SANTA CLARA, Calif. and STAFFORD, Va., Oct. 17, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Foundry Networks(r), Inc. (Nasdaq:FDRY), a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, today announced that the Stafford County Public Schools (SCPS), one of the leading school systems in the state of Virginia, has installed Foundry's IronView(r) Network Manager (INM) to provide centralized network management and network-wide intrusion detection and control throughout its extensive infrastructure spanning 17 elementary, seven middle and five high schools. INM leverages traffic monitoring capabilities built into Foundry's switches to detect and mitigate attacks than can render the network unusable to students and staff.
In a recently published 2006 CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey, unauthorized access to information "continues to be the second-greatest source of financial loss." It also indicates nearly 40 percent of the respondents attributing more than 20 percent of their organization's losses to insider threats. To prevent similar attacks and completely secure the SCPS network, Foundry's INM leverages sFlow(r) traffic monitoring, embedded in Foundry switches and routers, and open source security applications and tools, such as Snort(r), to deliver highly scalable security and threat mitigation, without the added cost or performance degradation of auxiliary security sensors.
"School systems have to balance open access for students with the need for secure network communications for staff, which is very difficult to do at a reasonable cost. The solutions we evaluated were either very expensive or reside only at the Internet POP," said Jay Cooke, supervisor of network services for Stafford County Public Schools. "As in most school systems, many of the 'hackers' are already inside the firewall, sitting in class. Whether the intrusion is intentional or is brought in accidentally on a key drive, the damage can spread rapidly. Since the sFlow feature is already integrated into our Foundry LAN infrastructure, we are able to receive real-time visibility into our entire network in order to prevent threats. The decision to implement the Foundry solution was really very easy for us."
The basis for Foundry Networks' closed loop security solution is the ability for Foundry's switches and routers to monitor traffic flows using embedded sFlow packet sampling. sFlow packets, collected by the Foundry switches and routers, are sent to the INM management server where the data is converted for analysis by Snort or other open source security applications that scan for threat signatures. In response to a positive signature match, INM will automatically send a command to the edge switch or router to throttle or disable the port on which the threat was detected.
"We are pleased the Stafford County Public Schools joined our growing list of educational institutions and enterprises using Foundry's closed-loop security solution," said Bob Schiff, vice president and general manager of the enterprise business unit for Foundry Networks. "Security is a concern for all organizations, especially ones with as many users as the Stafford County Public Schools. Foundry's INM IronShield 360 security solution spans the entire network infrastructure at a fraction of the cost of alternative offerings."
About Snort
Snort is an open source network intrusion prevention and detection system utilizing a rule-driven language, which combines the benefits of signature, protocol and anomaly based inspection methods. With millions of downloads to date, Snort is the most widely deployed intrusion detection and prevention technology worldwide and has become the de facto standard for the industry. Currently there are over 4,900 rules defined in the Snort database, with new rules being added daily. www.snort.org
About sFlow
sFlow is an industry standard technology for monitoring high speed switched networks. It gives complete visibility into the use of networks enabling performance optimization, accounting/billing for usage, and defense against security threats. sFlow.org drives the widespread adoption of sFlow by end users, network equipment and software vendors. www.sflow.org
About Foundry Networks
Foundry Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:FDRY) is a leading provider of high-performance enterprise and service provider switching, routing, security and Web traffic management solutions, including Layer 2/3 LAN switches, Layer 3 Backbone switches, Layer 4/ 7 application switches, wireless LAN and access points, access routers and metro routers. Foundry's 10,000 customers include the world's premier ISPs, metro service providers, and enterprises, including e-commerce sites, universities, entertainment, health and wellness, government, financial and manufacturing companies. For more information about the company and its products, call 1.888.TURBOLAN or visit www.foundrynetworks.com.
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