Forwarded From: darek milewski <darekm@cmeasures.com>
http://www.internetwk.com/news0199/news012999-3.htm
Heavyweights Rally Against Net Hackers
By RUTRELL YASIN
Four network security vendors are joining forces to help fortify the
desktops and networks of the future.
Cisco, Lucent Technologies, Network Associates Inc. and Sun Microsystems
this week formed the Security Research Alliance to share advanced security
research and collaborate on development.
The alliance aims to provide IT managers with the information they need to
make more long-term security decisions. To that end, alliance members will
sponsor educational forums for IT managers such as the Security Research
Crystal Ball Symposium, to be held in Los Angeles in April.
By banding together to advance security research, the companies will be
able to solve network security problems more quickly, according to IT
managers.
"The more eyes that are on a particular problem, the more solutions you
get," said Robert Kondilas, director of infrastructure engineering and
security at service provider Qwest Communications.
Plus, competition among security vendors to be the first to get out the
latest vulnerability alert has been counterproductive, he said. "They're
fighting against hackers and against themselves," Kondilas said. The
alliance holds the promise of a more coordinated, collaborative effort to
work on the most pressing risk issues, he added.
Alliance chairwoman Terry Benzel, who is vice president of the advanced
security division at Network Associates, agreed. Research is one area
where competing vendors can forge common ground, especially to address the
growing threat of cyberterrorism, Benzel said.
"We're way beyond talking about hackers coming into [a network] through a
Unix flaw," she said. Smarter technology is needed to combat the growing
threat of cyberterrorism, which entails more concerted, sophisticated
attacks on networks, she added.
Intrusion detection and response appears to be high on the Research
Alliance's list of priorities. The group will be doing more in-depth
research on how to determine if a network has been broken into and how to
respond.
Most intrusion detection systems focus on the network or the application
levels. But the alliance can do more in-depth research into detecting
attacks "across an organization from the lowest IP packet to the
highest-level applications," Benzel said.
Alliance members also hope research will improve interoperability among
security technologies, said Kevin Ziese, Cisco's manager of network
security research.
The alliance will be open to new members, and GTE Internetworking and
Intel are in membership discussions, Benzel said.
The upcoming Crystal Ball Symposium will include presentations from top
security researchers and an open panel with alliance members.
-o-
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Received on Thu Mar 11 17:15:55 1999