BlackRidge Technology Introduces Identity Aware Networking Solution Built on Patented Transport Access Control Technology

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BlackRidge Technology

10 Apr, 2012, 04:00 GMT

SANTA CLARA, California, April 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

-- Innovators in networking and security, create new approach to securing networks based on Identity

BlackRidge Technology, the Identity network company, today introduced the launch of its innovative Identity Aware Networking solution, BlackRidge Eclipse™.  BlackRidge Eclipse is designed to provide innovative, proactive protection to network resources by preventing attackers from performing reconnaissance of high-value and mission-critical network assets, and by denying them the ability to communicate anonymously.

"Enterprises have long been spending time and money to solve challenges in security, access management, Identity validation, network scanning, and more," said Jerome M. Wendt, President and Lead Analyst of DCIG, Inc.  "What is really needed is a singular solution that combines the need for protection with the growing demand of authentication and segmentation. BlackRidge solves this growing crisis."

Building Caller ID for the Internet

Since its invention, TCP/IP lacks an equivalent of the telephone system's "Caller ID"- a way to know the identity of the caller even before starting a conversation. Because TCP/IP was originally designed for openness and trust, every TCP/IP session began with a significant amount of anonymous, unidentified, and uncontrolled traffic, leaving a window of opportunity for attackers to discover available applications and probe them unhindered for weaknesses.

BlackRidge Eclipse is based on patented Transport Access Control (TAC) technology that provides a much-needed "Caller ID" equivalent for networks. Just as Caller ID sends the subscriber number along with the incoming telephone ring, TAC embeds user and/or device identity into the first packet of every TCP/IP session. And just as Caller ID allows calls to be accepted or not based on the identity of the caller, TAC enables visibility and access to networked applications to be controlled based on user and device identity.

Identity Aware Networking

Conventionally, the concept of Identity has only been used with applications. BlackRidge Technology's patented Transport Access Control (TAC) allows Identity to be communicated and interpreted within the network fabric itself, enabling strong authentication, authorization and Identity-based network policy enforcement.

Identity Aware Networking enables simple solutions to otherwise complex cyber security challenges, for example:

  • Organizations can transition from yesterday's inefficient reactive security models, to proactive models by simply removing unidentified and anonymous traffic before it hits the rest of the security infrastructure, improving resilience to advanced attacks and "Zero Day" cyber security threats. TAC protects network resources beginning with the first packet, blocking network scanning, reconnaissance, and access by unauthorized users and devices.
  • Using "Cloaking"- unique to BlackRidge Eclipse - network resources can hide in plain sight, rendered invisible to attackers and unauthorized users by simply halting the session setup process for unidentified sessions.
  • In a world of "Bring Your Own Device" access to networked systems and applications can be simply controlled based on device Identity. Attempts to access sensitive applications from user-owned devices can be differentiated from access via approved, Identified devices.
  • Applications and users can be simply segmented from each other based on user and/or device Identities as opposed to traditional complex and inflexible segmentation techniques such as VLANs and IP subnets.

"As anonymous traffic gets more and more pervasive, the need to protect the IT environment from this unwanted traffic increases in order to minimize the unnecessary growth of network and security devices," said Mr. Bob Graham, BlackRidge Technology Chairman and CEO.  "Our mission is to make Identity Aware Networking the standard for restricting access to IT resources, including traditional security systems, for all but authorized and authenticated users and devices."

What People are Saying About BlackRidge Eclipse

"BlackRidge has developed a novel approach to Identity Aware Networking that will cause IT professionals to rethink their security posture and policies," said Mr. Mike Rowan, Chief Technical Officer at Cresting Wave, a leading sales accelerator. "The ability to authorize and authenticate traffic going into an environment based on the first packet at session startup is both simple and elegant for cloaking network resources."

"BlackRidge Technology's unique TAC technology has profound advantages to address many of the challenges of delivering cloud based services," said Mr. Richard Hall, Sales Director at Pinnacle Telecom Group PLC. Not only can cloud services be effectively cloaked from unauthorized users, but also specific user communities only have visibility and access to their specific applications and resources, even in a shared cloud environment."

"Network security solutions have continued to evolve gradually, however the TAC technology from BlackRidge represents a significant step forward," stated Mr. Craig Bootherstone, Technical Director at RMS IT Security. "Introducing true identity to the network can have profound benefits to both security and the way we manage our IT infrastructures."

Availability and Pricing

BlackRidge Eclipse will be generally available in Q2 2012 as a physical or virtual gateway appliance for both IPv4 and IPv6 environments. Pricing is based per gateway and number of Identities.  If you are interested in evaluating BlackRidge Eclipse, go to BlackRidge on the web or send us an email.

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About BlackRidge Technology

Founded in 2008, BlackRidge Technology embarked on the mission to transform networking through the use of Identity Aware technologies. BlackRidge is a provider of innovative Identity based cyber security solutions to public sector, defense and enterprise customers.  BlackRidge is a privately funded company.