Real Security in a Virtual World

By Cassimir Medford, April 2000

Hackers tend to employ sophisticated antidetection schemes, many of which are easily available on the Internet. A live "intelligent" security monitor that can scan the network for security breaches and vulnerabilities seems like a pretty good scheme to counter this kind of activity. That scheme is the value proposition pioneered by Internet Security Systems Inc. The Atlanta company markets SAFEsuite, a set of security auditing and scanning tools designed as both an alarm system and a test system for the installed enterprise security system.

Another notable add-on tool for VPN networks is EverLink, a software system that approaches the problem of security from the application layer. EverLink, from Anyware Technology Inc. of City of Industry, CA, takes a granular approach, allowing corporations to grant authorized access to individual outsiders rather than universal or group access to the entire network. Access is also specific to the application, computer or file inside the firewall. All other applications, computers or files will be securely hidden from the outsider or remote user.

"Our product is complementary with VPN technology because we address areas VPNs don't address. We give systems administrators a whole new level of control," explains Ming Huang, chief technology officer and founder of Anyware. In other words, it pays to know who is talking to whom. "VPNs can only control the packets; they cannot control a telnet session, for instance. We give system administrators additional functionality at the application layer. The VPN may be secure, but the corporation may not know who is sending what to whom," he says.

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