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    RSA Middleware Allows Security Without Specialists

    Written by

    John Pallatto
    Published June 7, 2005
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      RSA Security is introducing a middleware package that will make it easier for developers to implement encryption and other security features in their application designs.

      Called the RSA BSafe Data Security Manager, this middleware allows application developers to implement security features without having specialized knowledge and experience in security programming, said Chris Parkerson, senior product manager with RSA Security Inc., based in Bedford, Mass.

      Recent news reports about the theft of private account information for several hundred thousand customers from data brokers Choicepoint and LexisNexis highlights why enterprises need to build effective security into critical data-access applications, Parkerson said.

      Enterprises are concerned about whether they have the resources in-house to improve application security.

      Implementing features such as digital signing and encryption “has been very hard work, and very expensive work, requiring people who have a certain level of security knowledge and experience,” Parkerson said.

      The goal of the BSafe Data Security Manager is to make these features “available to every level of corporate developer” so developers can implement data encryption for every enterprise application that potentially exposes sensitive customer data, he said.

      /zimages/2/28571.gifClick here to read why RSA Security believes that international standards for one-time password technologies could be the catalyst for the adoption of stronger authentication in enterprise applications.

      The middleware allows security experts to make the decisions about what security policies and features are required by an application, while the programmer implements the policies.

      Some organizations do a decent job of implementing security features in key database applications, Parkerson said. However, frequently they will leave security gaps in other applications that are deemed less critical, but are just as vulnerable, such as point-of-sale applications, he said.

      The BSafe middleware gives corporate developers the ability to close these security gaps without hiring security programming specialists, who are expensive and hard to find given the demand for their skills these days in both government and the private sector, Parkerson said.

      The middleware allows security experts to make the decisions about what security policies and features are required by an application, while the programmer implements the policies. Thus the security expert doesnt have to be an experienced application developer and the developer doesnt have to be an expert in security programming.

      “We are trying to put security decisions in the hands of people who understand security” and programming decision in the hands of developers who understand programming procedures, he said.

      The middleware allows companies to implement policy-based encryption and security mechanisms that dont require painstaking low-level programming to implement, Parkerson said. The middleware allows application developers to change security policies without having to make significant changes in the application code, he said.

      /zimages/2/28571.gifTo read why industry analysts fear that a national identity system could help ID thieves, click here.

      The middleware will help companies address the uncertainty they have about whether they are implementing security properly in their critical business applications, according to Ray Wagner, research vice president with Gartner Research Inc. in Stamford, Conn.

      “Organizations often have little confidence that they have implemented security controls property because of the high level of sophistication required, and the result is too often an expensive or even embarrassing scramble when a problem is found after rollout,” Wagner said in a statement.

      “The concept of a centralized, policy-based approach to providing security to and within applications,” Wagner said, “may allow organizations to more easily control and audit application security, as well as change security polices over time without re-engineering applications.”

      The middleware package supports multiple programming languages, including Visual Basic, C++, C# and Java, Parkerson said.

      The BSafe Data Security Manager will be ready for delivery in late September and will cost $50,000 for a developer license and $250,000 for an enterprise site license, according to company officials.

      /zimages/2/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms for the latest security news, reviews and analysis. And for insights on security coverage around the Web, take a look at eWEEK.com Security Center Editor Larry Seltzers Weblog.

      John Pallatto
      John Pallatto
      John Pallatto has been editor in chief of QuinStreet Inc.'s eWEEK.com since October 2012. He has more than 40 years of experience as a professional journalist working at a daily newspaper and computer technology trade journals. He was an eWEEK managing editor from 2009 to 2012. From 2003 to 2007 he covered Enterprise Application Software for eWEEK. From June 2007 to 2008 he was eWEEK’s West Coast news editor. Pallatto was a member of the staff that launched PC Week in March 1984. From 1992 to 1996 he was PC Week’s West Coast Bureau chief. From 1996 to 1998 he was a senior editor with Ziff-Davis Internet Computing Magazine. From 2000 to 2002 Pallatto was West Coast bureau chief with Internet World Magazine. His professional journalism career started at the Hartford Courant daily newspaper where he worked from 1974 to 1983.

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