NFR Security Achieves OSEC Verification with Perfect Score in Evasion Techniques; Company Continues to Demonstrate Technology Leadership Among Industry's Major IDS Vendors.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

ROCKVILLE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 14, 2003

NFR Security, Inc., a leading developer of Intrusion Management Solutions, today announced that it has passed all tests in the evasion techniques category of the prestigious Open Security Evaluation Criteria (OSEC) tests from Neohapsis.

NFR's NID-310 and NID-320 were among a small group of industry-leading products that received perfect scores for this area.

"In our extensive testing process, NFR Security successfully detected 100 percent of our attacks under the specified performance requirements," stated Greg Shipley, Chief Technology Officer of Neohapsis. "Time and again, accuracy and detection are listed as key customer requirements for enterprises looking at IDS solutions. Our tests show that NFR accurately detected critical attacks under varying traffic conditions per the OSEC NIDS v1.0 criteria."

OSEC is a framework for evaluating the security functionality of networked products. It is founded on the notion that product security evaluation criteria should be openly examinable, subject to critique and amendment, vendor and end-user input, and ultimately, become the product of community peer review.

"NFR Security continues to demonstrate its leadership among the top IDS players, including Cisco, ISS and Symantec. We were very confident going into the Neohapsis test, knowing that our technology would successfully pass the rigorous procedures," stated Andre Yee, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of NFR Security. "While many IDS vendors still haven't stepped up to the plate to participate in the Neohapsis tests, our results confirm that we are able to protect customers from the growing threat of sophisticated network attacks. The OSEC results demonstrate that NFR delivers the highest level of network protection among the industry's leading intrusion detection systems."

NFR Security's NID-310 and NID-320 successfully passed the 33 tests included in the evasion portion of OSEC. Highlights from these test results include:

-- Complex IP Fragmentation - NFR supports the five common

variations of IP reassembly.

-- Delayed Injection - In the high-connection rate environment

both the NID-310 and NID-320 successfully maintained state and

detected subsequent attacks.

-- HTTP Obfuscation - NFR successfully identified all URL encoded

attacks, the most popular attack detection evasions used

against web servers.

NFR NID is a network intrusion detection system that unobtrusively monitors traffic in real time for suspicious activity misuse, abuse, attacks, anomalous behavior and previously undiscovered attacks.

Powerful sensors capable of monitoring loaded GigE and 100Mbps circuits without packet loss perform highly accurate attack detection using advanced signature and stateful protocol anomaly analysis techniques.

Unlike traditional pattern matching approaches for detecting hacker activity (aka "packet grepping"), NFR NID has an extensive knowledge base of the various ways vulnerabilities can be exploited and how protocols should behave. NFR NID examines activity against these rather than a simple fingerprint of a known exploit.

This capability enables NFR to detect previously unknown attacks such as Code Red and Nimda.

NFR NID also includes several response mechanisms that can be automatically activated depending on the alert and at the discretion of the administrator. These include resetting the TCP session, changing the firewall rules, alerting open management platforms such as IBM Tivoli and HP OpenView and sending SNMP traps.

An advanced management console provides easy administration of distributed sensors, comprehensive alert management facilities and data forensics.

About Neohapsis

Founded in 1997, Neohapsis offers unparalleled expertise and insight in next generation security development and testing services. The company strives to elevate security from short-term, stopgap measures to ongoing strategic, business assurance initiatives.

By maintaining this focus, Neohapsis offers a depth of knowledge and value beyond what is available in traditional lab or consulting service offerings. Neohapsis believes that better business assurance today means less disaster recovery tomorrow. Visit Neohapsis at www.neohapsis.com.

About NFR Security Inc.

NFR Security develops and markets a range of information security products that protect IT assets from external and internal attacks. NFR Security's solution monitors distributed resources and responds when suspicious activity is detected. It also provides powerful forensic investigation facilities for analysis and earlier detection of new threats.

NFR Security operates worldwide via an extensive network of channel partners and direct sales. Customers include Fortune 1000, MSPs, ISPs, government, financial, healthcare and telecommunications organizations. The company is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland. Additional information about NFR Security can be found at www.nfr.com or by calling 1-800-234-4079.