer of Web service applications faces is the implementation of security controls and content filters within the program logic. Externalizing these controls and defenses into an appliance that can be shared across many applications is an effective approach to improving developer productivity and achieving a higher and more consistent level of security,” Phil Schacter, VP and Service Director, Directory and Security Strategies, Burton Group.
Programming security rules into applications to implement specifications such as WS-Security will become a strain on the development lifecycle as the number of Web services policy enforcement end points expands to include devices, messages and machines – creating a broader view of “application-level” security. Web Services Firewalls, such as Forum XWallT, deployed in front of the application acts as a centralized security policy enforcement engine to ensure trusted data and prevent XML-related threats before they reach the application.
Further, products like Forum XWallT that offer SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) session initiation and termination are appealing to enterprise customers because they complement existing security and Web services architectures for production-ready solutions.
“Data-level security policy and processing demands will compel the application developer to explore scaleable approaches to Web services security. Eighty percent of their issues can be solved by implementing a threat-side firewall to stop a new breed of data-level attacks – such as hidden XML viruses, denial of Web service attacks and data invasions – as well as ensure performance and service level requirements. This is the first step to Web services security,” said Wes Swenson, president and CEO for Forum Systems.
Ray Wagner, Research Director at Gartner Inc. predicts that Web services deployments, especially those that interface with popular off-the-shelf enterprise applications, will suffer from the regular discovery of significant security vulnerabilities and from numerous automated attacks through at least 2006. “Malicious people will find ways to misuse and attack Web services. Web services allow the hidden transmission of executables and other malicious content and current standards don’t address this problem. Perimeter security controls must evolve as quickly as enterprise Web services to detect and neutralize unplanned use.”
About Forum XWallT
Forum XWallT is the industry’s first Web Services Firewall equipped with XML intrusion prevention capabilities to protect enterprises against a new breed of networked threats including XML viruses, data-level corruption and denial of Web service attacks. Forum XWallT ensures critical applications are appropriately accessible and continuously available by allowing network administrators to enforce perimeter policies that check the integrity of data and control access to exposed enterprise Web services. Set up is completed in minutes through two simple steps: loading Web service description language documents (called WSDL files) into XWallT, then applying prevention policies.
About Forum Systems
Forum Systems, Inc. is the leader in Web services security with a comprehensive suite of trust management and threat protection solutions for the automated web. Forum Systems flexible hardware, software and embedded products actively protect Web services from the networks edge to the application server. Forum Systems products are winners of Network Computing Magazine’s Editor’s Choice Award, Network Magazine’s Product of the Year 2003 Award, DEMO 2004 Invitation and are finalist for Network Computing Magazine’s 2003 and 2004 Well-Connected Awards. Forum Systems, founded in 2001, is headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT. For more information contact 801-313-4400 or http://www.forumsys.com/.
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