iPolicy Moves into Security Management

EE Times, May 3, 2004
By Loring Wirbel

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — iPolicy Networks Inc., a packet-inspection specialist which has offered gateways and firewalls for security applications in the past, has introduced its first global security management software system.

The Unified Security Manager for the Enterprise, or USM Enterprise, is a three-tiered environment that allows for scaling security control across multiple dimensions. It will be shown for the first time at NetWorld+Interop in Las Vegas.

The highest network view in USM is handled by the Global Security Interface, an abstract-layer management console for the highest views.

The enforcement platforms residing beneath the GSI are the Global Security Administrators, centralized server-based enforcers of policy. In each network security sub-domain, a Local Security Supervisor handles distributed enforcement.

The GSI can create horizontal virtual security domains, identifying common distributed secure realms serving corporate divisions such as engineering or marketing, as well as ad hoc project groups. The management software scales to support as many as 1000 ip Enforcer firewalls.
The end result is that USM can block worms and viruses, can handle distributed or centralized denial-of-service attacks, can decrypt encrypted malicious traffic, and can provide complete forensics information on intrusion attempts.

The software handles line-rate throughput of 10 Mbits/sec to 5 Gbits/sec. It can handle 1 million simultaneous sessions, with up to 40,000 new session creations each second. It can handle greater than 300,000 firewall rules, and provides over 5 million URL filters in 44 categories.