Nevis Announces its Support of the TNC Endpoint Security Compliance Verification Specification
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – February 13, 2006 – Nevis Networks, a provider of a new class of wirespeed enterprise LAN security appliances, today announced its support of the Trusted Network Connect (TNC) open industry specification. TNC is an architecture that specifies endpoint security compliance verification; Nevis’ LANenforcer LAN security appliances will implement this standard and enforce its policies.
The TNC specification mandates proactive LAN security, requiring clients attempting access to a LAN be evaluated against a set of policies and pre-determined platform configurations established by an organization’s IT department. Endpoints not in compliance with corporate security policies, such as OS patch levels, anti-virus updates, or anti-spyware updates, can be blocked from accessing the network or quarantined for remediation. The TNC subgroup is comprised of leading network industry vendors and is chartered with defining and releasing an open architecture and set of standards for endpoint integrity verification.
The TNC architecture enables network operators to enforce endpoint integrity policies before granting network access, across endpoints, regardless of the operating system they may be running. Dr. Joseph Tardo, Chief Security Architect at Nevis Networks, is an active Contributing Member of TCG’s TNC subgroup. “Nevis recognizes TNC as an open, standards-based architecture for communicating integrity measurements and results between TNC clients and TNC servers,” said Tardo. “Nevis’ LANenforcer is a TNC policy enforcement point that ensures non-compliant endpoints are not granted access to the network, thereby minimizing the risk of a threat spreading.” Once an endpoint is granted network access, LANenforcer works with existing AAA servers and directory services to authenticate the user and obtain and enforce user and group-level access rights.
Nevis also integrates the essential reactive LAN security features needed by today’s enterprises with its microsecond threat detection and containment and security event management. Only LANenforcer examines each packet at wirespeed, using multiple threat detection techniques concurrently, to ensure threats are contained at the source. It uniquely deploys anomaly detection (traffic, protocol and behavior), threat signature matching and stateful firewall to capture both known and unknown threats. Exclusively, Nevis integrates real-time security event management that correlates security events across the network, providing network administrators with the ability to quickly identify a security threat source – by individual user identity and location – so appropriate action can be taken.
The company also provides all the detailed event logs that can be easily viewed for forensic analysis. “The growing adoption of the TNC standards simplifies the deployment of proactive security measures that minimize risk of threats gaining access to enterprise networks,” said Steve Hanna, co-chair of TCG’s TNC subgroup and a distinguished engineer at Juniper Networks, a provider of TCG TNC clients and servers. “The TNC specifications provide a common path forward that enables these important security measures to be deployed across a wide range of infrastructures. The TNC subgroup welcomes the contributions Nevis and other companies are making to this standards-based architecture.” Nevis Networks will be demonstrating its wirespeed LAN security appliances at RSA in San Jose, California, February 13-17th, booth #2232. TCG will feature several demonstrations of trusted computing across the enterprise in its booth, #1411. These demonstrations include trusted clients and applications such as authentication; trusted storage; and Trusted Network Connect in action.
strong>About TCG
TCG is a not-for-profit organization formed to develop, define, and promote open standards for hardware-enabled trusted computing and security technologies, including hardware building blacks and software interfaces, across multiple platforms, peripherals, and devices. TCG specifications will enable more secure computing environments without compromising functional integrity, privacy, or individual rights. The primary goal is to help users protect their information assets (data, passwords, keys, etc.) from compromise due to external software attack and physical theft. More information and the organization’s specifications are available at the Trusted Computing Group’s website, www.trustedcomputinggroup.org.
strong>About Nevis Networks
Nevis Networks develops and markets ASIC-based LAN security appliances designed to help corporations protect information privacy and integrity, ensure network availability, and maintain regulatory compliance. With its patent-pending LANsecure™ architecture, the Nevis LANenforcer product family combines the most comprehensive access control, deepest threat defense, and fastest threat response to create a “Personal DMZ” around every user on the LAN. Nevis was founded in 2002 by seasoned executives with strong track records in security, semiconductor, and networking technologies, and has raised over $40 million from veteran Silicon Valley investors New Enterprise Associates, BlueRun Ventures, and New Path Ventures. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with an R&D center in Pune, India. For more information, visit the Nevis Networks web site at https://nevisnetworks.com, or contact the company at (650) 254-2500.