Startup Pushes Storage Security

Startup PacketMotion is looking to lock down servers and storage with its first products that control access to these internal systems. (See PacketMotion Fortifies Net Security.)

In recent years, technologies that control the network edge, such as firewalls, have become commonplace. But users are now putting other parts of their internal IT infrastructure under the security microscope. Today, for example, IBMs annual global security survey warned that employees are now prime suspects as criminals shift their attention from software vulnerabilities to insider attacks. (See IBM Expects Cyber-Crime Surge.)

In a nutshell, PacketMotion’s new PacketSentry products check network traffic for potential security violations. This could be, for example, when someone in sales or HR gains access to applications on a firm’s finance server.

PacketSentry consists of two separate devices: a 2U probe and 1U manager device. The probe monitors network traffic by connecting to the span port of a switch, which, in turn, links to standard file servers or NAS devices. The appliance converts the switch information into metadata and sends it to the manager device, which imports the data into a Microsoft SQL database for IT managers to check.

“I haven’t seen anyone else that has got this exact same approach,” says Roger Blakely, vice president of IT and information security at Novato, Calif.-based digital media company Sonic Solutions. “We can see who is going to what asset and who is doing what.”