Stories about: NetScreen

I'm sure many of you can relate when I say that a company with a single point of failure is primed for disaster. Sadly, there's one in my department.

Network access control stands out as one of the most promising security technologies, but it also is one of the most misunderstood. That's in part because vendors want in on the NAC buzz and are clamoring for attention, despite selling products that are only peripheral. This raises problems for companies that want to consider NAC but don't have a solid sense of what it is, what it might do for them and what kind of investment it requires.

Network security continues to be a fast-growing market of keen interest to investors. Core network connectivity traditionally has fallen under the purview of hardware manufacturers such as Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks, whereas companies such as Symantec and McAfee (formerly Network Associates) generally have been considered the primary sources of security products. However, this long-established boundary separating networking and security is rapidly blurring and might soon disappear entirely.

Today's Web-connected applications need more than just firewalls. Application-security gateways can't grow up fast enough.

Today's Web-connected applications need more than just firewalls. Application-security gateways can't grow up fast enough

After the Nachi worm hit last year, Joe Granneman, manager of networks and PC services at Rockford Health System, knew it was time for a change. "It only took three infected machines to bring down our dual processor firewall," he marvels. "Without our Internet connection we couldn't process claims or do much of anything."

The trusted security model of network intrusion-detection systems, triggering alarms for IT action, has become overwhelmed, says the Yankee Group.