Enterprise Firewall Line Extended To Laptops

By Tom Smith

Network-1 Security Solutions Inc., a provider of firewall software to the enterprise, on Monday plans to expand its product line with a firewall aimed at preventing security breaches caused by remote or mobile workers accessing the corporate network.

Network-1's CyberwallPLUS 7.3 Workstation Edition is built for Windows-based laptop computers, and it features integration with the same central management and policy system used to configure Network-1's server-based firewalls.

“There's been a massive increase in the percentage of employees and partners that have to access information from what was outside the corporate perimeter,” explained Rich Kosinski, CEO of Network-1. “We're extending the enterprise perimeter from the physical arena around a corporate building to what is now a logical perimeter that includes not just all desktops inside a company, but also remote users.”

The workstation edition firewall can be distributed by sending an e-mail link to a server from which the firewall can be downloaded. The end user doesn't have a user interface, and therefore doesn't have the ability to change any settings or configurations. Policies and configurations are centrally managed using the Cyberwall Plus Central Policy Manager.

Network-1's workstation firewall inspects traffic not only at the network layer but also performs some inspection of outbound connections and files, Kosinski said.

The workstation edition is priced at $100 for a single user; for 1,000 users, the price is $42 per desktop. The central policy manager costs $895, while the server version of the firewall costs $1,295.