FireScope Web Monitoring Gets Insightful

A new Web monitoring feature allows users to test for performance problems that can affect efficiency and profitability.

FireScope customers are getting a new set of binoculars to use to get a clearer view into their security.

The company, which specializes in business management software and competes with BSM tool vendors such as Managed Objects, has included a new Web monitoring feature in its FS2000 and FS3000 appliances and is planning a general availability release Oct. 8. Officials at FireScope said they hope the Web monitoring feature will help give the company a leg up on competitors by allowing users to identify and test for performance problems that can affect efficiency and profitability.

In an e-commerce operation, for example, the Web Monitoring feature can follow specific steps such as browsing a Web site, adding an item to a shopping cart and then proceed through the check-out process, company officials said. The feature alerts the user to any failed or flawed steps along the way while collecting performance metrics such as response and download times.

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The Web Monitoring feature can also aggregate business metrics from the same application, reporting, for example, the number of transactions completed or the amount of revenue generated over a given amount of time.

Click here to read more about FireScopes business management tool.

Mark Ponthier, vice president of development for FireScope, based in Huntington Beach, Calif., said the device looks at all network assets, from the application to the operating system to anti-virus and network equipment. From a security perspective, the Web Monitoring feature means a company can take information coming in IDMEF (Intrusion Detection Message Exchange Format) and compare it to information gathered via Syslog or SNMP to verify that a security event is taking place before taking any action, he said.

"We aggregate and correlate the availability, performance and security events that come out of all those so you really know whats affecting your service," he said. "Most people … [say] Hey, I have an issue with my service, and they are not sure if its availability, performance or security. Its only after theyve done an investigation into the cause that they see it."

Check out eWEEK.coms Security Center for the latest security news, reviews and analysis. And for insights on security coverage around the Web, take a look at eWEEKs Security Watch blog.

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