In an age of increasing hacker attacks, calling any computer-security product "The World's Most Secure" would seem to be inviting disaster. But that didn't stop Network Associates (www.nai.com) from proudly making the claim about its flagship Gauntlet firewall system. In fact, this month's issue of Network magazine gives Gauntlet its prestigious "Security Product of the Year" award. That was no consolation on May 19, when a San Diego computer engineer found a flaw in Gauntlet while performing a routine security audit, BW Online has learned. The flaw, if exploited, could allow hackers to break into tens of thousands of supposedly protected computer networks. The engineer, Jim N. Stickley, immediately notified Santa Clara (Calif.)-based Network Associates and helped it come up with a fix for the program. But the breach was a shocker for the firewall industry as a whole. "If companies that specialize in security can't write secure software, what should we expect of the rest of the world?" says Elias Levy, the chief technology officer of computer security Web portal SecurityFocus.com (www.securityfocus.com). .................... Full article at http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/may2000/nf00526f.htm?scriptFrame d _______________________ The opinions expressed above are my own. The facts simply are and belong to none. James W. Meritt, CISSP, CISA Senior Secure Systems Engineer at Wang Government Services, Inc. - [To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe firewalls" in the body of the message.]
