Forum Systems and Captus Networks partner to provide Web Services Intrusion Detection and Prevention solution.

Forum Systems, Inc., a provider of trust management and threat protection Web services security solutions, and Captus Networks Corp., provider of the Captus IPS 4000 series of intrusion prevention network solutions, recently announced a joint marketing agreement to offer a best-of-breed Web services Intrusion Detection and Prevention solution. The combined solution offers enterprises a comprehensive layered security approach to mitigate a new breed of information-borne threats delivered via XML-based communications.

Web services are rapidly being adopted by organizations for seamless internal as well as external application communication. This is quickly leading to increased exposure of sensitive and mission critical information not addressed by today's network firewalls. A new class of XML-related threats, including XML Denial of Service attacks, can readily be launched to consume server CPU cycles and wreak havoc on mission-critical applications and business productivity.

"We anticipate XML-based attacks to become prevalent with the broad adoption of XML across enterprises," said Wes Swenson, president and CEO of Forum Systems. "Enterprises are particularly exposed to attacks that can come through SOAP messages defined within WSDL documents. What's needed is an 'expert security system' that simultaneously recognizes the unique security risks posed at the network--as well as content-level."

"Captus and Forum complement each other, providing a comprehensive network integrity solution that integrates network security with content-sensitive Web services filtering. This combined solution ensures network and application availability for valid traffic--with no compromise in network performance," said Stephen Schramke, president and CEO of Captus Networks.

The Forum Sentry 1500 series provides an enterprise-class Web services security management and acceleration platform that integrates three Web services security solutions including: Data Privacy Server (XML content and document encryption/decryption), Digital Signature Server (XML content and document digital signatures) and XML Intrusion Prevention (XML filtering, authentication, access control and schema validation).