NSS Labs, the leading security product testing and certification organization, today announced that IBM is the first vendor to ever obtain three highly coveted NSS Labs Gold Awards in a row for its IBM Proventia Network Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) appliance.

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In order to achieve a Gold Award, a product must consistently block more than 95 percent of the exploits in the Security Update Monitor (SUM) program, a recurring monthly test of security effectiveness. As a program participant, IBM has committed to test its security products monthly with NSS Labs, a sign of the company's dedication to security industry leadership. The IBM Proventia Network IPS GX6116 Solution achieved high security effectiveness, enabling customers to stay ahead of and protected against the latest threats.

IBM also announced IBM ISS Proventia Server for Linux 2.0 passed the NSS Labs Datacenter Server Security certification test and achieved 100 percent security effectiveness in the Host Intrusion Prevention (HIPS), File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) and Web Application Firewall (WAF) test categories. This is the first server security product to add Web protection to its arsenal, enabling clients to keep ahead of the growing industry threats to Web 2.0, databases and applications. NSS Labs performed comprehensive testing of the IBM Proventia Server for Linux 2.0 in its lab to evaluate its security effectiveness and performance, management and usability capabilities.

"As the first vendor to secure three NSS Labs Gold Awards in a row, IBM has reliably proven the security effectiveness of its IPS appliance," said Rick Moy, president of NSS Labs. "This accomplishment is particularly significant in light of the increasingly rigorous environment in which we test vendors' security products."

"The achievement of this certification and another Gold Award provides solid validation that IBM has continued to create excellent new products while maintaining the highest levels of security and proactive threat detection," said Brian Truskowski, general manager of IBM Internet Security Systems. "Receiving high security accolades for our server security products shows our commitment to investing in security for the datacenter and keeping customers ahead of the latest Web threats in a unique way. Our pattern of exceeding product expectations through these stringent tests also helps clients feel assured about their investments in IBM security products during these challenging economic times."

NSS Labs' transparent, scientifically repeatable certification process provides high levels of independence, diligence, and integrity. Network IPS products are tested to verify their stability and performance, determine the accuracy of security coverage, and ensure each device allows legitimate traffic.

The full report to the Security Update Monitoring, IBM Proventia Server for Linux and other IBM product reports can be found at http://nsslabs.com/IBM.

About NSS Labs

NSS Labs was founded in 1991, and is the global leader in independent security and performance testing and certification, with the most comprehensive security validation in the industry. Proven methodologies reflect real-world traffic and usage conditions, and help information security professionals understand how products will work in their environments. NSS Labs unbiased reports provide buyers the ability to make data-driven decisions about purchases and renewals, and monitor vendor product performance. NSS is a participating organization in the PCI Security Standards Council and a member of AMTSO. For more information, visit: www.nsslabs.com.

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  Contacts:
  Darcy Hansen
  IBM Media Relations
  917-472-3692
  hansenda@us.ibm.com

  Liz Goldberg
  NSS Labs
  512-961-5300
  pr@nsslabs.com

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: hansenda@us.ibm.com

SOURCE: IBM