Consul Enters Database Auditing Arena Through Comprehensive Database Monitoring and Reporting Solution.

HERNDON, Va. -- InSight Monitors Trusted and Privileged User Activity Across All Major Database Platforms; Delivers Customized Audit Reports Through Central Dashboard

Consul risk management, the recognized authority in security audit and compliance, today announced the enhancement to the Consul InSight(TM) Suite with deep database audit capability for Oracle, MSSQL, DB2, UDB and Sybase. With this release, Consul InSight solidifies its position as the broadest, deepest, and least intrusive security compliance monitoring and reporting solution to assure that privileged users, like DBAs and application administrators, are managing data and systems in accordance with security policies and compliance mandates. From one central dashboard, security and compliance executives can obtain the reports and alerts they need to monitor sensitive systems and data for misuse, and to quickly pass internal or external audits.

Why is Database Auditing a Critical Part of Information Systems Assurance?

Most of an enterprise's sensitive customer and company data is maintained within databases, like Oracle, MSSQL Server, DB2, UDB and Sybase, and managed by privileged users. If data is deliberately or inadvertently released, deleted or changed, or database outages occur because change processes are not followed, the enterprise risks loss of reputation and revenue, as well as incurs potential legal liability.

"To monitor privileged users' activity and protect sensitive data, organizations need a comprehensive auditing solution; but the cure is often worse than the disease," said Kristin Gallina Lovejoy, CTO of Consul. "Today's solutions, whether homegrown or commercial tools for auditing database activity, are overly technical, cumbersome to maintain, and handle the database in isolation. Consul's unique approach audits deeply into databases, but also widely across systems, applications and devices. Today, only Consul -- with the broadest platform support in the market, and deepest, least intrusive audit and monitoring capability -- makes it possible to track and investigate individual user behavior. With this technology offering, our customers can feel confident they won't incur costly damages or outages due to inadvertent mistakes or malicious actions of their most powerful users."

Databases are more vulnerable than ever before and a breach can have, long-term consequences and costs for a company beyond damage to its reputation. A report on the 20 most critical Internet security vulnerabilities for 2005, by the SANS Institute in conjunction with government representatives from the United States and the United Kingdom, showed that applications, including databases, have become a primary target for nefarious activity.

According to a report titled, "Comprehensive Database Security Requires Native DBMS Features and Third-Party Tools," published by Forrester Research, Inc., (March 2005), "enterprises often focus on perimeter-based security, but with the growing complexity of environments and applications, firms need to take a broader view, considering security as it relates to the entire technology stack...enterprises need more than perimeter security to ensure full protection of their data. DBMS security, which is the last line of defense for enterprise data, needs to focus specifically on policies and procedures that will minimize the risk and impact of various kinds of attacks."

What does Consul InSight Offer?

Consul InSight provides complete database coverage on Oracle and Oracle fine grained auditing; DB2 (on zSeries); UDB (on Windows and UNIX); Sybase (on Windows and UNIX); and Microsoft SQL. The solution collects and analyzes audit trail information, turning it into rich compliance data and providing hundreds of "must-have" reports, such as:

--Sensitive Data Access Reports

--DBA Activity Report

--System Access (Logon) Report

--User Management Report

--Privileged Activity Report

--Operational Change Control Report

Additionally, the Consul InSight Suite extends beyond database auditing to applications, operating systems and security devices.

Pricing

The Consul InSight Suite pricing starts at $25,000. Database Auditing starts at $2,500 per database instance, with volume discounts available for large environments.

About Consul risk management, Inc.

Founded in 1986, Consul risk management is an authority in security audit and compliance. Consul provides policy-based user monitoring solutions to track, report on and investigate non-compliant behavior, such as unauthorized activity by administrators and other privileged users. The Consul InSight(TM) Suite automates the process of enterprise-wide log collection, privileged user monitoring, behavioral forensics and compliance reporting.

More than 350 customers around the world rely on Consul to accelerate their security audit and compliance efforts, including AEGON Canada, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Fidelity Financial Services, Ford, Kroger, The New York Times, Office Depot, Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Wachovia and government agencies. Consul has offices in the United States and the Netherlands, and 25 partners worldwide, including BMC Software. For additional information about Consul and its products, services and partners please call +1 800.258.5077 or +31 15.251.3333 (Worldwide), or visit www.consul.com.

Consul InSight Security Manager, Consul InSight, Consul InSight Suite, Consul InSight Privileged User Monitoring and Audit solution are trademarks of Consul risk management, Inc.