Juniper Upgrades Mykonos Web Security Software

Juniper Networks, three months after buying Web security software vendor Mykonos Software for $80 million, is rolling out more than two-dozen new features and enhancements designed to expand the range of protection against attackers and hacker techniques aimed at Websites and Web applications.

With the 30 new features, Juniper also is looking to make it easier for security administrators to manage the software and to improve the scalability of the software to ensure protection as traffic volume grows.

The software enhancements come at a time when attacks on Websites and Web applications are increasing, thanks in large part to the fact that they are still the largest unprotected threat in corporate networks, according to Juniper officials. They cited a survey by the Ponemon Institute that found that 73 percent of organizations have been hacked at least once over the past two years via insecure Web applications.

“Web-based threats have become a major concern, and companies require a proactive solution with real-time prevention to augment traditional network security defenses,€ David Koretz, vice president and general manager at Mykonos, said in a statement.

Mykonos, which uses what officials call Intrusion Deception technology, can not only detect hackers when they€™re probing for ways into the network, but also can track, profile and respond to the attack before damage is done, Koretz said.

The Intrusion Deception technology is designed to make attackers€™ efforts frustrating and worthless by offering false vulnerabilities. When attackers try to work their way in, the Mykonos Web Security solution creates detection points€”or what officials call €œtar traps€€”to identify the attackers. While the attackers€™ time is spent chasing the false vulnerabilities and data, the software can collect information that can be used to protect the network from similar attacks in the future, according to Juniper officials.

The goal of the Intrusion Deception system is to make it tedious, costly and time-consuming for hackers, and to ultimately make them unsuccessful in their attacks, the company said. It uses the attackers€™ actions against them, and does so without relying on signatures or traffic restrictions.

The new features, announced May 30 and available immediately, include the capability for the Mykonos Web Security software to detect a wider range of attackers and hacking techniques. At the same time, Juniper also is introducing new countermeasures, including preventing an attacker from using any compromised credentials, which protects against brute-force authentication attacks. In addition, there are greater protections against directory traversal attacks, where hackers map Websites in hopes of finding ways to attack them.

Juniper also is integrating third-party software into the Mykonos solution, giving it a larger library of attack data for its tracking, profiling and response systems.

In addition to the enhanced protection, the Mykonos software will now have a more simple, user-friendly and intuitive interface that offers a unified security console for easier systems management and a new setup wizard tool for faster and easier deployment by the user, without the need for intervention from Juniper.

Greater scalability comes from the fact that Mykonos Web Security will now support throughput of more than 1G bps, enabling users to add multiple €œslaves€ to a cluster model. This will give users the ability to protect higher-volume Web properties, Juniper officials said.