F5 and Infoblox Provide Customers with Complete DNS Security Solution

F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV), the global leader in Application Delivery Networking (ADN) and Infoblox, the leading provider of DNS, DHCP and IPAM (DDI) solutions, today announced a partnership agreement. F5 and Infoblox have partnered to develop a solution to simplify and speed deployment of the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC).

F5 and Infoblox together deliver the market’s only fully integrated and complete DNSSEC solution including high-performance DNS and global server load balancing functions, all supporting signed DNSSEC data. This provides customers a scalable, manageable, and secure DNS infrastructure that is equipped to withstand DNS attacks. The solution is a combination of Infoblox’s purpose-built appliances that deliver highly reliable, manageable and secure DNS services with built-in, automated DNSSEC features, and F5^® BIG-IP^® Global Traffic Manager^™ appliances optimized with hardware acceleration facilitating real-time signing of DNSSEC signature queries.

Details

• Many security experts consider DNSSEC to be an essential tool in "sealing” DNS vulnerabilities and mitigating DNS cache poisoning attacks that undermine the integrity of the DNS system. DNSSEC implements an automated trust infrastructure, enabling systems to verify the authenticity of the DNS information, and foils attackers’ attempts to direct users to alternate sites ? for collection of credit card information and passwords, to redirect email, or otherwise compromise applications.
• Infoblox’s industry-leading DNSSEC features replace manual key generation and zone signing with a "one-click” process that generates and securely distributes encryption keys to all appliances in the Infoblox Grid that serve DNSSEC data. F5 provides a FIPS-compliant option to satisfy the most stringent military grade key security. Both F5 and Infoblox systems handle the NIST recommended key policies and automatic rollover.
• Deploying F5 to load balance several Infoblox appliances ensures high performance and availability. This configuration mitigates denial of service attacks on DNS. The superior tools provided by Infoblox allow customers to easily manage the adoption of IPv6 and the growth of IP addresses.

Supporting Quotes

Security researcher Dan Kaminsky, Director of Penetration Testing at IOActive who exposed the "Kaminsky DNS vulnerability” and is advocating implementation of DNSSEC, commented: "The lack of DNS security not only makes the Internet vulnerable, but is also crippling the scalability of important security technologies. DNSSEC offers the most feasible solution to a serious threat.”

"DNSSEC adoption has been hampered by concerns over the operational complexity with provisioning encryption keys and the processing overhead required to sign DNS information,” said Jon Oltsik, Senior Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "Additionally, customers haven’t had a seamless DNSSEC architecture option for global server load balancing and standard DNS, so they’ve had to choose between either deploying reliable intelligent DNS systems or securing their DNS infrastructure with DNSSEC. With the F5 and Infoblox solution, customers no longer need to compromise.”

"This joint solution changes the game for DNS infrastructure deployments by advancing the security and integrity of both government and enterprise sites,” said Jason Needham, Senior Director of Product Management at F5. "F5 welcomes this alliance with Infoblox. By combining two mission-critical DNS control points, the leaders in ADN and the DDI space allow customers to reap the benefits of an agile deployment architecture with layered security and simplified management.”

Infoblox Vice President of Architecture and DNS expert, Cricket Liu, commented: "The combination of F5’s and Infoblox’s appliances provide enterprise customers an opportunity to build authoritative DNS infrastructure without giving up either global server load balancing or DNSSEC—a no-compromise solution.”

For More Details, Attend the Joint Webinar March 10, 2010

There is a joint F5 and Infoblox DNSSEC webinar scheduled for Wednesday, March 10. The webinar will feature industry experts Dan Kaminsky, Scott Rose, and Cricket Liu highlighting the value of DNSSEC and offering some related best practices. Register for the webinar here: http://www.infoblox.com/events/Infoblox-F5-DNSSEC-Webinar.html.

Additional Resources

• Infoblox DNSSEC solution overview
• F5-Infoblox partnership overview
• F5 DNS Security solutions
• F5-Infoblox announcement summary slides

About F5 Networks

F5 Networks is the global leader in Application Delivery Networking (ADN), focused on ensuring the secure, reliable, and fast delivery of applications. F5’s flexible architectural framework enables community-driven innovation that helps organizations enhance IT agility and dynamically deliver services that generate true business value. F5’s vision of unified application and data delivery offers customers an unprecedented level of choice in how they deploy ADN solutions. It redefines the management of application, server, storage, and network resources, streamlining application delivery and reducing costs. Global enterprise organizations, service and cloud providers, and Web 2.0 content providers trust F5 to keep their business moving forward. For more information, go to www.f5.com.

F5, BIG-IP, and Global Traffic Manager are trademarks or service marks of F5 Networks, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. The use of the words "partner,” "partnership,” or "joint” does not imply a legal partnership relationship between F5 Networks and any other company.

About Infoblox

Infoblox delivers highly reliable and manageable platforms for core network services like domain name resolution (DNS), IP address assignment (DHCP), IP address management (IPAM) and more. Infoblox solutions – the only DNS, DHCP and IPAM (DDI) solution given a "Strong Positive Rating” by Gartner – are used by over 3,500 organizations worldwide, including over 135 of the Fortune 500. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., and operates in more than 30 countries.

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