HP Rolls Out New Security Offerings, Enhancements

Hewlett-Packard is extending its position in the information security market with a series of new products and services designed to embed security into everything developed by the Palo Alto-based vendor.

Highlights include expanded capabilities for HP ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) 6.0c, a monitoring and compliance solution designed for high-speed assessments and remediation of cyber attacks.

The ArcSight software is now integrated with the HP Correlation Optimized Retention and Retrieval Engine in order to boost speed and performance in the identification of potential threats while at the same time filtering out false positives in setting priorities for critical issues that require immediate attention. Given this development, the company claims that ArcSight ESM 6.0c now processes up to 500 percent more activity per second compared to previous versions of the same product while also providing faster analysis, a reduced storage footprint and lower security monitoring costs.

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"We are trying to provide more actionable information, as well as a whole new set of event information," said Sanjay Raja, Director, Product Marketing, Network and Virtualization Security at HP. "We are adding additional context and a lot more information on the nature of the attack, as well as how to stop it."

As part of its overall security story, HP is also rolling out its new TippingPoint NX Next Generation Intrusion Prevention System, which is offered in response to advanced persistent threats directed against enterprise data centers and service providers. The system provides deep packet inspection to protect network devices, virtual machines, operating systems and business-critical applications. The NX platform has two models, a 13-gig version and also a five-gig version.

The system is backed by HP's X-Armour Technology, a new modular software architecture designed to update every two hours and to adapt automatically to threats as they are discovered. Benefits include botnet mitigation, protection against malware, Web application security and the ability to control user-deployed applications, such as social networking and online gaming.

"The X-Armour software has been redesigned to be able to provide a modular software architecture that allows us to compartmentalize certain protections," explained Raja. "We can also provide control and quarantining, and support added protections against certain application vulnerabilities. We also offer reputation services and geolocation information. And, all of these capabilities are offered on a modular basis, meaning that our partners don't need to go to the table with such a huge product."

NEXT: HP Partners Up For Next-Gen Security APIs

HP's Raja added that HP is partnering with VMware for the development of next-generation security APIs to provide the same types of security capabilities in the virtualization space.

"We are really trying to build a general-purpose network security platform that allows us to expand the security capability while at the same time reducing the security footprint," he said. "Channel partners can go back to their existing customers to upsell some of the new modules and features. They can also sell our Web application firewall and new security appliances. This gives them the ability to deploy into the core data center much more easily."

Other components of the rollout include a free mobile application that provides a quick overview of the security landscape; a global security information portal to help partners stay on top of the latest attacks; access and authentication solutions for printers; and GRC and management services.

PUBLISHED SEPT. 10, 2012