HP Updates Security Products, Services

HP released Monday a number of new security products and services aimed at better collecting and sharing security intelligence information across its products. The company also announced a new security service for the public sector, as well as a program for securing printing environments in the healthcare industry.

On the threat intelligence front, the new HP ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager 6.0c sports faster threat identification--and blocking--not just through technology improvements but also due to faster behind-the-scenes information sharing between HP's Fortify and TippingPoint research teams, said Sanjay Raja, director of product marketing for HP Enterprise Security.

HP also introduced a next-generation range of security appliances in the HP TippingPoint NX Platform, which is based on a new, modular software architecture called X-ARMOR that includes a built-in intrusion prevention system (IPS). There will initially be two models: the 7100 NX, which has 13-Gbps throughput, and the 5200 NX, which has 5-Gbps throughput.

[ Oracle's security patch addresses active attacks, but reveals new vulnerability. Read about it at Oracle Emergency Java Patch Opens Fresh Trouble. ]

The move to the more modular software architecture for HP's security devices is a bid to add better performance and flexibility. "We're looking at additional security platforms beyond IPS and because of that, we wanted to know if the security architecture could use some of these features only as customers need them," said Raja. He said HP is also developing some firewall platforms as well.

Other security improvements announced by HP include extending existing security defenses to more products. "We wanted to create better integration points with some of the other products that we've brought into HP," said Raja, mentioning in particular HP's Adaptive Web Application Firewall (WAF), which allows users to take vulnerabilities spotted by HP WebInspect or TippingPoint IPS, and use their IPS to create a virtual patch that will block any attempt to exploit the vulnerability.

For the public sector, meanwhile, HP announced multiple additions to its HP Security for Public Sector program. These include HP Assured Identity to help with identity management and restricting access to sensitive information, a Comprehensive Applications Threat Analysis (CATA) program for performing application vulnerability testing on demand, and the new HP Security Operations Center (SOC) consulting services.

On the printer security front, HP also announced several new security and compliance initiatives focused on the healthcare space. "[Healthcare workers] do a lot of printing of patient records, and we've seen a trend in the past year for hackers developing hacks for printers, because they can actually [grab] that data," said Raja. "Also we're getting further and further into compliance, and ensuring we can help customers with compliance--GLBA, HIPAA, etc. Sometimes auditors will interpret the data regulations and ask, 'Well, what about your printers?'"

Accordingly, HP Access Control (HPAC) Printing Solutions is designed to secure sensitive and confidential information in printing environments. The HP Imaging and Printing Security Assessment service will review current approaches to printing and suggest security and compliance-related improvements, and HP's Imaging and Printing Security Center (IPSC) is software for enforcing printing-related security policies.

"We want to make sure that only people who have the proper credentials can access the print technology," said Raja. All told, HP's printer security program looks at secure authentication, as well as managing technology that might introduce exploitable vulnerabilities, such as Java. Raja did note, however, that HP technology such as the TippingPoint IPS can also use virtual patching to filter known attacks against printing environments.

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