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Reconnex Prefers a Learned ApproachBy Pedro HernandezOctober 22, 2007
Security appliance maker Reconnex has rolled out a significant new software upgrade to its iGuard data loss prevention (DLP) device that allows organizations to limit the exposure of their most prized information. DLP products generally take a different tack than most secure access schemes. Acting as a different sort of gatekeeper, these systems decide whether or not the transmission of a set of data, like intellectual property or private customer details, is permitted via vectors like e-mail, IMs or USB flash drives -- even if an identity check doesn't trigger any alarms. In Reconnex 7.0, the company has added new levels of granularity to help security admins better manage the tangled relationships between employees, contractors and business partners and the types of information they are permitted to share. Faizel Lakhani, vice president of marketing for Reconnex, sums up the security environment enterprise administrators now face. "Security people must know who those partners are, what information they are allowed to see and conversely what they are not allowed to see." When faced with accounting for even a handful of third parties and outsourcers, and the need to adhere to regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA, a security administrator's job can get very complex very quickly. To ease this, the company has cooked up a new Content Analytics Engine for Reconnex version 7.0. By analyzing historical data already generated by the iGuard Capture database, the new software brings data mining to bear on the policy creation process. Essentially, says Lakhani, Reconnex "built a learning mechanism," a feature that allows his company stand apart from its rivals that rely on predefined pattern-matching. This mechanism is crucially important in discovering data that requires special or restricted handling beyond telltale social security or financial account numbers, according to Lakhani. With the new Content Analytics Engine, administrators can more readily watch for, manage, and if necessary, block non-obvious, "unknown" content like intellectual property, which rarely follows highly structured formatting. And with this capability in hand, IT managers and other departments -- which can in cases include HR and Legal -- can determine which parties not only get access to which types of data, but also with whom they can share that information. Plus, by employing a historical perspective, the device helps to bring the relationships between these groups or individuals into sharper focus. Reconnex says that mining historical data in this method also simplifies auditing procedures, providing fast searches of past suspect behavior, and reduces time-consuming manual policy generation. The latter not only benefits from automation, but security administrators can further fine-tune their policies by testing them against historical data. As a complement to the new functionality, the company has also revamped its GUI to provide streamlined, at-a-glance control, configuration and reporting screens. The updated interface, along with the new features, is a free upgrade for current customers under the standard maintenance agreement. Reconnex 7.0 is available now. Prices start at $35,000.
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