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November 24, 1997, Section: Networking

Tighter Security -- Vendors unveil tools and software to help seal vulnerable systems

By Beth Davis

Security vendors unveiled a slew of products at the Computer Security Institute's annual conference in Washington last week, including single- sign-on tools and security software for Windows NT.

Platinum Technology Inc. of Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., unveiled its fifth-generation single-sign-on product, AutoSecure SSO, which includes support for the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol.

LDAP support lets security managers take advantage of existing directories to administer single-sign-on functions. AutoSecure "has the ability to bulk-load user names and passwords from different repositories," says Steve Foote, VP of research strategies at Hurwitz Group Inc. in Framingham, Mass.

Yellow Freight Systems Inc. is evaluating single-sign-on systems so it can reduce the number of logins that its 800 customer-service representatives use daily. Currently, "On each of the PC desktops there are close to 13 applications, and each one of the applications has a sign-on password," says Mike Milliard, systems programmer at Yellow Technology, the IT arm of the Overland Park, Kan., shipping company. "Some have a password and detailed query that the representatives have to go through. It slows down the whole process."

Highly Beneficial

Milliard adds that "a single-sign-on application would have immense benefit." He says Yellow Freight is considering Platinum's AutoSecure, in part because it supports LDAP. AutoSecure SSO version 5 is available at a price of $125 per user.

Also at the conference, TimeStep Corp. of Kanata, Ontario, announced that its Permit/Client, part of the Permit Virtual Private Network suite, now works with standards-based smart cards.

Schumann Security Soft- ware Inc. in Laurel, Md., introduced a suite of security-management prod- ucts including Security Administration Manager (SAM) 2.3; SAM Request Manager, a workflow security product; SAM Secure Single Sign-On; Secure File Transfer; and Secure Remote Access.

Digital Delivery Inc. in Bedford, Mass., rolled out new software, Confidential Courier, that lets users create a secure information package via encryption and then distribute it through a variety of media, such as an intranet or CD-ROM.

Industry analysts say security products such as single sign-on are maturing, but add that the security market still lacks integrated packages that provide broad security coverage for enterprises.

"The problem is the security market is such a convoluted market," says Hurwitz Group's Foote. "It's very difficult for the [security] novice, like the CIO, when their IT staff comes to them regularly for money to buy more security products."