Internet Security Systems Advances VoIP Security Efforts with Industry's First Performance Testing
Internet Security Systems, Inc. (ISS) (NASDAQ: ISSX), the worldwide leader in pre-emptive enterprise security, today announced that its Proventia® Network Intrusion Prevention appliance is the first security product tested for performance in a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) environment by ICSA Labs, a third-party testing organisation and independent division of Cybertrust.
By having a third-party evaluation of the Proventia Network Intrusion Prevention appliance completed, ISS is also the first company to demonstrate that comprehensive network security solutions do not translate into poor VoIP quality. To perform well in VoIP environments, security appliances must both protect the VoIP infrastructure and maintain the voice quality, availability and reliability of the connection.
"As the security industry´s central authority for certification testing of security products, ICSA Labs recognises that many companies are concerned that their networks and productivity will be significantly slowed down by security applications," said George Japak, Vice President, ICSA Labs. "Through this testing, ISS has demonstrated that its security appliances can support concurrent VoIP calls while maintaining an acceptable level of voice quality, availability and reliability. This new category of testing and ISS' performance results show that, when designed effectively, security solutions can thrive even within a large enterprise without compromising business-critical traffic and applications."
According to a recent survey released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), IT decision makers cite VoIP as one of the top three new technology innovations that are likely to transform their organisations over the next few years.
"My company is planning to deploy a VoIP system within the next few months," said Bob Gligorea, Information Security Officer, Exchange Bank. "As an ISS customer, news of this ICSA Labs evaluation alleviates one of my main fears regarding our VoIP implementation – the impact of security on quality of service. I am now confident that ISS will not only help us to maintain high-quality VoIP connections, but will also prevent attackers from exploiting this new communications channel."
ISS was one of the first security companies to provide coverage for VoIP protocols in its products and has been augmenting its protection with new protocol support as VoIP technology continues to mature. ISS' X-Force® research and development team has discovered many vulnerabilities present in popular VoIP products, such as Cisco's Call Manager.
"Many key components of the global communications infrastructure have become breeding grounds for worms, viruses, fraud and spam," said Chris Rouland, Chief Technology Officer, Internet Security Systems. "Without ample protection, we predict that VoIP networks will become infected with the same types of threats that already affect e-mail and instant messaging today. ISS provides protection for the full suite of VoIP protocols and is able to support thousands of concurrent calls, easily meeting the needs of Fortune 500 companies and government organisations."
ISS' Proventia security appliances serve as essential elements of many VoIP security solutions today, providing intrusion prevention at the gateway, on the network and at the host. Proventia products block threats that can bypass even a VoIP-aware firewall and provide added protection to virtual private networks (VPNs) dedicated to voice traffic. ISS' Proventia technology recognises and parses VoIP protocols, which allows it to properly identify and block known and previously undisclosed malicious VoIP exploits.
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