It has been said that the next world war will not play out on the battlefield but rather in cyberspace—that targets financial transactions or infrastructure networks rather than military bases. While we may have only seen a glimpse of this future, the threat of network warfare and hack attacks have forced many top level enterprises, financial institutions and government agencies to reevaluate the networks they use on a daily basis.
BreakingPoint Systems has developed an appliance based on those needs and was on hand at this year’s Cloud Connect expo to showcase it. Senior Manager, Demand Generation, Melissa Jacobus said, “With this platform, a cloud provider can emulate hundreds of thousands of database queries, and simulate how everything’s going to work on the back end.”
The device allows for simulation of Internet traffic testing on websites and applications for vulnerabilities and simulate up to 90 million concurrent users with hundreds of unique protocols at a time. The appliance can also test social media traffic and reveal hidden vulnerability proactively rather than on a case by case basis.
On top of offering network volume testing options BreakingPoint also allows users to inject real life conditions and security threats, like cyber attacks, malware, or viruses to an exercise. Plus, the company adds testing capacity on these vectors on a weekly basis.
“Configuration and design is always guess work, this utility allows network architects to test all options and conditions to make better informed solutions,” said Wayne Bradford, director of sales with BreakingPoint. As one would imagine, breaking point has focused on providing these utilities to companies most likely to be affected by these threats: enterprise, financial and government associations.
While the appliance is effective in offering intrusion and attack prevention, it can also theorize the outcome of service changes. Say for example, the addition of a new video or audio playback on an application or website. “Companies benefit from knowing whether they can support video or voice for example all those visitors coming to the site, while ensuring they have the ability to constantly access of the website being tested” Bradford said.
Chris DiMarco is a Web Editor for TMCnet. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University. Prior to joining TMC (News - Alert) Chris worked with e-commerce provider Suresource as a contact center representative and development analyst. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Janice McDuffee