St. Bernard Software Announces Next-Generation Patch Management Solution
UpdateEXPERT Premium offers new patching capabilities plus added security settings management for unrivaled system hardening
San Diego, CA - October 17, 2005 - St. Bernard Software, Inc., a global provider of security solutions including Internet and e-mail filtering appliances, patch management and data backup solutions, today announced UpdateEXPERT® Premium, an advanced policy-based patching solution that greatly simplifies and speeds patch management of large, distributed systems. Automated security settings capabilities are also included at no extra charge to provide a unique, affordable solution.
UpdateEXPERT Premium is critical for ensuring system protection against debilitating threats, costly data loss, and legal liabilities associated with regulatory compliance. Most malware leverages known vulnerabilities that have simply been left un-patched. With an average of 50 major software vulnerabilities discovered each week (see note 1), it is imperative to keep systems updated. However, administrators must test patch interdependencies before deploying to ensure they don't break systems. In addition, the complexity of heterogeneous systems that include Windows, Linux, databases, and applications from several vendors, makes patch management a highly critical component to companies' overall security strategy.
"Over 50 percent of today's small- to medium-sized businesses do not have adequate security in place to protect their networks. Complete system hardening requires advanced security configuration, combined with diligent patching," said Charles Kolodgy, research director, security products at IDC. "UpdateEXPERT Premium offers comprehensive patch management and automated security setting functionality, all in one product, that saves IT administrators time and money."
As the first complete approach to patch management, including security settings management, UpdateEXPERT Premium defines the next-generation of patching. Security settings templates based on industry best practices such as NIST, NSA, Microsoft, CIS and CSE, are included in the product.
"UpdateEXPERT Premium's enhanced features provide a much easier way to keep my network secure in an enterprise environment," said Dylan Nichols, PC/LAN analyst for Smartcity Telecom. "New features save time by allowing simultaneous management of all master agents. This freed up time to discover the troublemaker systems and bring them up to the appropriate patch level. I have better coverage of all my computers with easier administration, less worry and a higher level of security with UpdateEXPERT Premium."
UpdateEXPERT Premium offers many new features:
Multi-User Rights and Roles: Defines user roles such as administrator, auditor or policy manager, so Rights including query machine management, patch deployment, and reporting, are then assigned to each role.
Wake on LAN: Optionally boots powered-off machines for patch installation performed during off hours to assure successful patching of all systems.
Central Management of Distributed Patch Servers: Administrators in distributed organizations can simultaneously perform operations across all UpdateEXPERT Premium master agents. This greatly simplifies routine tasks such as query, patch deployment and reporting for multiple operating systems, servers, applications, databases and policy compliance.
Notification of Specific Events: Administrators can set up e-mail notification of the completion or failure of events including installation, query, validation, database updates, and reporting.
Dependency ViewerL A simple right-click of a mouse displays patch dependency and supercedence information on each update.
Filtered Views of Managed Machines: Users can view and manage just the machines that meet defined criteria including last query, IP range, agent type, profile and other attributes.
Security Settings Management: Allows administrators to easily create, enforce and report on industry standard or customized security policies for services, registry, file system and local security settings.
Intelligent Security Settings Assessments: Scan security settings against multiple expert recommendations and discover only those vulnerabilities relevant to the target machine's role (i.e., "FTP settings enabled" won't be reported on an FTP server).
UpdateEXPERT Premium includes St. Bernard Software's industry-leading patch database that contains intelligence on thousands of patches, hot fixes, and service packs. The database is carefully analyzed and tested for interdependencies to deploy, validate and install reliably. Administrators can even add their own patches for custom applications.
Pricing and availability
UpdateEXPERT Premium is available immediately direct from St. Bernard. One to three year subscription pricing plans are available and include all upgrades, technical support and access to the latest database of updates. Subscription pricing is based on the number of users and starts at $840 for a one-year subscription to support one to 50 workstations, making it one of the most affordable solutions on the market. Also available is UpdateEXPERT Standard, which offers the same functionality and performance as the previous generation but at a dramatically reduced price, thus redefining the price performance standard. A free trial download of UpdateEXPERT Premium is available at http://www.stbernard.com/products/updateexpert/products_updateexpert.asp.
About St. Bernard Software
St. Bernard Software is a global provider of security solutions, including Internet and e-mail filtering appliances, patch management, and data backup solutions. For more information, please visit http://www.stbernard.com
(c)2005 St. Bernard Software Inc. All rights reserved. The St. Bernard Software logo, and Open File Manager are trademarks of St. Bernard Software Inc. UpdateEXPERT, ePrism and iPrism are registered trademarks of St. Bernard Software Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are hereby acknowledged.
Note 1: Network Computing, September 14, 2005