Disaster Planning

Mocana (News - Alert), a software company that delivers embedded security solutions for non-PC devices attached to the network, today announced general availability of NanoDefender, an intrusion prevention solution designed specifically for constrained device environments. This expands Mocana's Device Security Framework with a unique approach to intrusion detection and prevention that secures all aspects of a device without hindering quality-of-service.

 

Corporate IT and security staff have been waging an all-out war against the rising tide of malware that threatens to invade and take over business systems by stealing, corrupting and destroying sensitive and critical data. While PCs remain the primary target, security threats exist in anything that connects to the network - including routers and switches, handheld computing devices like smartphones and PDAs, wired handsets, network gateways, modems and printers. Other "everyday" devices like home appliances, GPS systems, automobiles, HVAC systems, DVRs, power meters and cash registers are coming online every day and facing increasingly sophisticated attacks.

 

While traditional tools such as firewalls, anti-virus, anti-spam, VPNs, ID and access management systems may work well for PCs, they usually do a poor job addressing the unique security challenges faced by these devices. The security solutions that often work well for PCs either simply won't fit, or eat up processor cycles, memory and electrical power — three things in short supply for inexpensive "infrastructure" devices like cell phones. Further, prohibitive costs often prevent enterprises and carriers from deploying network-based intrusion detection systems at the perimeter of the network in the first place - and this is where devices connect.

 

"The impact of security threats on the PC front is widely documented and is being addressed on multiple levels," said Kitty Weldon, principal analyst with Current Analysis (News - Alert), in a statement. "Yet, security for devices has been sorely lacking and lacks a clear strategic defense. With so much reliance on electronics for both business and everyday living, devices like DVRs, smartphones and printers are a giant, flashing target for malware creators."

 

Mocana's release of NanoDefender represents a new approach to device security that prevents any known or unknown threats from exploiting weaknesses inherent in device applications. Unlike other security processes, NanoDefender evaluates a device's application activity against a rules base of acceptable behaviors and functions. If an application's function or behavior is not deemed acceptable, the application is terminated before the malware can damage or corrupt its host, spread to other hosts or cross into the corporate infrastructure. Using a rules base of acceptable behavior ensures a very comprehensive level of device security against known as well as unknown threats.

 

“While existing intrusion prevention systems are often used to monitor and protect enterprise systems, they were not appropriate or effective for devices,” said Adrian Turner (News - Alert), CEO at Mocana, in a statement. "Device manufacturers needed a better way to keep their products secure and operational," “NanoDefender is a new approach offering these device manufacturers and their customers the highest level of ongoing device security with minimal impact at runtime.”

 

 Mocana's NanoDefender software is designed to be embedded into a device's operating system or application, so it does not depend on the device logging onto the corporate network to get the latest security patches. This helps enterprise IT departments remain focused on core business initiatives by eliminating the need for expensive and time-consuming updates to thousands of remote devices.