Fortinet bolsters database security with 24x7 monitoring and comprehensive auditing tools

The new tools enable 24x7 or scheduled-based monitoring and a complete audit trail to help organizations meet regulatory compliance such as PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry-Data Security Standard).

Combined with the existing VA tool, these new FortiDB capabilities offer a richer and more comprehensive toolset for securing corporate databases, which are increasingly the target of criminal activity for the valuable data they hold. In addition, Fortinet is debuting two new models in the FortiDB product family - the FortiDB-400B and FortiDB-2000B - which join the previously announced FortiDB-1000B appliance to round out the family of database security products, offering appropriate sizing for small, medium and large enterprises.

"We believe data siphoning is and will continue to be a real and imminent threat for corporations of all sizes and requires solutions with breadth and depth to ensure data integrity and regulatory compliancy. The FortiDB was designed with this in mind by combining critical database security functionality into one platform that offers the greatest value to organizations of all sizes."

said Michael Xie, CTO and co-founder of Fortinet.

Comprehensive Database Security Toolset

The FortiDB family of products offers three distinct tools that help to prevent the theft of proprietary and personal data by both external and internal sources, including what might appear to be legitimate users:

Database Activity Monitoring (DAM) 24x7

To meet compliance requirements, businesses must implement controls that prevent erroneous or misuse of data around the clock. FortiDB appliances provide continuous 24x7 or schedule-based monitoring to capture all types of database activity from administration events to user activity.

Database Auditing

Records database activity for complete and accurate audit trails; independent audit storage provides an additional security layer for audit integrity.

Vulnerability Assessment

Introduced last year with the FortiDB-1000B, this feature "hardens" databases by detecting weaknesses in passwords, access privileges and configuration settings; alerts system administrators of potential threats; and offers remediation advice. Automated, policy-driven control reduces database administrator (DBA) time by eliminating manual process and reduces exposure if DBA terminates employment.

"DAM tools provide powerful, immediate, non-intrusive benefits for security and compliance, and a long-term platform for comprehensive protection of databases and applications," Rich Mogull, founder, Securosis, Understanding and Selecting a Database Activity Monitoring Solution (report).

Fortinet also added entry-level and large-enterprise versions to its mid-enterprise FortiDB-1000B product, offering appropriate sizing to meet the broad range of businesses. The FortiDB product line now includes:

FortiDB-2000B:for large enterprises supporting database instances of up to 60
FortiDB-1000B:for mid-sized enterprises supporting database instances of up to 30
FortiDB-400B:for small-to-medium enterprises supporting database instances of up to 10.

Calsoft Systems, a Fortinet partner, provides affordable information technology services, solutions and IT strategies that help customers improve resource utilization, reduce costs and enable more effective IT services.

"One of Calsoft's chief strengths is providing breadth and depth in the IT solutions we offer; the expanded capabilities and product line of the FortiDB family truly fits that mold and will be of tremendous value to our customers," said Koji Mori, director of network services at Calsoft Systems. "We believe customers will appreciate the comprehensive approach that Fortinet has taken with database security and look forward to collaborating with them to help solve our customers' security challenges."

The FortiDB database security appliances support heterogeneous environments including Oracle, DB2, Sybase and MS SQL Server.