Nortel and Symantec have joined forces to launch a
combined hardware and software package aimed at helping businesses
identify and stop critical threats to the corporate network
infrastructure.
The Nortel Application Switch with Symantec Intelligent Network
Protection software is designed to protect networks during the gap
that hackers try to exploit between the discovery of a security bug
and the deployment of patches to fix the vulnerability.
The package integrates Symantec's intrusion prevention
technologies into Nortel's Application Switch. The software
includes a security inspection engine, automatic real-time threat
protection updates and security content updates backed by
Symantec.
IT professionals and security experts have become increasingly
concerned about attacks by hackers exploiting unpatched
vulnerabilities. In April, Microsoft came under fire for not
releasing a fix for the createTextRange bug in Internet Explorer
until its regular monthly patching date, leaving users vulnerable
to attack.
Oracle has also hit patching problems, with some users still
waiting in mid-May for a critical patch to fix 36 security flaws
that was scheduled for release in April. Security experts reported
that two exploits for the bugs were already in the public
domain.