Axent ships security software
The company begins shipping Web Defender, turnkey software that offers centralized, secure access to Web-based information on intranets.
Web Defender is integrated with the Microsoft Windows NT domains, thus simplifying deployment by utilizing NT's existing user database for access control. The product is the first major offering to emerge from Axent's December acquisition of Raptor Systems, a firewall and remote access firm.
Axent is positioning its Web Defender application as an alternative to complicated toolkits to build secure access control. A Webmaster or IT specialist can click through a set of preconfigured screens to set up and manage users' access to files or applications across an intranet. Users must only log in once using their existing NT name and password, giving them access to any corporate Web server with a single sign-on.
"To truly leverage an intranet, organizations need a quick way to ensure that employees or partners only have access to the information they are authorized to see," Axent's Lance Urbas, vice president, said in a statement. "Web Defender provides Webmasters with a scalable, out-of-the-box solution."
Other firms have similar capabilities in their extranet offerings, including Differential, Sterling Commerce, and TumbleWeed. EnCommerce has security management software that supports non-Web protocols as well as Web standards.
With Web Defender's ticketing technology, a centralized server issues and administers encrypted tickets carrying users' password and access information. Once a user is authenticated against the information stored in their Windows NT domain, the ticketing server places a ticket on the user's Web browser, giving it access to the information it is authorized to view.
Web Defender provides centralized access control for both NT and Unix Web servers, and it integrates with Axent's Axcess 2.0 toolkit, a former Raptor product, for large or complex intranets. Internet Security Advantages will offer consulting services to customize large Axcess deployments.
The software supports RSA encryption, secure sockets layer, X.509 digital certificates, and HTTP. Axent said future releases will support LDAP, RADIUS, X.509 digital certificate servers, and Axent's Defender hardware tokens.
Pricing starts at $5,000, based on the number of Web servers supported, and the software supports unlimited users.