Kisco Cranks Up Security Tool's Horsepower with V8

Published: July 17, 2007

by Alex Woodie

Kisco Information Systems put the peddle to the metal with the latest release of SafeNet/400, its security tools for OS/400 and i5/OS servers. With version 8, the company entirely rewrote the product's kernel, providing a performance kick of as much as 2,000 percent on certain workloads, Kisco says. A text-based security report was also introduced.

Kisco introduced the SafeNet/400 network security utility in 1996, when the Internet first started to take off. At that time, the product, which is developed by MP Associates of Westchester (Kisco provides sales and marketing) was the only network security product of its kind, according to Kisco. But since then, many other network security products have been introduced to plug the gaping security holes in Internet-enabled, AS/400-iSeries-System i environments.

SafeNet/400 monitors and controls access to the System i server's exit points, rendering moot the security holes enabled by PCs equipped with ODBC, FTP, SQL, and TelNet access, among other standards-based routes of access into System i-land. The ubiquity of products like Microsoft Access belie the potentially devastating security liabilities effects they can have on i5/OS shops concerned with restricting access to sensitive data.

The biggest changes in SafeNet/400 V8 were made "under the hood," Kisco says. "For example, a completely rewritten basic kernel with an eye towards achieving maximum throughput and a tighter bond with the OS means this is one of the most significant releases of the SafeNet/400 product to date," company president Rich Loeber writes. "In our testing we have measured as much as a 20x increase in performance for certain server functions."

The other big new feature in V8 is the introduction of the "executive report." Generated daily, the executive report provides a snapshot of network connections from the perspective of SafeNet/400, including a summary of activities and exception highlighting.

Kisco also updated Nav-Central with the new version. Nav-Central is a Windows-based administration console that it introduced with V7 three-and-a-half years ago, and which is only available to users of the Advanced and Enterprise versions of the product (a tiered system the company also introduced with V7). New features in Nav-Central include support for multiple languages ad more control over key functions, the company says.

SafeNet/400 is available in four versions. SafeNet/400 Lite is the most affordable version, but it only implements a subset of the full product and can only enforce polices at the user profile level. SafeNet/400 Basic adds to the features found in Lite support for i5/OS object-level security and support for enforcing SQL, CL, FTP, and other exit points, and features only a 5250 interface. SafeNet/400 Advanced adds the Nav-Central console, and can control only a single System i server. SafeNet/400 Enterprise provides the capability to monitor multiple System i servers.

Kisco has also raised prices with V8. SafeNet/400 Lite now starts at $1,095 per server with a license for up to 25 users (a $100 increase), SafeNet/400 Basic starts at $2,195 per server for 25 users (a $200 increase), SafeNet/400 Advanced starts at $2,695 per server for 25 users (a $200 increase), and SafeNet/400 Enterprise starts at $4,696 per server for up to 25 users (a $200 increase). Kisco also offers LPAR pricing, which starts at $3,995 for a license to run SafeNet/400 Basic across a System i with multiple i5/OS partitions and up to 25 users, and increases to $6,700 for a similar SafeNet/400 Enterprise license.

SafeNet/400 V8 is available now. For more information, visit Kisco's Web site at www.kisco.com.

RELATED STORIES

Kisco's Integration with ShowCase: Security Hole or Old Hat?

Kisco Offers More, and Less, with New SafeNet/400 Release

Kisco Adds Security Features to SafeNet/400

                     Post this story to del.icio.us
               Post this story to Digg
    Post this story to Slashdot