New Services Provide Fix For Security Vulnerabilities
NetSecure, the network vulnerability monitoring and management company, has announced two new services, SecAlert and SecAlert-Active, to greatly simplify the process of finding and applying IT security patches for British businesses, reducing costs and greatly improving security levels. The services notify companies of vulnerabilities specific to their IT systems as they arise and proactively provide the corresponding fixes. This is an area that is seriously neglected by most companies.
SecAlert and SecAlert-Active remove the need for in-house IT personnel to constantly trawl through multiple vendors’ websites in order to track down necessary alerts, patches, etc. and maintain system security.
“The vast majority of companies are still leaving the security of their networks and websites to chance, because they don’t have the resources to adequately implement an effective patch management regime, or worse, choose to ignore the risks,” said Alan McGibbon, CEO NetSecure. “With over 4000 vulnerabilities reported in 2002 and nearly 2000 vulnerabilities reported in the first six months of this year*, companies that don’t practice good patch management are at significant risk from hack attacks and other security breaches. In addition, they could find themselves contravening legislation such as the Data Protection Act if they are shown to have been negligent in maintaining adequate, up to date security levels. Our service is the only effective solution to this problem for companies that haven’t got in-house IT personnel dedicated to patch management.”
SecAlert and SecAlert-Active include an initial audit of a company’s IT system, to produce a detailed record of the hardware and software devices to be monitored for vulnerabilities. Once the audit has been completed, the NetSecure services are tailored to the specific IT system concerned, constantly monitoring all relevant information sources and notifying the company when appropriate alerts and / or patches are issued. As well as notifying the company of relevant patches as they are issued, NetSecure applies a rating to each patch to indicate how significant it is to the user’s system. NetSecure also provides a link to its central repository where patches can be downloaded and applied.
The SecAlert service monitors all hardware and software devices (regardless of manufacturer) typically found in internet-facing systems, including routers, firewalls, web servers, mail servers etc.
In addition, for users of the SecAlert-Active service, NetSecure takes responsibility for deploying and testing any security patches or configuration changes that are required as a result of a new security alert or vulnerability being discovered. This service also includes the delivery of auditable reports that prove the necessary steps have been taken to prevent data loss and unauthorised access.
Pricing for SecAlert and SecAlert-Active services are dependent upon the size and complexity of the IT system being monitored. For a typical 500 to 1,000 user network, with 6 web/FTP servers, 6 Firewalls and 4 email/DNS servers an annual SecAlert service would cost less than £2K per month. This includes initial system audit and full documentation.
About NetSecure
NetSecure Plc is a new UK company that focuses on network vulnerability monitoring and management to help organisations cope with the configuration changes and security threats that they face on a daily basis. www.netsecplc.com