Check Point to Aquire Nokia’s Security Appliance Business..

This was a surprise but not completely.  In the past Nokia was the dominant hardware source for Check Point security software.  With the move by Check Point into its own hardware line, it was a question of how long Nokia would stay in the field.  What will be the outcome of other hardware makers such as Crossbeam etc..  Only time will tell.

I guess the question will be if CP will migrate this into their Secure Platform (SPLAT) or run both lines in parallel.  Its going to be interesting to see how this is going to shake out.  Especially from a CP partner point of view.

TheLV

Experts urge Feds to deploy DNS Security Measures

Internet security gurus and leading vendors are urging the U.S. federal government to rapidly deploy security and authentication mechanisms at the top level of the DNS hierarchy, which is known as the root zone.

Read Full Article on Network World here

Nokia Exiting the Security Appliance Business

One of the largest firewall security appliance vendor’s (Nokia appliances with Check Point software) recently announced that they would be selling off their security appliance business to an unnamed financial investment firm. This will mean significant confusion for Check Point customers running on the Nokia platforms in terms of what level of support, warranty service, product enhancements, etc. that they can expect to receive in the months ahead.

A source close to Nokia Security stated: For customers, it should be business as usual. Operationally speaking, most of what makes up the Security Appliance business in Nokia is already fairly independent of the rest of Nokia. The relationships with Check Point, Sourcefire, and others will continue and likely strengthen. The only real change will be the name on the front door, though you will likely to continue to see the Nokia brand in use for a period of time while the marketing folks roll out the new branding.

If you find your company in this situation please contact Positive Control Networks at lvance@positivecontrolnetworks.com for more information…

Al-Qaeda Sites Disabled

Last month four of the Al-Qaeda websites were found and taken down.  These were forums
that they used to communicate.  In the past they were able to come back pretty quickly
but this time they are having trouble getting back online.

It is not known who took these sites down.  The feds have not taken credit and it was actually
leaked that it could be independent hackers to decided to turn the fight against Al-Qaeda.  Either
way its a good thing.

On the other hand some say it might be better to leave them online so that they can be monitored
to find out what the group might be trying to do next.  Others believe they should be knocked offline
as quickly as possible.  I tend to agree with the latter but I am no expert.

It should be known that this war is not just physical but also virtual.  There are a lot of fights
going on that we never hear about.

Cisco Security Advisory for ASA and PIX

Another advisory for the Cisco PIX and ASA line of security firewalls. This was issued yesterday and should be reviewed if you are running any of these firewalls.  Below is the actual announcement on Cisco’s website:

Multiple vulnerabilities exist in the Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances and Cisco PIX Security Appliances. This security advisory outlines details of these vulnerabilities:

• Windows NT Domain Authentication Bypass Vulnerability
• IPv6 Denial of Service Vulnerability
• Crypto Accelerator Memory Leak Vulnerability

Note: These vulnerabilities are independent of each other. A device may be affected by one vulnerability and not affected by another.

Cisco has released free software updates that address these vulnerabilities. Workarounds that mitigate some of these vulnerabilities are available.

This advisory is posted at http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/707/cisco-sa-20081022-asa.shtml