Openvision Escalates War on Computer Hackers

Expanding Family of Security Products Adds Centralized, Point-and-Click Setting of Network-Wide, Multi-Platform Security Policies

PLEASANTON, Calif., December XX, 1993 -- Network security administrators today gained an important weapon in their battle to prevent hackers and other unauthorized users from gaining access to applications and sensitive information distributed across their computer networks. OpenVision's OpenV*GateKeeper protects a computer network by providing an easy way to establish and enforce a robust set of controls over who can access the system, what they can access, when they can access it and where they can access it from.

OpenV*GateKeeper is the first access control system that allows security administrators to quickly and easily define a system authorization policy for multiple Unix-based systems, and from a central console ensure that it is implemented across the network. Any time an attempt is made to violate the authorization policy of any of the controlled systems, OpenV*GateKeeper takes evasive action to prevent access, protecting the network from hackers and other unauthorized users.

"A distributed computing system comprising multiple hosts from multiple vendors presents significant challenges in maintaining a secure environment, requiring the careful management and enforcement of the individual hosts' security policies," said _______. "OpenV*GateKeeper is the only product available today for defining and enforcing cross-platform authorization policies from a central console."

OpenV*GateKeeper is part of OpenVision's Security Products family, a collection of integrated applications addressing the three primary defenses against security threats: Authentication, authorization and auditing. The Security Products family augments OpenVision's OpenV*OPSS, an integrated suite of best-of-breed systems management applications in the areas of operations, performance, storage and security.

Easy, Centralized, Cross-Platform Security Management

Using a consistent graphical user interface, OpenV*GateKeeper allows system and security administrators with limited technical expertise to define access controls from a central console in the same way, every time, for all supported versions of Unix. Policies can range from a very general default policy that can be implemented across the network through the graphical user interface, to more liberal or more stringent exceptions for site-specific classes of systems or users. Authorization policies, users, systems and classes of users and systems appear as icons, and establishing a policy is as easy as dragging and dropping one icon on top of another.

Administrators can define security policies for logins, network programs and superuser access, restricting access based on such factors as time of day and access method and auditing unauthorized attempts to gain superuser privileges. Administrators can also manage all aspects of password policy, including minimum length, required character variation, minimum frequency of reuse and minimum and maximum lifetimes. OpenV*GateKeeper then implements these policies consistently across all supported versions of Unix, automatically taking action if policies are violated and logging all security events. OpenV*GateKeeper also provides for its own security, including authentication of client-server communications.

OpenV*GateKeeper's graphical user interface, with its icon-based, point-and-click operation, requires just a minimal technical knowledge of Unix for administrators to specify policies, to implement them on the supported versions of Unix, or to ensure that they are consistently enforced.

"OpenVision has assembled the best security minds available, with roots in VMS, Kerberos and distributed security management, and applied their expertise to our family of security products," said ________. "We expect OpenV*GateKeeper will have a tremendous impact on upper-level management's interest in creating new security policies, even where none existed before, because it makes it so easy to define and implement them."

Platforms Supported

OpenV*GateKeeper currently works with the SunOS 4.1.3 and HP-UX 9.0x versions of the Unix operating system on either Sun-4, Sun-4c or SPARCstation workstations from Sun Microsystems or on HP Model 9000 Series 700 and 800 workstations from Hewlett-Packard connected by networks employing the TCP/IP protocol. Other versions of Unix and other hardware platforms will be supported in the future.

Pricing and Availability

TBD

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