McAfee, Inc. Announces Beta Availability of Enterprise Endpoint Enforcement Solution for Today's Multi-Vendor Networks

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- McAfee, Inc. , the leader in Intrusion Prevention and Security Risk Management solutions, today announced the beta availability of its system security policy enforcement solution, McAfee(R) Policy Enforcer. McAfee Policy Enforcer, which is scheduled to be generally available in early 2006, helps protect corporate network environments by blocking network access to managed and unmanaged end-point systems that do not comply with defined IT security policies. With McAfee Policy Enforcer, enterprises will have the most robust protection against internal and external threats, protecting valuable infrastructure investments through a comprehensive, integrated system for endpoint policy enforcement.

The solution will provide smart policy controls and granular agent and agentless assessment to ensure security application and patch compliance before allowing access to the network. Additional checks will also be performed to verify that high risk viruses and threats are not present on the endpoint system. The solution will seamlessly integrate with McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator(R) 3.6 (ePO(TM)) to ensure ease of deployment and lower management and integration costs than other alternatives. It also requires no major network infrastructure overhaul, resulting in an accelerated implementation across the entire network.

IT administrators will have the benefit of centralized management for all their system security needs -- bringing anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, host intrusion prevention systems (IPS) and endpoint policy enforcement under one console.

According to a recent Gartner report, "Protect Your Resources with a Network Access Control Process," by John Pescatore, Mark Nicolett and Lawrence Orans, 80 percent of enterprises will have implemented network access control policies and procedures by year-end 2007.

"With the increase in laptop adoption, the varieties of connection methods and the mobility of employees, the importance of having more comprehensive network access control has increased," said John Pescatore, Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst. "Businesses need to implement processes and select products that use industry standards to enforce security policy across heterogeneous platform and network environments."

"AT&T believes IT risk remediation and compliance are central to an enterprise risk management strategy," said Gene Kachurak, group manager for research and technical development, Security Center of Excellence, AT&T Labs. "AT&T supports McAfee's efforts in developing their policy enforcement strategy, which assures that systems accessing a corporate network are compliant with established security policy. Determining the risk level of assets that access a company's network is an important aspect of protecting the network and business continuity."

"McAfee Policy Enforcer will complement a Cisco Network Admission Control (NAC) framework, and take advantage of existing investments in network infrastructure and host security technology by linking the two together to provide additional effectiveness to a network admission control solution," said Russell Rice, director of marketing at Cisco. "With the Cisco NAC framework enforcing network security policy, and McAfee Policy Enforcer software defining, measuring, and managing the system security policy, our mutual customers will have a highly tunable security framework."

Through McAfee's deep security knowledge and proven research capabilities, it has designed a solution that protects network environments from internal and external threats, both in heterogeneous environments and those supporting enforcement frameworks such as Cisco Network Admission Control (NAC), Microsoft Network Access Protection (NAP) and Trusted Network Connect (TNC). McAfee Policy Enforcer can take advantage of a corporation's existing infrastructure, while mitigating the risks involved with non-compliant systems accessing the network.

"McAfee is 100% focused on helping its customers plan, execute and continuously improve their security posture," said Steve Crutchfield, director of product marketing, McAfee, Inc. "McAfee Policy Enforcer will offer proven security technology backed by unmatched security expertise, helping large enterprises feel safe about offering an open method of connectivity for all their users including remote or mobile workers, partners and suppliers. And, since this product will integrate seamlessly with today's leading third party VPN, remote access, wireless and networking solutions, it will support our customers' environments across the world."

McAfee Policy Enforcer builds on the McAfee Trusted Connection Initiative, a comprehensive strategy for validating that systems connecting to the network, from both internal and external access points, are brought to compliance before they are allowed to connect. As part of the McAfee Trusted Connection Initiative, McAfee has teamed with Virtual Private Network (VPN) and networking technology leaders -- including Aventail, Cisco, Juniper and Nortel -- to create a solution that easily integrates with third party security applications.

McAfee Policy Enforcer also creates new opportunities for system integrators, such as network integration and support and software up sells, helping to create technical leadership and additional revenue streams. McAfee channel partners act as trusted advisors to help implement and manage security solutions, providing services such as vulnerability assessment, security policy planning and design and training.

Availability

The McAfee Policy Enforcer beta version will be available late November 2005. General availability of McAfee Policy Enforcer is schedule for early 2006 through McAfee and its channel partners. For more information please visit http://www.mcafee.com/ or call 888-VIRUS-NO.

About McAfee, Inc.

McAfee, Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, California and the global leader in Intrusion Prevention and Security Risk Management, delivers proactive and proven solutions and services that secure systems and networks around the world. With its unmatched security expertise and commitment to innovation, McAfee empowers home users, businesses, the public sector, and service providers with the ability to block attacks, prevent disruptions, and continuously track and improve their security. http://www.mcafee.com/.

NOTE: McAfee, VirusScan, ePolicy Orchestrator and ePO are registered trademarks or trademarks of McAfee, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. McAfee Red in connection with security is distinctive of McAfee brand products. All other registered and unregistered trademarks in this document are the sole property of their respective owners.

Pre-Release Software Statement: McAfee Policy Enforcer is a pre-release version of software and as such features and functionality may change or be removed altogether. McAfee Policy Enforcer is under qualification testing and may contain significant errors or bugs and may not function in accordance with product documentation.