Endforce Broadens Endpoint Compliance Enforcement To Include 802.1X Interoperability With Leading Lan Switch Vendors, Adds Support For Customer-Defined Application Assessments
Dublin, Ohio, Aug. 31, 2004—ENDFORCE, Inc., the first software-only, vendor-neutral solution for the definition and enforcement of network endpoint security policies, today announced that it has expanded the network quarantine options available in its flagship ENDFORCE Enterprise? software by adding support for the IEEE 802.1x standard and customer-defined application assessments. These enforcement capabilities allow security administrators to complete automated, proactive assessments tailored to the need of the enterprise, and to use 802.1x access controls to deny connectivity to non-compliant endpoints. ENDFORCE has demonstrated interoperability with products from a growing list of network infrastructure equipment manufacturers, including Foundry Networks, Extreme Networks, 3Com and Cisco Systems.
“Implementation of the 802.1x standard is a critical component of the overall endpoint compliance enforcement strategy for today’s large enterprises,” said Matthew Kovar, vice president, Yankee Group Security Solutions & Services. “ENDFORCE’s pre-emptive enterprise-class enforcement delivers tight integration with the network, an open multi-vendor strategy, and the flexibility to allow business users to adopt compliance enforcement as a best practice, without doing a forklift upgrade to their networks or security infrastructure.”
Specifically, ENDFORCE’s support of IEEE 802.1x will enable ENDFORCE customers to define compliance and quarantine policies for LAN-based endpoints, assess the state of LAN-attached endpoint compliance prior to granting full access to their network, and view summary, detailed, and custom reporting of endpoint compliance throughout the LAN infrastructure.
In addition, ENDFORCE Enterprise now supports detailed, customer-defined application assessments as part of its overall enforcement capability. This enables ENDFORCE customers to design and implement endpoint security policies which ensure that the use of applications such as Peer to Peer or Instant Messaging is in compliance with corporate security policies. ENDFORCE now provides endpoint assessment and enforcement options on a wide range of applications, for remote, mobile, and LAN-connected devices ? all controlled by centralized ENDFORCE policies, enforced on existing network infrastructure.
“Our support for customer-defined applications, market-leading personal firewalls, antivirus applications and operating systems, when combined with support for both RADIUS and 802.1x authentication, makes it easier than ever for customers to implement a comprehensive policy compliance capability. By certifying interoperability of ENDFORCE Enterprise with networking equipment from Extreme, Foundry, Cisco, and 3Com, ENDFORCE is applying its experience in endpoint compliance enforcement to a new, important problem facing enterprises,” said ENDFORCE President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Moore. “Through a single, intuitive interface, our customers can now enforce their security policies on both remote and LAN-attached users, protecting key corporate resources, and improving productivity and security compliance in the process.”
ENDFORCE Enterprise protects organizations by providing proactive enforcement of security policies for network endpoints across both LAN and WAN infrastructure for a broad range of operating systems and security applications from industry leaders including Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro, and others. Prior to authentication, ENDFORCE Enterprise detects unsecured endpoints and prevents them from accessing corporate resources, ensuring that potential vulnerabilities remain isolated and protecting the enterprise until the compromised endpoint is brought into compliance.
ENDFORCE software currently performs over five million security assurances per month. The company’s software enables enterprises to centrally define security policies for network endpoints, consistently assess compliance prior to network access, comprehensively report the state of compliance over time, and proactively enforce compliance for leading security applications and operating systems.
About ENDFORCE, Inc.
ENDFORCE provides the first software-only, vendor-neutral framework that enables enterprise security administrators and executives to define and enforce endpoint security policies for their users. ENDFORCE has established itself as a leader by creating innovative software that automates the design, deployment, and ongoing management of configurations and security policies for both fixed and mobile endpoints. Based in Dublin, Ohio, ENDFORCE is privately held, with investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Invesco Private Capital, and Microsoft. For more information visit www.endforce.com or call 866-777-2537.