Cisco Backs Trend to Block Worms
Cisco Systems Inc has tapped Trend Micro Inc in a broad technology
licensing deal that will eventually give much of Cisco's kit the
ability to block and clean up after network worms. The two-phased
integration deal will first see Cisco's intrusion detection software,
which can be loaded on the company's flagship enterprise routers and
switches, use Trend-developed worm signatures. This stage of the deal
is expected to become reality in the third quarter. The deal is not
for the full set of Trend definitions, just network worms, which don't
exist as files, but are transmitted from memory to memory over the
network. These number merely hundreds, but can be particularly
damaging, as shown by the Slammer, Blaster and Code Red outbreaks.
Cisco director of product management Tom Russell said existing Cisco
IPS customers will have these signatures downloaded to their hardware
at no additional charge. Cisco has some signature-based and
anomaly-based intrusion prevention features already.
In the fourth quarter, Cisco will also start selling a cut-down
version of Trend's Control Manager management console, branded as the
Cisco Incident Control Center (ICC), from which three more pieces of
anti-worm technology licensed from Trend will be offered.
Cisco will use Trend's Outbreak Prevention Service, Trend's stopgap
worm blocking offering, in which customers are sent a policy that can
spot and block newly released worms, while Trend's virus researchers
work on a signatures.
Through the ICC, Cisco will also offer Trend's recently introduced
vulnerability scanning service and its incident cleanup system, which
deploys software to infected nodes to clean up worm damage and prevent
further infections.
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The deal expands on a relationship formed last November, when Trend
was one of the three launch members of Cisco's Network Admission
Control program (NAC). NAC sees anti-virus software talk to Cisco's
access control policy software.
Symantec and Network Associates are also NAC members. Russell said the
decision to license Trend's technology was made because Trend has a
"lifecycle" approach to fighting off worms, and because it is strong
in the gateway anti-virus business.
Cisco has been boosting its security offerings lately, having
identified security as one of several growth drivers. The strategy has
gained added significance since rival Juniper Networks bought firewall
player NetScreen Technologies and identified the deal as its route
into Cisco's core enterprise business
