FireMon Outlines Vision for OpenFlow Security Management

OVERLAND PARK, KS--(Marketwire - Oct 29, 2012) - FireMon, the leading provider of security management and risk analysis solutions, today announced its vision and framework for embedding security directly into software-defined networking (SDN) controllers and, as part of their SDN strategy, have joined SDNCentral, the independent community for network virtualization and software‐defined networking. With more than a decade of providing industry-leading security management and deep security risk analysis, FireMon is outlining its roadmap for embedding intelligent, real-time access analysis and management into OpenFlow architectures.

While innovations in SDN promise improvements in networking speed, reliability, and efficiency by liberating traffic routing intelligence from proprietary hardware, security decisions and access control remain under the purview of specialized, in-line equipment. Keeping security management outside the SDN controller misses a critical opportunity and neglects one of the driving principles around OpenFlow innovation: to rethink not only how traffic is passed through the network, but also to control if it should be passed through the network.

"The biggest challenge in network security today is matching the pace at which new threats are launched, morphed, and adapted. Existing network security controls are often an ineffective countermeasure, largely because manual configuration is time-consuming, and the management information necessary to correctly react is locked in disconnected systems," said Jody Brazil, President and CTO of FireMon. "While SDN presents a great opportunity for rethinking connectivity it is also an opportunity to rethink network security, and we are excited at the possibilities presented by integrating effective security and risk management into SDN controllers. By integrating security decisions into the controller, security becomes a central part of the connectivity decision process. Managing this security decision is central to the process and something we are uniquely positioned to solve."

FireMon's vision is to facilitate the natural and necessary evolution of network security by integrating high-performance risk and security intelligence with OpenFlow controllers to augment the access control infrastructure already in place while increasing operational efficiency and effectiveness. The company's pioneering innovations in real-time, highly scalable risk analysis and policy management make it uniquely qualified to achieve these goals. FireMon's proven enterprise platform provides a perfect framework for making intelligent, informed decisions to enact security countermeasures in real-time.

The elements of the FireMon framework for supporting SDN include:

1. Enterprise-wide monitoring: A model of the complete, current network security infrastructure forms the basis for providing immediate results regarding the impact of a new access path.
2. Real-time, risk-based decision engine: Granting access through the network will be a risk-based decision. The decision engine will grant or reject access based on the current threats and potential impact of the new access.
3. Open APIs: Open APIs are central to the concepts behind SDN and are critical for systems joining the SDN ecosystem.

"SDN presents a tremendous opportunity to integrate security into the network instead of simply being an add-on to the network," said Matthew Palmer, Managing Director of SDNCentral. "FireMon's history of innovation and excellence in security management and risk analysis make them a great fit for our community of visionary leaders in the SDN market. We are excited about the possibilities their framework presents for the future of security management in SDN."

FireMon plans to release SDN and OpenFlow functionality in its next major release.

About FireMon
FireMon provides enterprises and government with security management software that gives them deeper visibility and tighter control over their network security infrastructure. The FireMon solution set -- Security Manager, Policy Planner, and Risk Analyzer -- enables customers to identify network risk, proactively eliminate those vulnerabilities and strengthen security throughout the organization, and reduce the cost of security operations and compliance. Together, they create a highly effective and consistent solution for efficiently managing security operations. For more information, visit http://www.firemon.com.

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