Press Releases

Top Layer Networks Unveils IPS 5500 Intrusion Prevention System with Three Dimensional Protection

Westboro, MA, November 15, 2005 -

Top Layer Networks, the global leader for high performance intrusion prevention solutions, today announced the availability of a major software release for its IPS 5500 intrusion prevention systems. Unlike other intrusion prevention systems (IPS) that merely offer protection against malicious content, Top Layer’s IPS 5500 family is the only IPS on the market today that offers Three Dimensional Protection (3DP). By combining content-based IPS/IDS, stateful firewall, and attack mitigation algorithms, the IPS 5500 provides protection against:

Malicious Content – Top Layer’s content-based IPS subsystem blocks known, newly-evolved and brand new forms of worms, Trojans, virus and other malware with unique accuracy. Top Layer protects against malicious content with a multi-pronged approach: acceptable application use policies, protocol validation and attack/vulnerability/virus signatures.
Undesired Access – Using Top Layer’s stateful firewall functionality the IPS 5500 provides IP fragment abuse protection, Layer 2 and Layer 3-4 filtering and stateful firewall filtering that is easily configured. This stateful firewall approach separates Top Layer from IPS competitors that do not provide this level of protection from undesired access throughout a network.
Rate-based Attacks – Top Layer’s attack mitigation builds upon the company’s leadership position in protecting against network and application-level flood attacks and other attacks using inappropriate rates by applying DoS/DDoS mitigation techniques, policy-based rate limits and other resource-consumption limits. Malicious traffic is blocked, maintaining the availability of e-commerce servers and other critical infrastructure for genuine users.

Sophisticated hybrid attacks are becoming the norm as hackers shift focus from virus experimentation to cyber extortion, botnet creation and hacker-for-hire activities with profit-driven motivations. By building protection from all three forms of attacks into one unified threat management device, IPS users benefit from both improved protection against new hybrid attacks and a lower cost of ownership.

“Enterprises today seek comprehensive protection from those cyber threats that attempt to penetrate their defenses through a variety of methods. As attacks have evolved, so have the devices that fight them off – it is increasingly important to merge traditional firewall technology with IPS capabilities to effectively protect organizations from the most ruthless and creative attacks while maintaining a low cost of ownership,” said Peter Rendall, president and CEO of Top Layer Networks. “Understanding the shifting threat landscape and the need for high-performance protection mechanisms to defeat today’s sophisticated attacks, Top Layer Networks has architected its newest IPS 5500 release around 3DP to better protect customers while providing easy-to-use management capabilities.”

According to a recent Gartner report, “Network security platforms are combining what were previously point products into single products. There is no one-size-fits-all answer. Enterprises buying or sizing network firewalls or network intrusion prevention systems must select the correct underlying appliance technology.”[i]

V4.10 of the IPS 5500 software provides users with integrated 3DP policy management, real-time incident response and added protection from instant messaging (IM) threats:

Integrated Policy Management – V4.10 is a fundamental change to the IPS 5500 policies model and user interface. It allows users to view and configure Top Layer Networks’ firewall filtering, IPS and Rate-based rules from a single window, using the traditional linear access list that is used in most firewalls today.

· Real-time Incident Response -- Improved Security Event Logging and Reporting strengthen the usability of the IPS 5500. The new Attack Event Viewer allows network operators and security analysts to view attacks and drill down to specific events to identify source and attack types. “One-click” access to security policies helps IPS 5500 users adjust policies based on real-time threat analysis.

· IM Threat Protection – Use of instant messaging applications—like AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger and ICQ—has grown significantly. Although the benefits of real-time communication of IM offers a productivity benefit to corporate environments, instant messaging applications add significant risks to an enterprise’s security posture. New security risks include bandwidth misuse, additional vectors for virus and worm attacks, the ability to transfer files and the ability to take control of other machines. V4.10 provides new protection from IM application use in the enterprise.

To learn more about Top Layer Networks’ 3DP, download the white paper at: http://www.toplayer.com/generic/TLN_3DP_WP.pdf

"Our customers face a constant stream of cyber threats that attempt to infiltrate and disrupt their organizations through a variety of means such as Trojans and via IM applications. They turn to ipss to provide them with the technologies that will effectively protect their network and critical assets," said Guy Jammes, vice president of sales at ipss, a reselling partner of Top Layer Networks. "Top Layer's innovative 3DP architecture combined with the latest IPS 5500 software release enables ipss to provide customers with comprehensive protection from today's sophisticated attacks - all in one unified threat management device that drives a lower cost of ownership."

About the Top Layer IPS 5500

The IPS 5500 family of products offers the strongest levels of network protection, performance and reliability on the market today. By combining stateful firewall, content-based IPS/IDS, and attack mitigation algorithms, the IPS 5500 is the only solution that provides Three Dimensional Protection (3DP) against undesired access, malicious content and rate-based attacks. Top Layer’s architecture enables the IPS 5500 to protect enterprises and service providers from sophisticated, hybrid attacks in real-time while enabling the highest throughput of legitimate traffic.

The IPS 5500 remains the only IPS to receive double NSS Lab Approval for both rate-based and content-based IPS protection. It has also won approval from industry publications such as Information Security Magazine, SC Magazine, Computer Reseller News, among others.

To learn more about the IPS 5500 visit http://www.toplayer.com/content/products/intrusion_detection/attack_mitigator.jsp,

or call +1-508-870-1300.

About Top Layer Networks

Top Layer Networks is dedicated to its role as the leading global provider of Network Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), developing and bringing to market network security infrastructure solutions that help commercial and government organizations protect their critical on-line assets from the losses and risks associated with cyber threats. Its family of IPS appliances is designed with “Three Dimensional Protection” that provides the most advanced protection capabilities against known and unknown attacks at the highest tested performance rates. Top Layer Networks is headquartered in Massachusetts, USA with sales and support presence in Canada, Germany, Japan, Korea, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

[i] Gartner Research “Network Security Platforms Evolving Into Single-Appliance Solutions” by G. Young, J. Pescatore. August 23, 2005.

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