Microsoft SQL labs selects Netscreen to protect against Code Red, NIMDA attacks.

NetScreen Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:NSCN), a developer of ASIC-based Internet security systems and appliances, has announced that Microsoft Corp.'s SQL labs have deployed NetScreen-500 integrated security systems to secure and monitor the Microsoft SQL network from malicious attacks related to the Code Red and NIMDA viruses.

For large research and development networks like the Microsoft SQL labs, network uptime, network availability, and fast network performance are valuable assets. Software development is a collaborative process and the SQL software development teams use the network to upload, download and test new code builds daily. By using the denial of service attack blocking and reporting capabilities of the NetScreen-500 security system, the SQL network engineering team is able to protect against Code Red- and NIMDA-based and malicious URL attacks originating from outside their network, as well as identify infected internal workstations to take them offline for faster network recovery.

"With more than 4,500 workstations, keeping the SQL labs virus free has been a challenge," said Mark Jackson, SQL network engineer at Microsoft's SQL Labs. "By using the NetScreen-500s we were quickly able to eradicate the viruses from our labs and identify infected machines outside the lab so we could notify them and effectively stop the spread of the NIMDA virus. Because of this solution, during the last outbreak of the NIMDA virus, the SQL Server Lab was only affected for 30 minutes, whereas other victims of the virus were down all day."

"New threats like Code Red and NIMDA demand that enterprises move beyond their traditional perimeter-based enforcement model, to a new security enforcement paradigm that allows an outbreak to be quickly isolated before it brings down the entire network," said David Flynn, NetScreen vice president of marketing. "Providing protection in critical infrastructures such as the Microsoft SQL Server Lab exemplifies the importance of NetScreen's high capacity and flexible security platforms that enable security enforcement to be pushed into the infrastructure of the network."

The NetScreen-500 delivers security performance of more than 700 Mbps firewall and 250 Mbps VPN throughput, ensuring that the security system does not become a choke point in high-performance network environments. The NetScreen-500's broad range of both physical and virtual interfaces makes it extremely flexible. Its four media bays support combinations of 10/100 and gigabit physical interfaces. The NetScreen-500 also includes support for up to 25 separate security domains through NetScreen's unique Virtual Systems capability.