Microsoft unveils firewall

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT36V6PF7JC&live=true&useoverridetemplate=ZZZUGORQ00C&tagid=ZZZAU2EX70C&subheading=us

By Andrew Heavens in San Francisco
Published: February 14 2001 19:24GMT

Microsoft unveiled its first significant line of internet security
products as it recovered from a string of cyber attacks on its own
systems.

The software giant launched its Internet Security and Acceleration
(ISA) server which aims to defend corporate computer networks against
hackers and internet viruses.

It said the software was a central plank of its emerging strategy of
refocusing the company and its products around building the
infrastructure needed for e-business.

Analysts said the release would allow Microsoft to plug a key hole in
its e-commerce systems offerings. However, they added the company had
a credibility problem to overcome before it could become a leading
name in the internet security market.

Jan Sundgren, of Giga Information Group, the market research group,
said: "In the past Microsoft has been notorious for having been lax in
security."

He said the company came under fire when the infamous "I Love You"
virus used a weakness in a Microsoft e-mail program to multiply and
spread around the world.

Last month Microsoft's network of websites were downed by a series of
attacks where hackers overloaded its systems with tens of thousands of
messages.

The ISA server is Microsoft's entry into the crowded market for
corporate firewalls - the first line of defence which tries to keep
out hackers and monitor data coming into companies' systems.

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