Clustered Firewalls? What on earth next, beowulf IDS systems?

Check Point has added cluster support and more granular controls to its virtual firewall software, memorably named Check Point VPN-1 Power VSX NGX.

Virtual firewalls can now be distributed around a server cluster, with standby firewalls on alternative servers. System administrators can also shift processor power around, taking it from low priority systems and giving to to high priority ones.

“We are seeing a growing market within data centres to have clustered environments so there is no single point of failure,” said Check Point security engineer Caroline Ikomi.

Virtual servers are getting pretty big though, for all kinds of purposes.

“Within the VSX scalability pack, you can allocate virtual systems to specific cluster members based on their performance requirement, and have alternative virtual systems backed up to the same blade as a standby, so making maximum use of resources.”

Check Point claimed that the new clustering capability in VSX enables linear growth in performance, plus real-time monitoring of traffic load distribution, and reduced synchronisation traffic.

The program, which costs from $24,000 for 10 virtual system licences, is a version of Check Point’s firewall, VPN and anti-intrusion software that runs as a virtual application. The company said that it allows a single physical server to run up to 250 virtual security devices.

It’s aimed at large organisations with multiple VLANs so it might interest some of you. It’s also good for running multiple ‘firewall’ devices with different policy sets from the same bit of hardware.

Source: The Register

Basically the Americans are saying a lot of their sensitive govermental organisations are using Snort and they don’t want the software to be controlled by an Israeli company, they see it as a threat.

The same Bush administration review panel that approved a ports deal involving the United Arab Emirates has notified a leading Israeli software company that it faces a rare, full-blown investigation over its plans to buy a smaller rival.

The objections by the FBI and Pentagon were partly over specialized intrusion detection software known as “Snort,” which guards some classified U.S. military and intelligence computers.

Snort’s author is a senior executive at Sourcefire Inc., which would be sold to publicly traded Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. in Ramat Gan, Israel. Sourcefire is based in Columbia, Md.

Check Point was told U.S. officials feared the transaction could endanger some of government’s most sensitive computer systems. The company announced it had agreed to acquire Sourcefire in October.

Is it really a threat?

I’m guessing from this though that the US government then doesn’t use ANY Checkpoint devices or software in any of its organisations.

The ongoing 45-day investigation into the Israeli deal is only the 26th of its type conducted among 1,600 business transactions reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States. The panel, facing criticism by Congress about its scrutiny of the ports deal, judges the security risks of foreign companies buying or investing in American industry.

I wonder what the outcome is going to be.

Let’s hope the whole thing is dealt with properly.

Source: Redmond Mag – (Slashdot)