Ellen Messmer

Startup FireEye debuted this month, announcing plans to ship a switch-based network access control appliance in June that will let customers identify network-borne malware and attacks in order to contain them quickly.

Moving from one brand of gateway firewall to another is proving to be a daunting task that corporate customers say takes six or more months because of a lack of industry standards and dearth of migration tools.

Mu Security earlier this month made its debut with a security analyzer called the Mu-4000 that can probe and discover new vulnerabilities in a variety of IP-based network gear, including switches, routers, VoIP phones, Web servers and firewalls.

Industry observers watching the IT security job market are pointing to up-and-coming areas such as computer forensics and wireless security for the hottest jobs. The better-paying positions overall, however, are going to security professionals with management responsibilities rather than simply technical roles.

Anti-virus software rivals McAfee and Symantec are going toe-to-toe again as they both unveiled network access control products at the RSA Conference in San Jose, Calif. last month.

Internet Security Systems has added a behaviour-based malware-detection engine to its gateway intrusion-prevention system called the Proventia Network Integrated Security Appliance.

Outsourcing corporate security is no longer risky business and large organizations should hand off network monitoring and security services as soon as possible. That was the main conclusion Gartner analysts presented to about 2,000 IT executives at the firm's IT Security Summit.

Trend Micro and eSoft last month unveiled products aimed at helping customers combat spyware. Trend Micro