WatchGuard Wins Network Products Guide 2009 Awards

WatchGuard Firebox X Peak 8500e Provides Unparalleled Security for Schools and Universities

LAS VEGAS (Interop) – May 19, 2009. WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader in extensible network security and connectivity solutions, today announced today that Network Products Guide, the industry's leading publication on information technologies and solutions, has named the WatchGuard Firebox X Peak 8500e as the winner of the 2009 Best Products and Services Award – "Best Security Solution for Education." This respected annual award honors products and services that represent the rapidly changing needs and interests of the end-users of technology worldwide. As part of the tech-industry's leading global awards program, this year's Best Products and Services were nominated from all over the world.

"The education market has unique security needs for hardened protection, high performance and flexible management – all at extremely competitive price points," said Tim Helming, director of product management at WatchGuard Technologies. "WatchGuard is pleased to win yet another award for its security solutions for the education market. Clearly, WatchGuard delivers the requisite security that schools and universities need in today's networked world."

"Increased end-user awareness and ongoing advances in technology are helping shape better products and services," says Rake Narang, editor-n-chief, Network Products Guide. "For the education market, the WatchGuard Firebox X Peak 8500e brings improvements in network security, performance, flexibility, ease of management and total cost of ownership."

WatchGuard – Providing Extensible Security to Education
From K-12 through higher education, there are consistent themes in network security that are of universal concern – connectivity, protection from malware, protection from harmful content, and increasingly the collection of forensic data.

At the K-12 and library level, there is an additional incentive driving network security. For schools and libraries to be eligible for the Federal Communications Commission Universal Service Fund (commonly known as "E-Rate"), the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires that they adopt an Internet safety policy and employ protections that block or filter visual depictions deemed obscene, pornographic, or harmful to minors.

Extensible threat management (XTM) security solutions from WatchGuard, including the Firebox X Peak 8500e, aggregate multiple security measures into a single, easily configurable solution. Schools and libraries can choose from a rich portfolio of devices, which can be deployed everywhere from individual schools to district or state data centers, to protect students and confidential school data while delivering rich management, real-time monitoring, and information-packed logging and reporting.
To Purchase WatchGuard Products Visit http://www.guardsite.com

WatchGuard Extends Business Mobility with New SSL VPN Appliance

New WatchGuard SSL 100 - Highly Secure, Easy to Use, Flexible and Affordable Network Connectivity for Small-to-Medium Sized Businesses

LAS VEGAS (Interop) – May 19, 2009. WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader in extensible network security and connectivity solutions, today unveiled the WatchGuard SSL 100 - a highly secure, easy to use and extremely flexible, all-in-one SSL VPN appliance that gives businesses an affordable way to provide their remote and mobile workers with network access and application delivery for maximum productivity.

"Remote and mobile workers are the front line for many businesses, and key to their productivity and success is having easy to use, highly secure access to critical data, resources and applications," said Bryan Nairn, Senior Product Manager at WatchGuard Technologies. "The new WatchGuard SSL 100 leverages our award-winning and feature-rich enterprise SSL VPN technology, and distills it into a best in class, all-in-one appliance."

Ideal for businesses with up to 500 users, the WatchGuard SSL 100 supports up to 100 concurrent connections. Unlike other vendor SSL VPN offerings that require additional add-ons or expensive service contracts, the WatchGuard SSL 100 provides a complete and comprehensive array of features that are designed to provide maximum ease of use, flexibility and high security for less than $2,000.

WatchGuard - Making Remote Access Easy
Nimble by design, the WatchGuard SSL 100 comes ready to go out of the box as one, easy to install appliance that almost anyone can set up and run. With its installation wizards, the "time to value" of the WatchGuard SSL 100 is measured in minutes.

Because of its comprehensive authentication technology, the WatchGuard SSL 100 completely eliminates the required burden of integrating the appliance with other third-party authentication systems, such as LDAP, Active Directory, or RADIUS. However, for businesses that already use these types of authentication systems, the WatchGuard SSL 100 can seamlessly interoperate with them, as well.

With comprehensive logging and reporting capabilities, the WatchGuard SSL 100 provides a rich history of remote user information that gives businesses insight to better manage and adjust remote resources, applications and infrastructure needs.

WatchGuard – Extending Business Flexibility
For organizations that want to deliver applications or tools to remote users, the WatchGuard SSL 100 offers delivery of non-native desktop and server applications such as SSH (Secure Shell) and RDP (Remote Desktop). This allows remote workers to securely access and work with applications as if they were in the office from any location worldwide.

To help road warriors, WatchGuard provides Desktop Sharing and Remote Assist. This feature allows administrators or business channel partners to initiate connections to remote devices, such as laptops, from their helpdesk. They can then take control of and diagnose remote user issues quickly and easily, thus saving time and helping to keep road warriors productive in the field.

WatchGuard - Providing Security for Mobile Workers
Leveraging WatchGuard's security heritage and technology portfolio, the WatchGuard SSL 100 provides unmatched security features for remote workers. With its new deep device examination, end-point integrity checking functionality, businesses can easily create and enforce security policies to ensure connecting devices have firewall protection and up to date anti-virus definitions so that only healthy and policy compliant devices are on the network.

Furthermore, the WatchGuard SSL 100 provides an auto-loading access client. This is a web-based access client that automatically loads after successful authentication. This eliminates the need to pre-install a client application on remote users' systems, while simplifying secure access to network resources.

Additional security can be utilized with onboard two-factor authentication. The WatchGuard SSL 100 can generate SMS-based tokens and one-time password (OTP) to a user's mobile device, such as a corporate cell phone, smart phone or wireless PDA. This provides fast and secure two-factor authentication without having to use other third-party authentication solutions. However, for businesses that currently use external authentication methods, the WatchGuard SSL 100 supports over a dozen different authentication types right out of the box.

The WatchGuard SSL 100 also provides enhanced access client support. With current client support for Microsoft Windows 32-bit and 64-bit clients, the WatchGuard SSL 100 also supports Microsoft Vista clients and is Windows 7 ready.

To Purchase WatchGuard Products Visit http://www.guardsite.com

WatchGuard Supercharges Performance to Mainstream Security Appliance Line

WatchGuard Firewall Appliances Provide Remote Kiosk Security and Credit/Debit Card Customer Data Protection

SAN FRANCISCO (RSA) – April 23, 2009. WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader in extensible network security and connectivity solutions, today announced that with their new Fireware XTM operating system, WatchGuard Firebox X Core 550 and 750 e-series security appliances will realize substantial system improvements for packet filter throughput and IPSEC VPN performance. This power boost gives administrators even greater ROI on their existing Core series investments, and for new customers, non-stop security for today's dynamic environments.

When running Fireware XTM, WatchGuard Firebox X Core 550e series performs packet filtering 33 percent faster and gains a whopping 470 percent boost to IPSEC VPN performance. The Firebox X Core 750e series likewise gains a 33 percent increase in packet filtering and provides an impressive 400 percent increase to IPSEC VPN.

"WatchGuard strives to give customers unbeatable network security and unrivaled return on investment," said Tim Helming, director, product management at WatchGuard Technologies. "Hackers, identity thefts and other cyber-criminals prey on businesses that fail to maintain their security. Because of this, WatchGuard went to great lengths to increase the performance of our mainstream Core series so that budget-conscious businesses would have best in class security and high performance without having to spend an additional dime."

The Firebox Core 550 and 750 power boost is a free online appliance upgrade available to customers with current LiveSecurity service. It will be available in 45 days, along with WatchGuard Fireware XTM. See www.watchguard.com for more details.

WatchGuard Firebox X Core Series – Ultimate Security for Growing Businesses
Ideal for small to medium sized businesses, as well as mid-market enterprise organizations, the WatchGuard Firebox X Core series provide the best performance and most complete security in their class, integrating built-in zero day protection with robust security subscriptions for an unbeatable combination of network defense capabilities.

Powerful, yet easy to configure and manage, the Firebox Core series integrate a powerful combination of application proxy firewall, VPN, intrusion prevention, gateway anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, and URL filtering into a single appliance for comprehensive defenses, reducing the time and cost associated with managing multiple point-solutions.

Unlike other security appliances, the WatchGuard Firebox Core series come pre-equipped with rich logging and reporting tools for free, right out of the box. This way, administrators gain much needed insight and awareness of network activities without having to purchase additional tools.

To Purchase WatchGuard Products Visit http://www.guardsite.com

WatchGuard Sets New Standard for Network Security - Unveils Breakthrough Operating System for UTM Appliances

New WatchGuard Fireware XTM OS Provides Extensive Array of New Security, Networking and Management Capabilities

SAN FRANCISCO (RSA) – April 21, 2009. WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader in extensible network security and connectivity solutions, today unveiled its new operating system for WatchGuard security appliances – WatchGuard Fireware XTM. With this new operating system, WatchGuard customers can extend the capabilities of their unified threat management (UTM) firewall appliances to include a bevy of new security features, networking capabilities and management functions.

The new WatchGuard operating system, Fireware XTM, defends networks by adding innovative security features, including full HTTPS inspection, VoIP security, and IM and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) application blocking. Furthermore, Fireware XTM integrates new networking capabilities, including clustering, load-balancing and other networking features. Additionally, the new operating system also extends management capabilities by adding role-based access control (RBAC), centralized multi-box management and enhanced reporting functions. The combination of this makes Fireware XTM the most powerful operating system developed by WatchGuard needed for today's ever-growing threats and dynamic business environments.

"WatchGuard's vision of extensible threat management means giving customers the ability to extend or add on to or augment their security foundation," said Eric Aarrestad, Vice President, Marketing at WatchGuard Technologies. "With Fireware XTM, businesses gain a new and formidable tool that keeps their networks, resources and sensitive data safe and highly secure."

Fireware XTM – Superior Security for Today's Dynamic Business Environments
HTTPS connections are often used for payment transactions on the Web, such as online banking, and for sensitive transactions in corporate information systems. Because HTTPS traffic is encrypted, it presents a blind spot to network administrators who are unable to detect threats in these data streams. This opens network doors to malware attacks and other pernicious threats, such as HTTPS cookie hijacking.

With Fireware XTM, administrators can now effectively eliminate the HTTPS network threat vector. By way of WatchGuard's HTTPS proxy technology that intercepts, scans and rebuilds HTTPS data streams, administrators can now accurately audit, report and protect users from receiving dangerous file types.

With a projected growth of 20.1 percent, VoIP is easily one of the fastest growing IT markets, which also makes it one of the most exposed threat vectors into corporate networks. Because of this, threats such as DoS attacks on VoIP networks, directory harvesting, and "vishing" attacks are rapidly increasing in popularity.

Unlike some UTM solutions that merely provide network address translation to obscure a VoIP system, Fireware XTM provides application-level security for SIP and H.323 protocols. These security capabilities conceal business VoIP systems and concomitantly harden them to repel directory harvesting attacks, input validation hacks (buffer overflows), and other major VoIP threats.

Botnets – hijacked computers containing malware applications – are also major concerns and liabilities for today's businesses. Because many botnets use the same protocols used for legitimate business applications, such as instant messaging, administrators are faced with limited options – eliminate IM or risk botnet infection, loss of resources and control.

With Fireware XTM administrators can enjoy having both the convenience of IM and protection from botnets. Fireware XTM provides application inspection as well as port and protocol identification to ensure application traffic is valid and safe. Additionally, the WatchGuard HTTPS inspection works in tandem with IM and P2P application blocking, which foils even those bots that use encryption in their attempt to evade detection.

Fireware XTM – Extending Security and Networking Capabilities
Users today demand that their networks provide non-stop, high-performance throughput. To help meet this need while providing extensible protection, Fireware XTM supports full appliance clustering so that organizations can meet high availability requirements, including active/active load balancing, seamless fail-over, full session synchronization and the ability to add high-security throughput capacity as their network grows.

Because every network is unique and requires different capabilities, WatchGuard designed its new OS for maximum network flexibility. With Fireware XTM network administrators can use a WatchGuard firewall UTM appliance in a multitude of new ways. This includes support for transparent mode, HTTP redirection for support of caching proxy servers, multicast support over VPN tunnels, NAT over branch office VPN, and the ability to assign multiple VLANs on external interfaces.

For workers in mobile environments who need to maintain secure VPN connectivity as they roam from access point to access point, Fireware XTM supports roaming while using mobile VPN with IPSEC. With this feature, VPN tunnels remain "alive" while users move among multiple APs or 3G connection points. This gives users a new level of freedom coupled with strong security.

Fireware XTM – Making Security More Manageable
Administrators will agree that information security is only as good as its management. Here, WatchGuard introduces new features that allow administrators to work they way that they prefer. With Fireware XTM administrators can now manage their appliances by a command line interface (CLI), a web GUI, or from the WatchGuard System Manager (WSM) console. Additionally, with CLI control, administrators can create and use their favorite scripting tools to automate common tasks, thus saving time and reducing errors.

Further adding defense in depth and management control, WSM now supports RBAC (Role Based Access Control). This enables organizations to create and assign firewall/UTM management roles to specified administrators based on the best security practice and rule of "least user access."

In order to meet the latest regulatory requirements, administrators are challenged to standardize and automate the collection and management of firewall and device configurations. With WatchGuard System Manager, which is included with all Firebox X Core and Peak appliances, administrators can have complete, centralized multi-box management and control of WatchGuard appliances, including scheduling of software updates, configuration of policies, updates to licensing, and the ability to publish changes globally across all managed WatchGuard devices.

Organizations need detailed reports for a variety of reasons, ranging from regulatory compliance and security incident troubleshooting, to monitor Web usage and billing requirements. WatchGuard System Manager now offers new audit reports driven by role-based access control records, customized report output and new filtering options so that administrators can quickly get the information most important to them.

To Purchase WatchGuard Products Visit http://www.guardsite.com

Info Security Products Guide Names WatchGuard Winner of the 2009 Tomorrow's Technology Today Award

WatchGuard Wins Category of "Security Solution for Education"

SAN FRANCISCO (RSA) – April 20, 2009. WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader in extensible network security and connectivity solutions, today announced that Info Security Products Guide, the industry's leading publication on security-related products and technologies named WatchGuard Technologies the winner of the 2009 Tomorrow's Technology Today Award – Security Solution for Education. This prestigious award recognizes security vendors with advanced, ground-breaking technologies and solutions that are helping set the bar higher for others in all areas of information security. The WatchGuard family of UTM (unified threat management) appliances was selected based on its "unparalleled network security against a myriad of threats" for the education market.

"The education market is rife with all sorts of network threats designed to get sensitive data, such as student social security numbers or other identity-based data, such as names, addresses, and the like," said Tim Helming, director of product management at WatchGuard Technologies. "It is an honor to be recognized for WatchGuard's ability to protect schools, their networks and most importantly, safeguard their students' information."

WatchGuard - Unparalleled Network Security Against a Myriad of Threats
As stated in Info Security Products Guide, "School districts need application-based proxy inspection, branch office and mobile user VPN capabilities, and zero-day attack prevention within a budget to deliver a much higher level of security than systems that rely solely on signature analysis for protection."

The WatchGuard family of UTM appliances provides "unparalleled network security against a myriad of threats." Recent third-party tests validate WatchGuard's industry lead at stopping nearly 99 percent of network attacks and threats. Because of WatchGuard's advanced proxy technology and security architecture, schools and school districts can rest assured knowing that their mission critical data is highly secure from outside attacks.

WatchGuard offers an online knowledge base, including a series of case studies and information resources that demonstrate how schools utilize WatchGuard UTM solutions in maintaining high security.
To Purchase WatchGuard Products Visit http://www.guardsite.com

Info Security Products Guide Names WatchGuard Winner of the 2009 Global Excellence in Integrated Security Solution Hardware

WatchGuard Firebox X Core 1250e Unified Threat Management (UTM) Appliance Gains Highest Trust of Customers Worldwide

SAN FRANCISCO (RSA) – April 20, 2009. WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader in extensible network security and connectivity solutions, today announced that Info Security Products Guide, the industry's leading publication on security-related products and technologies has named the WatchGuard Firebox X Core 1250e UTM appliance the winner of the 2009 Global Product Excellence in Integrated Security Solutions Hardware Customer Trust Award. This customer trust honor is a ringing endorsement to the fact that the Firebox X Core 1250 e-series leads the industry when it comes to the best-of-the-best products that provide strong network security.

"In an interconnected world threats have no boundaries and security has to remain a prime requirement," said Rake Narang, editor-in-chief of Info Security Products Guide. "We are pleased to honor WatchGuard as a winner for 2009."

WatchGuard Firebox X Core Series – Ultimate Security for Growing Businesses
The WatchGuard Firebox X Core series provide the best performance and most complete security in their class, integrating built-in zero day protection with robust security subscriptions for an unbeatable combination of network defense capabilities.

Powerful, yet easy to configure and manage, the Firebox Core series integrate a powerful combination of application proxy firewall, VPN, intrusion prevention, gateway anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, and URL filtering into a single appliance for comprehensive defenses, reducing the time and cost associated with managing multiple point-solutions.

"Info Security Products Guide's recognition of the WatchGuard Firebox Core further validates our product as being best in class and ahead of the curve," said Eric Aarrestad, vice president, marketing at WatchGuard Technologies. "Customer trust is the utmost quality that WatchGuard can earn. Because of this, it is a tremendous honor to receive global recognition as an award-winning, trusted solution."

To Purchase WatchGuard Products Visit http://www.guardsite.com

Social Media Release: WatchGuard Announces Leading Threats to Voice over IP

SEATTLE - April 14, 2009 -- WatchGuard Technologies

Highlights / News Facts:

* Strong Growth of VoIP Makes it a Target - Recently published reports predict that nearly 75 percent of corporate phone lines will be using Voice over IP (VoIP) in the next two years; expectations are that half of small-to-medium sized businesses and two-thirds of all enterprise organizations will be using VoIP. By this year's end, the global total number of VoIP subscribers (residential and commercial) is expected to reach nearly 100 million users. Because of the ubiquity of VoIP, it is quickly emerging as a new and substantive threat vector to businesses worldwide. The following are the leading threats to business networks that use VoIP:
* Denial of Service (DoS) – Similar to DoS attacks on data networks, VoIP DoS attacks leverage the same tactic of running multiple packet streams, such as call requests and registrations, to the point where VoIP services fail. These types of attack often target SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) extensions that ultimately exhaust VoIP server resources, which cause busy signals or disconnects.
* Spam over Internet Telephony (SPIT) – Much like the majority of e-mail spam, SPIT can be generated in a similar way with botnets that target millions of VoIP users from compromised systems. Like junk mail, SPIT messages can slow system performance, clog voicemail boxes and inhibit user productivity.
* Voice Service Theft – VoIP service theft can happen when an unauthorized user gains access to a VoIP network, usually by way of a valid user name and password, or gains physical access to a VoIP device, and initiates outbound calls. Often, these are international phone calls to take advantage of VoIP's toll by-pass capabilities.
* Registration Hijacking – A SIP registration hijack works by a hacker disabling a valid user's SIP registration, and replacing it with the hacker's IP address instead. This allows the hacker to then intercept incoming calls and reroute, replay or terminate calls as they wish.
* Eavesdropping – Like data packets, voice packets are subject to man-in-the-middle attacks where a hacker spoofs the MAC address of two parties, and forces VoIP packets to flow through the hacker's system. By doing so, the hacker can then reassemble voice packets and literally listen in to real-time conversations. From this type of attack, hackers can also purloin all sorts of sensitive data and information, such as user names, passwords, and VoIP system information.
* Directory Harvesting – VoIP directory harvesting attacks occur when attackers attempt to find valid VoIP addresses by conducting "brute force" attacks on a network. When a hacker sends thousands of VoIP addresses to a particular VoIP domain, most of the VoIP addresses will "bounce back" as invalid, but from those that are not returned, the hacker can identify valid VoIP addresses. By harvesting the VoIP user directory, the hacker now gains a new list of VoIP subscribers that can be new targets to other VoIP threats, such as SPIT or vishing attacks.
* Vishing (Voice Phishing) – Vishing mimics traditional forms of phishing – attempts to get users to divulge personal and sensitive information, such as user names, account numbers and passwords. The trick works by spamming or "spitting" users and luring them to call their bank or service provider to verify account information. Once valid user information is given, criminals are free to sell this data to others, or in many cases, directly siphon funds from credit cards or bank accounts.
* Because of these quickly emerging threats, WatchGuard recommends that businesses using VoIP systems review their perimeter and VoIP security to ensure they have the most proficient security solutions in place.

To Purchase WatchGuard Products Visit http://www.guardsite.com