Week in Security: WatchGuard 2Q Warning, Web App Security Forecast

%95 WatchGuard Technologies, a supplier of security appliances, said it expects its second-quarter results to be lower than it previously estimated. WatchGuard said it expects revenue between $19.8 million and $20.2 million for the quarter ended June 30, compared to $17.8 million in the same quarter a year ago. The company attributed the shortfall to continued realignment of its Asia-Pacific sales and marketing channels, lower sales in some parts of Europe, competitive pricing pressure on its Firebox III product line and the launch of new promotional programs.

%95 The market for Web application security products will reach $1.74 billion by 2007, according to a report issued by the Yankee Group. The market-research firm said it expects Web application security to be one of the hottest segments of the security market over the next five years.

%95 NetScreen Technologies announced that it has customers beta testing a special version of its ScreenOS, the underlying software for its security appliances, that provides IPv6 support for stateful inspection firewall and VPN functions. IPv6 is the new Internet protocol and increases the number of available IP addresses, among other benefits. NetScreen said it expects to introduce a ScreenOS version with more advanced IPv6 features for pilot production deployments in the first half of next year with a full-featured version for production environments in the second half of 2004.

%95 Hewlett-Packard said it agreed to acquire Baltimore Technologies' SelectAccess identity management software. Under the agreement, HP will acquire the technology in an all-cash transaction that is expected to close during HP's fourth quarter. The deal is subject to Baltimore's shareholder approval and closing conditions.

%95 Waveset Technologies, a provider of identity management products, announced Lighthouse Directory Master, which the company said helps customers manage disparate identity data across directory environments. Pricing is on a per user basis.

%95 NFR Security formally announced Operating System (OS) Fingerprinting, a new technology built into its network intrusion detection product, NID v3.2. The technology is a passive mapping technique that identifies operating systems and services running on hosts, which improves the accuracy of intrusion detection and reduces false positives, said Andre Yee, CTO and vice president of product operations at NFR, Rockville, Md.