The RSA Security conference wrapped up Friday in San Francisco, closing the books on a week that saw more than 200 vendors on display in RSA's most well-attended show yet.
Despite the record attendance, the conference itself was somewhat subdued. In contrast, last year's event crackled with excitement as numerous new security technologies, alliances and initiatives made their debut. This year, the security sector is moving through a maturation phase as vendors, resellers and customers wait and see how current technologies perform and which next-generation solutions show the most promise.
For the second straight year, conference organizers issued their Internet Insecurity Index, a roundup of information security developments over the past year that also ranks their importance to the industry, not unlike the color-coded system the Homeland Defense people use to gauge terrorist threats.
Among the highlights of this year's report: the number of reported hacks, attacks and flaws increased 40 percent in 2003, and the Blaster and SoBig virus attacks last August infected more than 2 million computers and cost $3.5 billion to combat and correct.
The report also identified a rise in Internet crime and fraud, with Trojan-horse viruses the most favored type of attack. And the report said widespread consumer uncertainty and skepticism remain both about the security sector's ability to handle the problems in a timely manner and about the government's legislative strategies.
Even with this year's more anticipatory tone, vendors used the show as a platform for unveiling numerous products and upgrades. Among the highlights:
RSA Security, the host of the conference, demonstrated its RSA Blocker Tag, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag that prevents readers from performing unwanted scanning and tracking of people or goods, without any disruption to normal RFID operation. The company also announced a new channel strategy that provides a broader range of sales, support services and incentives through its SecurWorld Partner Program.
Microsoft announced Exchange Edge Services, an enhancement to the SMTP relay implementation in Exchange Server that will provide new capabilities to enable customers to better protect their e-mail systems from junk e-mail and viruses, as well as improve e-mail efficiency. The company also announced the formation of the Global Infrastructure Alliance for Internet Safety (GIAIS), a group that includes service providers from around the world that handle about 150 million customers in North America, Asia, Europe and South America.
Sun Microsystems announced Identity Manager for Microsoft, which enables enterprisewide identity management of Microsoft environments. Based on technology Sun acquired from Waveset Technologies, the agentless solution provides quick-to-deploy provisioning and password and directory management capabilities, allowing organizations to centralize the administration and synchronization of user identities across all enterprise application environments. Sun also used the show to define its new infinite access security model, which should help businesses securely open up their enterprise to the network and extract more value from the Internet. To accomplish this, Sun will integrate multifactor authentication, identity management and containment support into all of its software products and platforms.
VeriSign announced an alliance with Microsoft that will deliver authentication services for Windows Server 2003. The technology will go into beta in April and is slated to be released this summer.
iDEFENSE and Secure Elements introduced Class 5 AVR, a product that protects enterprises by automatically deploying countermeasures and policies before security patches are implemented, and by then administering available patches.
Memory Experts International (MXI) unveiled Outbacker, a biometric USB product that delivers the storage power of a PC in a 3-inch by 5-inch personal data device. A fully ruggedized, pocket-sized hard -disk drive, Outbacker comes in 20-GB and 40-GB versions. Each come with full AES encryption capability, biometric (fingerprint) access control, PIN pad security and USB 2.0 connectivity. Outbacker is compatible with Windows 2000 SP4 and XP SP1 and Windows 98SE.
Webwasher introduced a new Instant Message Filter for its Content Security Management (CSM) Suite that will enable enterprise network managers to control the use of public instant messaging and peer-to-peer communications for security and productivity purposes. The new component, based on technology from Akonix Systems, will ship in March.
RedCannon Security released Fireball Enterprise, an end-point security solution that provides security policy management for distributed enterprise environments. The product enables companies to deploy a security solution to all end-points on a network, protecting them from Internet-based probes and attacks. This allows mobile end-points to travel to partner sites, home offices, Wi-Fi hotspot locations or hotels with the same level of protection as on the corporate network.
