E-Gap Cuts Off Hacker Access

[Patrick Oonk <patrick () pine nl>]

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,41044,00.html


TEL AVIV -- An Israeli high-tech firm says it has developed a system
that cuts off the main route used by most Internet hackers when they
try to break into a company's computer network.

The new technology by start-up Whale Communications is aimed primarily
at e-commerce companies that offer goods or services to consumers who
sometimes are wary about providing credit card information over the Internet.

Most e-commerce sites use sophisticated encryption to encode
sensitive information and make it unreadable to outsiders. Whale's
system, called "E-Gap," goes another route.

What it does is ensure that hackers cannot jump from the Internet into a
company's "back office" -- the internal Web server or computer where it
stores sensitive information such as a buyer's credit card details.

The system consists of two servers, or computer systems. One is
connected to the Internet and the other to
the back office. A black box in the middle contains a memory device
toggling between them.

"This eliminates the main way hackers get inside. The main goal is to
avoid hacking into internal systems," said Whale chief executive Elad Baron.

"We created an air-gap between the two networks. The back office and
Internet are completely disconnected at all times," he said. "There is a
safe zone. If the data is OK, then it's passed on to the back office to
execute the transaction.''

[.....]

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