CHECK POINT SOFTWARE PUBLISHES INDUSTRY LEADING CONTENT SECURITY API AS OPEN SPECIFICATION
Addressing Growing Need for Integration of Network Security Solutions, Check Point Also Makes OPSEC SDK Openly Available Via Web Site REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - November 11, 1998 – Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKPF) today announced that the company is publishing its industry leading Content Vectoring Protocol (CVP) API as an open specification, reinforcing Check Point's position as a key developer of interoperability standards in the network security industry. Additionally, Check Point is addressing the growing need for more tightly integrated enterprise security solutions by making its Open Platform for Secure Enterprise Connectivity (OPSEC) SDK freely available to developers via its web site. Check Point will submit its CVP API open specification to the Common Content Inspection (CCI) developers group for standardization consideration at its next meeting on November 16. Opening the CVP specification is expected to move the industry more rapidly toward building a strong standards-based content security API that meets the needs of end users. Check Point is a charter member of the CCI group which is developing an API that will create an interoperability interface between enforcement gateways and content security servers that enable network security solutions such as anti-virus scanning, Java and ActiveX security, email content security and spam-blocking controls. Check Point's CVP API is the result of two years of collaboration with content security vendors and customer implementation experience. As a result, CVP offers the CCI group a mature API with widespread support among the industry's leading content security providers. "Over the last year, content security has become an integral part of enterprise network security," said Asheem Chandna, vice president of marketing and business development, Check Point Software Technologies, Inc. "Check Point's OPSEC CVP is the de-facto implementation, already endorsed by leading content security vendors. By making CVP an open specification, we expect to catalyze and accelerate industry standardization, resulting in rapid and high quality best-of-breed enterprise network security solutions for end-users." Check Point is making its OPSEC SDK freely available in response to wide-spread interest and requests from end users from large organizations, VARs, consultants and research institutions. Check Point's OPSEC SDK is a comprehensive set of APIs and protocols that enable vendors to build solutions that tightly integrate with Check Point products. "Check Point built the OPSEC enterprise-wide security framework to enable seamless integration of a full spectrum of security applications, and making the OPSEC SDK freely available further promotes the development of these highly-integrated security solutions," said Chandna.
"We believe that no single vendor can provide a solution in today's multi-vendor world," said Phyllis Byrne, vice president, distributed systems services, IBM (NYSE: IBM). "It is critical to the success of securing e-business that we continue to push for open, industry standards as illustrated by Check Point opening up its CVP specification, and the CCI forum is the right place to create an industry-wide standard for this type of API." "Symantec has long been a firm believer in standardization efforts addressing key interoperability interfaces," said Enrique Salem, vice president of Symantec's (Nasdaq: SYMC) Security and Assistance Business Unit. "We have been a proponent of the initial protocol implementation of CVP, and see Check Point's opening of the CVP API as a step in the right direction for the industry." "Trend Micro avidly supports Check Point's efforts to expedite industry standards," states Eva Chen, chief technology officer, Trend Micro. " The integration of Trend's leading content and malicious code filtering products, combined with the CVP API, will create an unprecedented level of integrated border security at the internet gateway. Check Point is providing a great framework for security vendors and greatly improving performance from previous products."
First developed by Check Point Software in 1996 as a protocol specification for integration with anti-virus servers, CVP was initially delivered with the release of the Check Point FireWall-1 Version 3.0. In its second generation, the CVP protocol was developed into an API specification and was enhanced to meet the broader requirements of downloadable executable and email content security. Since 1997, further enhancements have been made to the API specification, including the transmission of HTTP headers and SMTP headers which allow for the development of anti-spamming filters. CVP is one of the core APIs included in the Check Point OPSEC SDK.
The CVP API open specification is posted at http://www.checkpoint.com/support/technical/sdksupport/docs/apis/specs/cvpintro.html. Check Point will present the CVP API specification to the CCI developers group at a November 16, meeting in San Jose, CA. The web site for the CCI API standard is http://www.stardust.com/cciapi. The OPSEC SDK will be freely available for download beginning November 14 http://www.opsec.com.
Check Point is the worldwide leader in Secure Enterprise Networking solutions. The company's integrated architecture includes network security (FireWall-1, VPN-1 and Open Security Manager), traffic control (FloodGate-1 and ConnectControl) and IP address management (Meta IP). Check Point solutions enable customers to implement centralized policy-based management with enterprise-wide distributed deployment. Via the OPSEC Alliance, Check Point's products seamlessly integrate with "best-of-breed" products from more than 160 leading industry partners. The company has U.S. headquarters in Redwood City, California and international headquarters in Ramat-Gan, Israel. For more information, please call (800) 429-4391 or (650) 628-2000 or visit http://www.checkpoint.com or http://www.opsec.com ### 1998 Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Check Point, the Check Point logo, FireWall-1, FireWall-1 SecuRemote, FireWall-First!, OPSEC, INSPECT, VPN-1, UAP, FloodGate-1 and IQ Engine are trademarks or registered trademarks of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. Meta IP and Meta DNS are trademarks of MetaInfo, Inc. All other product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners. |