Redwood City, Calif., September 19, 2008 - Altor Networks, pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, today announced that an independent group of judges selected the Altor Networks Virtual Network Security Analyzer as a Security and virtualization Finalist for the Best of VMworld 2008 awards. The honor demonstrates clear industry validation for Altor Networks’ technology, as finalists were selected based on a range of criteria, including technology innovation, value, performance and ease of use.

“TechTarget’s selection of Altor Networks as a Security and virtualization Best of VMworld 2008 finalist is a testament to our product team. They have been listening to the needs of virtualization users for some time, and they understand the security and management challenges created by virtual networks,” said Amir Ben-Efraim, chief executive officer of Altor Networks. “Companies can rely on Altor Networks today to monitor the traffic among virtual machines. And they can align the security posture of those virtual machines with company policy.”

Altor Networks’ success in front of the TechTarget judges is just one example of recent company success. Companies including Nielsen Mobile and Revlon have already installed or are testing Altor solutions within their virtual networks to enforce security policy and to receive visibility, troubleshooting, and analysis of virtual network activity.

About Altor Networks
Altor Networks is pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, purpose built to secure virtualized data centers. The company’s initial product lines include the industry’s first-ever virtual network firewall and security analysis system. Altor Networks’ Virtual Network Security Analyzer proactively monitors and analyzes the security readiness of virtualization deployments to help enterprises meet stringent regulatory compliance requirements. Data center administrators can now pinpoint a broad range of virtual network security compromises and easily create roles-based security policies. For the first time, security policies can be continuously enforced on individual virtual machines, even as they move throughout the virtualized data center. Founded by security and networking experts from Check Point Software and Oracle, Altor Networks is funded by Accel Partners and Foundation Capital and is headquartered in Redwood City, California. For more information, visit www.altornetworks.com.

About SearchServerVirtualization.com
SearchServerVirtualization.com is a leading server virtualization resource for system architects and IT managers published by TechTarget. The site’s editors, resident experts and news writers help IT organizations determine if virtualization is appropriate for them, and helps those who have adopted the technology to use it to its greatest effect. SearchServerVirtualization.com provides access to the latest news, articles, tips, expert advice, learning guides, white papers, and webcasts covering all areas of server virtualization, including virtualization platforms, server hardware, managing virtual environments, virtualization architectures and strategies, and application issues.

About TechTarget
TechTarget, a leading online Information Technology (IT) media company, provides IT companies with ROI-focused marketing programs to generate leads, shorten sales cycles, and grow revenues. With its network of over 50 technology-specific Web sites and over 6.6 million registered members, TechTarget is a primary Web destination for IT professionals researching which products to purchase. The company is also a leading provider of independent, peer and vendor content, a leading distributor of white papers, and a leading producer of vendor-sponsored Webcasts and Podcasts for the IT market. Its Web sites are complemented by numerous invitation-only events and two magazines. TechTarget provides proven lead generation and branding programs to over 1,100 advertisers including Cisco, Dell, EMC, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, SAP and Symantec.

By Patrick Thibodeau, Computerworld, 09/17/2008

While VMware Inc. worked to share its cloud computing vision at its annual conference here, some of the systems administrators on hand were more focused on the kinds of problems that cause a BlackBerry to vibrate with an urgent message. Take application performance, for instance.

Application performance woes can often be traced back to a bottleneck, but finding the source in a virtualized environment can be something of a Where’s Waldo game: Is it a hardware issue, something in the database, an application or some kind of networking problem?

Altor Networks Inc. in Redwood City, Calif., for instance, said it already has technology that can now look at the communication between virtual machines, helping a systems administrator locate the problem and even detect security issues. An IT manager of a consumer products company who has been using the product for four months and asked not to be identified, said it has helped him discover and troubleshoot application performance issues. That’s critical, he said, because when he’s asked about a service-level agreement issue, he has to know exactly the source of the problem.

“I can’t be in the ‘I think’ space; I have to be in the ‘I know’ space,” he said. full article

What is it?

VMware ESX Server administrators control all aspects of virtual machine hardware. They also create, control and manage VMs, so an attacker who gains control of the management service can cause tremendous damage.

How does it work?

VMware VirtualCenter management server is a Windows-based service using an SQL database server. A variety of potential flaws in the management server or the underlying Windows OS could be exploited to gain admin rights.

Should I be worried?

Activities that are impractical with physical servers become simple within the virtual infrastructure - creating and rapidly deleting new VMs, or copying disk and machine images. Physical network security technologies neither detect nor prevent malicious abuse of these capabilities.

How can I prevent it?

Extend physical security best practices to the virtual infrastructure. Ensure strong controls over network access to the hypervisor console login, management server, management database and VM images. Leverage virtual network security measures, such as virtual network firewalls and host-based IDS, to segment and isolate critical VMs and the hypervisor console.

By Denise Dubie , Network World , 09/11/2008

Technologies that promise to virtualize servers, applications and desktops can also introduce vulnerabilities, according to industry watchers and a handful of vendors hoping to address these threats with updated technologies at VMworld 2008.

For its part, Altor Networks will be previewing a new product dubbed Virtual Network Firewall, which is currently in beta tests at 20 customer sites including Revlon and scheduled for availability in October. According to CEO Amir Ben-Efraim, this product will help customers concerned with … full article

Redwood City, Calif., August 18, 2008 - Altor Networks, pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, today announced that Network Products Guide, a Silicon Valley Communications publication and a world leading publication on technologies and solutions, has named its Virtual Network Security Analyzer a winner of the 2008 Best Products and Services Award. This respected annual award honors products and services that represent the rapidly changing needs and interests of the end-users of technology worldwide. As part of the tech industry’s leading global awards program, this year’s Best Products and Services were nominated from all over the world.

Altor Networks’ Virtual Network Security Analyzer is the only solution on the market that delivers real-time visibility, troubleshooting and analysis of virtual network activity, including source, destination, port, and protocol data for individual virtual machines (VMs). Physical network security and monitoring solutions only detect activity on physical networks, making them “blind” to inter-VM traffic. In contrast, Altor Networks’ Virtual Network Security Analyzer was designed from the beginning to address the unique requirements of virtual networks and virtual switches. With this groundbreaking tool, data center administrators can keep their virtual networks running smoothly, gain insight into virtual network activity, and develop compliance-related security policies. Virtual Network Security Analyzer discovers:

• Port scans, tunneling, insecure and unwanted protocols

• Configuration anomalies with external DNS and NTP access

• DHCP auto-configuration errors

• Multicast and broadcast service announcements that can erode network performance

In addition, Virtual Network Security Analyzer enables administrators to:

• Optimize VMotion/DRS live migrations by grouping VMs based on network usage

• Create user defined and automated groups to monitor access to business-critical resources

• Generate reports for regulatory compliance

“Increased end-user awareness and ongoing advances in technology are helping shape better products and services.” says Rake Narang, editor-in-chief, Network Products Guide. “Altor Networks’ Virtual Network Security Analyzer is delivering never-before-seen visibility into inter-VM traffic.”

“These awards go to the best technology products every year and we are honored that our Virtual Network Security Analyzer has gained the Network Products Guide Reader Trust award,” said Amir Ben-Efraim, chief executive officer of Altor Networks. “We are dedicated to meeting our customers’ needs by providing them with the best virtualization security products and services.”

About Network Products Guide Awards

Network Products Guide, published from the heart of Silicon Valley, is a leading provider of products, technologies and vendor related research and analysis. You will discover a wealth of information and tools in this guide including the best products and services, roadmaps, industry directions, technology advancements and independent product evaluations that facilitate in making the most pertinent technology decisions impacting business and personal goals. The guide follows conscientious research methodologies developed and enhanced by industry experts. To learn more, visit www.networkproductsguide.com.

About Altor Networks

Altor Networks is pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, purpose built to secure virtualized data centers. The company’s initial product lines include the industry’s first-ever virtual network firewall and security analysis system. Altor Networks’ Virtual Network Security Analyzer™ proactively monitors and analyzes the security readiness of virtualization deployments to help enterprises meet stringent regulatory compliance requirements. Data center administrators can now pinpoint a broad range of virtual network security compromises and easily create roles-based security policies. For the first time, security policies can be continuously enforced on individual virtual machines, even as they move throughout the virtualized data center. Founded by security and networking experts from Check Point Software, Cisco and Oracle, Altor Networks is funded by Accel Partners and Foundation Capital and is headquartered in Redwood City, California. For more information, visit www.altornetworks.com.

Network security, especially network access control (NAC), is the Achilles’ heel of server virtualization. With virtual servers moving around the data center, traditional access control is difficult to apply. This can be particularly challenging when organizations need to meet stringent data audit control standards for compliance with payment card industry (PCI), healthcare industry (HIPAA) and governance (Sarbanes-Oxley). Virtualized infrastructures create unique challenges for NAC…

(full article)

Altor’s VNSA offers real-time and historical visibility into virtual switch traffic and provides control over virtual machines deployed by enterprises, government agencies and organizations in regulated industries. Altor’s VNSA enables network administrators and security professionals to apply security best practices for virtual networks and help companies comply with HIPAA, PCI and SOX requirements at a fraction of the cost of legacy security products.
(full article)

Altor Networks announced that its Virtual Network Security Analyzer (VNSA) is now a VMware Certified Virtual Appliance and available through the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace. Virtual appliances are pre-built software solutions, composed of one or more virtual machines, which are packaged, maintained, updated and deployed as a unit. Virtual appliances are fundamentally changing how software is developed, distributed, and managed, providing greater simplicity and accelerated time to value. (full article)

Altor’s VNSA offers real-time and historical visibility into virtual switch traffic and provides control over virtual machines deployed by enterprises, government agencies and organizations in regulated industries. Altor’s VNSA enables network administrators and security professionals to apply security best practices for virtual networks and help companies comply with HIPAA, PCI and SOX requirements at a fraction of the cost of legacy security products.

“Our Virtual Network Security Analyzer was developed from the ground up to uniquely help administrators improve the security and operational efficiency of their virtual datacenters,” said Amir Ben-Efraim, Chief Executive Officer of Altor Networks. “VMware certification of the VNSA is a key milestone for our company. Customers now have even greater assurance that our VNSA will interoperate seamlessly with their VMware virtualized environments.”

“As a VMware Certified Virtual Appliance, customers can deploy Altor Networks’ Virtual Network Security Analyzer with confidence, knowing it is optimized for VMware environments,” said William Shelton, director of emerging products and solutions at VMware. “The granular visibility provided by Altor’s solution extends the value of the VMware virtualization platform by helping to maximize system uptime. We welcome Altor’s contribution to the more than 700 virtual appliances available from the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace.”

Altor’s Virtual Network Security Analyzer

Given the rapid adoption of virtualization, data center administrators must be capable of discovering inter-VM traffic for auditing, security and regulatory compliance. Altor’s VNSA delivers on these requirements by providing real-time visibility and historical views of virtual switch traffic though a centrally managed, comprehensive dashboard that integrates with existing virtualization management systems to import network, host and event information. The VNSA can also analyze virtual network traffic to track and organize VMs by network usage and create user-defined groups.

Pricing and Availability

Enterprise licenses for the Virtual Network Security Analyzer, (VNSA) start at $500 US per physical server, supporting an unlimited number of virtual machines. A single Altor Center management system supporting unlimited VNSA agents is available for $1,500 US. Annual maintenance and support licenses are also available. Release 1.0 of the Virtual Network Security Analyzer is generally available now at www.altornetworks.com/products/vnsa.html. Free demo versions of the Altor agent and Altor Center can be downloaded at www.altornetworks.com .

About Altor Networks

Altor Networks is pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, purpose built to secure virtualized data centers. The company’s initial product lines include the industry’s first-ever virtual network firewall and security analysis system. Altor’s Virtual Network Security Analyzer ™ [VNSA] proactively monitors and analyzes the security readiness of virtualization deployments to help enterprises meet stringent regulatory compliance requirements. Data center administrators can now pinpoint a broad range of virtual network security compromises and easily create roles-based security policies. For the first time, security policies can be continuously enforced on individual virtual machines, even as they move throughout the virtualized data center. Founded by security and networking experts from Check Point Software, Cisco and Oracle, Altor Networks is funded by Accel Partners and Foundation Capital and is headquartered in Redwood City, California. For more information, visit www.altornetworks.com.

by Andrew Conry-Murray, June 21

Virtualized servers can be black boxes: Information goes in and comes out, but IT often doesn’t have a good handle on what’s actually happening inside. Altor Networks offers monitoring and firewall software to audit inter-VM traffic, enforce security policies, and shine a light into the virtualized darkness.

THE BIG IDEA

Multiple virtual machines on a single server can communicate with each other with little IT oversight. This communication can violate compliance regulations or let malware spread from one VM to another. Altor Networks’ Virtual Network Security Analyzer (VNSA) monitors traffic among virtual machines and provides critical visibility into inter-VM communication.

CONTROL KNOBS

VNSA is deployed as a virtual appliance, with one agent per physical server. It monitors VMs connected through VMware’s Virtual Switch. Multiple agents report to a single console. The agents report on inter-VM communications, including ports and protocols used. The company plans to enable VNSA to send SNMP traps to third-party management tools. This summer, the Virtual Network Firewall will launch. It will control inter-VM communication and restrict VMs to authorized ports and protocols…
(full article)

What is it?

Virtualization platform solutions contain a software network switch/bridge. This is used by virtual machines (VMs) to communicate. With the density of VMs within a physical server increasing, the virtual switch is the true network access layer. The virtual switch is a blindspot to existing network monitoring and security solutions that are deployed outside the physical server.

How does it work?

The virtual infrastructure administrator creates one or more virtual switches. VMs are subsequently connected to the virtual switch via virtual NICs (vNICs), enabling inter-VM communication.

Should I be worried?

Security best practices and regulatory compliance dictate that application and data access should be monitored for anomalies and audits. An unmonitored network is also a prime place for malicious behavior and unintentional misconfigurations to hide.

How can I prevent it?

Extend your physical network best practices to the virtual network. Deploy monitoring solutions that provide granular, real-time and historical visibility into the virtual switch traffic. And include virtual network traffic data in your systems and network management solution to eliminate the virtual network security blindspot.

On Wednesday, IBM rolled out a suite of new energy efficient technologies and services to help businesses struggling with surging costs and tougher sustainability requirements…

With this announcement, IBM is joining a fast-growing sector - with startups like Altor Networks, ScaleMP and VirtualLogix and established players like Microsoft locked in fierce competition. In recent months, Microsoft has acquired Kidaro, a desktop virtualization firm, and Sun Microsystems has purchased VirtualBox, a German PC virtualization firm. Red Hat recently claimed that its Linux software reduced energy use by up to 12 percent over Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 software on identical hardware.
(full article)

June 11, 2008, REDWOOD CITY, Calif. Altor Networks, pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, today announced that TechWorld, a premier site for networking professionals has named Altor’s Virtual Network Security Analyzer ™ - VNSA - a finalist in two categories for its TechWorld Awards: ‘Innovative Product of the Year’ and ‘Security Product of the Year.’ This prestigious award recognizes innovative developments in the areas of security and networking recognized by independent judges as having made a significant difference. Altor’s VNSA was selected by the editorial group of TechWorld based on its unique ability to provide unprecedented visibility into inter-VM traffic traversing virtual networks.

Altor’s VNSA provides unprecedented visibility into virtual switch traffic being deployed by enterprises, government agencies and organizations in regulated industries. It enables network administrators and security professionals to apply security best practices for virtual networks - at a fraction of the cost of legacy security analyzer products. To read more about this award winning technology and download a free copy of the software, please visit www.altornetworks.com/products/vnsa.html.

“Our customers are clearly stating their need to see and understand the inter-VM network traffic in their virtual environments,” said Amir Ben-Efraim, CEO of Altor Networks. “Having Altor recognized as an innovator by TechWorld is further validation that we address an issue important for administrators. We’re responding to a rapidly growing need for troubleshooting, auditing and compliance with VNSA.”

Altor’s Virtual Network Security Analyzer

Given the increasing adoption rates of virtualization, data center administrators must be able to inspect inter-VM traffic for auditing, security and regulatory compliance. Altor’s VNSA delivers on these requirements by providing real-time visibility and historical views of virtual switch traffic though a centrally managed, comprehensive dashboard that integrates with existing virtualization management systems to import network, host and event information. VNSA can also analyze virtual network traffic to track and organize VMs by network usage and create user-defined groups.

Unlike network security and monitoring solutions that are completely ‘blind’ to inter-VM communications, Altor’s VNSA can alert data center administrators to security vulnerabilities and operational problems through the discovery of:

• Port scans, tunneling, insecure and unwanted protocols
• Configuration anomalies due to external DNS and NTP access and DHCP auto-configuration errors
• Multicast and broadcast service announcements that can erode network performance
• Optimize VMotion/DRS by grouping VMs based on network usage
• User defined and automated groups to monitor access to business-critical resources
• Report generation for regulatory compliance

About the TechWorld Awards

TechWorld editors admitted it was a grueling judging process with some fierce competition in a number of categories, but the winners were announced on Wednesday, June 11, 2008.

About Altor Networks

Altor Networks is pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, purpose built to secure virtualized data centers. The company’s initial product lines include the industry’s first-ever virtual network firewall and security analysis system. Altor’s Virtual Network Security Analyzer ™ [VNSA] proactively monitors and analyzes the security readiness of virtualization deployments to help enterprises meet stringent regulatory compliance requirements. Data center administrators can now pinpoint a broad range of virtual network security compromises and easily create roles-based security policies. For the first time, security policies can be continuously enforced on individual virtual machines, even as they move throughout the virtualized data center. Founded by security and networking experts from Check Point Software, Cisco and Oracle, Altor Networks is funded by Accel Partners and Foundation Capital and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.

Altor Networks, pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, today announced that TechWorld, a premier site for networking professionals has named Altor’s Virtual Network Security Analyzer™ (VNSA) a finalist in two categories for its TechWorld Awards: “Innovative Product of the Year” and “Security Product of the Year.” This prestigious award recognizes innovative developments in the areas of security and networking recognized by independent judges as having made a significant difference. Altor’s VNSA was selected by the editorial group of TechWorld based on its unique ability to
provide unprecedented visibility into inter-VM traffic traversing virtual networks.

(full article)

19 May. Specifically built to secure inter-VM communications in highly dynamic virtual network environments, Altor’s Virtual Network Firewall enforces granular security policies that remain “attached” to individual VMs, even as they move about the data center. Centrally managed, the VNF supports and enforces roles-based security policies per-VM…

SYS-CON’s Virtualization Journal announced today its first annual Virtualization Readers’ Choice Awards. SYS-CON’s Readers’ Choice Awards, also known as the “Oscars of the Software Industry” has been one of the most prestigious industry award programs for more than a decade.
(full article)

16 May 08. Sure, security risks to your virtual systems exist. Some are rare, like virtual rootkit attacks and other theoretical vulnerabilities. Others are more practical, such as the potential loss of visibility into intraserver network traffic on a physical host. And because it’s so easy to deploy virtual machines, it’s easier than ever for servers to spawn like dandelions–so-called VM sprawl. This creates the risk of unauthorized, rogue servers being deployed.

But these risks are no different than the risks organizations face every day securing their physical networks. To bring VM sprawl under control, virtual deployments need the same controls as physical deployments… full article

12 May 08. Altor Networks, a 14-month-old start-up backed by $6 million in funding from Accel Partners and Foundation Capital, says the kind of security used on physical machines flat-out doesn’t work in the virtual world and that you’ve got to think of virtualized machines as a network unto itself.

Altor’s thinking that way and claims to be able to make a virtual environment more secure than a physical one by putting the security at the network level, specifically on the virtual (software) switch. full article

Given the sparse options for monitoring traffic between VMs, smaller vendors can make a play.

30 April 2008, eWeek. Larger firewall vendors may face challenges from smaller companies looking to make their mark filtering communication between virtual machines.

The interest in protecting virtual environments has spurred a number of startups and established vendors to make plays in several areas to address security concerns. One issue is the need to monitor and inspect traffic between VMs, as network firewalls located outside the physical servers supporting virtual machines cannot filter traffic between those VMs. The result is that communication between the VMs can go undetected. (full article)

April 28, 2008, REDWOOD CITY, Calif. Altor Networks, pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, today announced that Info Security Products Guide, a Silicon Valley Communications publication and the world’s leading publication on security-related products and technologies, has named its Virtual Network Security Analyzer™ (VNSA) a winner of the 2008 Tomorrow’s Technology Today Award. This prestigious award recognizes security vendors with advanced, ground-breaking network security solutions that are helping set the bar higher for others in all areas of information security. Altor’s VNSA was selected by the editorial group of Info Security Products Guide based on technologies that are making the most positive impact on IT security.

Altor’s VNSA provides unprecedented visibility into virtual switch traffic being deployed by enterprises, government agencies and organizations in regulated industries. It enables network administrators and security professionals to apply security best practices for virtual networks - at a fraction of the cost of legacy security analyzer products. To read more about this award winning technology and download a free copy of the software, please visit http://www.altornetworks.com.

“Increased security best practices are helping organizations take a proactive approach to securing their digital resources,” says Rake Narang, editor-in-chief, Info Security Products Guide. “We’ve highlighted Altor Networks as a superior technology which is suitable for today’s needs while pro-actively being ready for tomorrow too.”

“Info Security Products Guide’s recognition of our Virtual Network Security Analyzer further validates our best practices approach to analyzing and securing virtual networks,” said Altor Networks CEO Amir Ben-Efraim. “We’re responding to a rapidly growing need for auditing, security and regulatory compliance with our VNSA that represents an industry first.”
Altor’s Virtual Network Security Analyzer

Given the increasing adoption rates of virtualization, data center administrators must be capable of discovering inter-VM traffic for auditing, security and regulatory compliance. Altor’s VNSA delivers on these requirements by providing real-time visibility and historical views of virtual switch traffic though a centrally managed, comprehensive dashboard that integrates with existing virtualization management systems to import network, host and event information. The VNSA can also analyze virtual network traffic to track and organize VMs by network usage and create user-defined groups.
Unlike network security and monitoring solutions that are completely “blind” to inter-VM communications, Altor’s VNSA can alert data center administrators to security vulnerabilities and operational problems through the discovery of:

• Port scans, tunneling, insecure and unwanted protocols
• Configuration anomalies due to external DNS and NTP access and DHCP auto-configuration errors
• Multicast and broadcast service announcements that can erode network performance
• Optimize VMotion/DRS by grouping VMs based on network usage
• User defined and automated groups to monitor access to business-critical resources
• Report generation for regulatory compliance

About Info Security Products Guide Awards
Info Security Products Guide, published from Silicon Valley, plays a vital role in keeping end-users informed of the choices they can make when it comes to protecting their digital resources. It is written expressly for those who are adamant on staying informed of security threats and the preventive measure they can take. You will discover a wealth of information in this guide including tomorrow’s technology today, best deployment scenarios, people and technologies shaping info security and independent product evaluations that facilitate in making the most pertinent security decisions. The Info Security Products Guide Awards recognize and honor excellence in all areas of information security. To learn more, visit www.infosecurityproductsguide.com and stay secured.

About Altor Networks

Altor Networks is pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, purpose built to secure virtualized data centers. The company’s initial product lines include the industry’s first-ever virtual network firewall and security analysis system. Altor’s Virtual Network Security Analyzer™ [VNSA] proactively monitors and analyzes the security readiness of virtualization deployments to help enterprises meet stringent regulatory compliance requirements. Data center administrators can now pinpoint a broad range of virtual network security compromises and easily create roles-based security policies. For the first time, security policies can be continuously enforced on individual virtual machines, even as they move throughout the virtualized data center. Founded by security and networking experts from Check Point Software, Cisco and Oracle, Altor Networks is funded by Accel Partners and Foundation Capital and is headquartered in Redwood City, California. For more information, visit www.altornetworks.com.

Altor Networks, a network security start-up, said Wednesday it raised $6 million in a second funding round led by Accel Partners and Foundation Capital.

The Red Herring said the company is “one of a handful of firms targeting what they claim is a security blind spot for many modern data centers - virtual traffic.” The group as a whole, which includes Apani, BlueLane, Catbird Networks, Reflex Security, and Altor, has so far attracted about $100 million in funding, it said. (full article)

As data centers and IT departments shift more resources into virtualization, splitting a single server into multiple nodes (or vice versa), security problems and side effects from existing security software are beginning to pop up.

Altor Networks is a company that is working to streamline the process of adding virtualization for companies by defining how firewalls work between virtual and physical machines. It also helps protect against unwanted intruders. The $6 million funding, Altor’s first, was provided by Accel Partners and Foundation Capital, according to VentureWire. The company is based in Redwood City, Calif. (Full article)

Network security startup Altor Networks on Wednesday said it raised $6 million in a second funding round led by Accel Partners and Foundation Capital.

The Redwood City, California based startup is one of a handful of firms targeting what they claim is a security blind spot for many modern data centers — virtual traffic. (full article)

As virtualization becomes an ever-larger part of data centers, Altor Networks Inc. has raised $6 million in Series A financing to develop and sell products that provide security to virtual environments.

Accel Partners and Foundation Capital co-led the round. The two firms also provided the company with just under $1.5 million in seed financing last summer, said Amir Ben-Efraim, the company’s co-founder and chief executive. Ben-Efraim declined to disclose the company’s valuation.

For over a year, security analysts and technology writers have touted security as an up-and-coming trend in the larger trend toward virtual data centers. The area has seen little activity among venture capitalists so far, but in the last month it has seen some product announcements from start-ups.

“Virtualization is fundamentally changing how security is going to work in the enterprise. [Altor Networks] has put together a great team to tackle this problem,” said Ashmeet Sidana, a general partner with Foundation Capital and veteran of VMware Inc.

Virtualization opens a host of security problems with which traditional security offerings are not equipped to deal. For example, when several virtual machines are created on one server, virtual switches are used to allow the virtual machines to communicate, but traditional networking security products can’t operate in the virtual network, Ben-Efraim said.

Also, virtual machines travel between physical servers, which can wreak havoc on existing firewalls and security policies, Ben-Efraim said.

Altor Networks released its first product, Virtual Network Security Analyzer, less than a month ago. This product gives an IT administrator visibility into a virtual network. Its second product, Virtual Network Firewall, which is slated for release this summer, will enforce policies and control in a virtual network.

The company has seen some competition from start-ups including Catbird Networks Inc., which is backed by angel-investment firm Lachman Goldman Ventures, and privately funded Montego Networks Inc., which released its first product just days after Altor’s announcement.

Other venture-backed security companies, such as Blue Lane Technologies Inc. and Reflex Security Inc., the company that spawned Montego’s founding team, have begun to introduce products that specifically address this market.

Altor Networks also expects to get more competition from legacy security vendors as they begin to think about how to adjust their products to serve this market, Ben-Efraim said.

The company sets itself apart from its competitors by focusing on the problem of firewalls in a virtual network and how to control communications between virtual machines. Most others have been more focused on intrusion prevention and malware, Ben-Efraim said.

The proceeds of the new round will be used to expand the company’s sales and marketing efforts, as well as for increased research and development. The current team of 15 is expected to double over the next two or three months, Ben-Efraim said.

Ben-Efraim, Foundation Capital’s Sidana, Accel General Partner Peter Wagner and Ulrich Stern, Altor’s chief technology officer, serve on Altor Networks’s board of directors.

Ben-Efraim and Stern, both former executives at Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., founded the Redwood City, Calif.-based company in March 2007.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - Altor Networks, pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, today announced it has secured a $6 million second round of financing led by Accel Partners and Foundation Capital. The funds will be used to accelerate the company’s market expansion being fueled by early market demand for its Virtual Network Security Analyzer ™ (VNSA) and Virtual Network Firewall ™ (VNF).

According to Jon Crotty, IDC research analyst, security products and services, “The proliferation of virtualization deployments worldwide is creating new traffic auditing, security best practices and regulatory compliance challenges. Consequently, there is a significant opportunity for a new class of security products, integrated tools and appliances, purpose-built for virtualized data centers, which can effectively address these emerging requirements.”

“Given the accelerating adoption of virtualization in production data centers, there is a significant market opportunity for a new class of security solutions that can deliver visibility and control over virtual network traffic,” said Altor Networks Board Member Peter Wagner, general partner with Accel Partners. “We’re excited about our continued investment in Altor Networks, and enthusiastic about the initial customer feedback for Altor’s products. We expect strong demand for their Virtual Network Security Analyzer and Virtual Network Firewall to protect virtualization deployments worldwide.”

Altor’s VNSA and VNF provide unprecedented visibility into virtual switch traffic and control over virtual machines (VMs) being deployed by enterprises, government agencies and organizations in regulated industries. Altor’s VNSA and VNF solutions enable network administrators and security professionals to apply security best practices for virtual networks and help companies meet increasingly stringent HIPAA, PCI and SOX regulatory compliance requirements - at a fraction of the cost of legacy security products.

“Securing virtual machines is as important as the operational benefits many organizations are enjoying by virtualizing their data centers,” said Altor Networks Board Member Ashmeet Sidana, general partner with Foundation Capital. “We believe Altor Networks has a unique and highly differentiated approach to delivering security best practices for virtualized data centers which represents a huge global market opportunity.”

This financing comes during a time of significant momentum for Altor Networks:

• The company launched its first product, the VNSA on March 17, 2008
• Announced the forthcoming availability of the industry’s first Virtual Network Firewall slated for release in the summer of 2008
• Named a winner of Info Security Products Guide’s 2008 Tomorrow’s Technology Today Award.
• The company’s VNSA has been deployed by leading customers such as Service Master and Nielsen Mobile, the world’s largest provider of syndicated consumer research to the telecom and mobile media markets.

“The success of virtualization has created a need for a new class of products that enable data center administrators to extend security best practices into their virtual environments,” said Amir Ben-Efraim, CEO and founder of Altor Networks. “Our virtual network security solutions are at the forefront of this new wave of products that significantly improve the security posture of virtualized data centers. At the same time they are helping our customers fully leverage their investment in virtualization and increase their operational efficiency in production environments.”

About Altor Networks

Altor Networks is pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, purpose built to secure virtualized data centers. The company’s initial product lines include the industry’s first-ever virtual network firewall and security analysis system. Altor’s Virtual Network Security Analyzer ™ (VNSA) proactively monitors and analyzes the security readiness of virtualization deployments to help enterprises meet stringent regulatory compliance requirements. Data center administrators can now pinpoint a broad range of virtual network security compromises and easily create roles-based security policies. For the first time, security policies can be continuously enforced on individual virtual machines, even as they move throughout the virtualized data center. Founded by security and networking experts from Check Point Software, Cisco and Oracle, Altor Networks is funded by Accel Partners and Foundation Capital and is headquartered in Redwood City, California. For more information, visit www.altornetworks.com.

Ashmeet Sidana of Foundation Capital sits on Altor’s board of directors. Amir Ben-Efraim, who started Altor along with Ulrich Stern, is its CEO. Stern is chief technology officer.

The company started selling its first product last month. (full article)

The advent of virtualization software has made it possible for companies to use virtual computers to run various critical tasks, wringing more work from their computers. The software enables a single computer to run several different operating systems, or several copies of the same system..
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New technology, however, often brings new problems. (full article, registration required)

There are plenty of virtualization security vendors leaping out of the shadows. Here are five new players worth a look.

Altor Networks. This company’s Virtual Network Security Analyzer and Virtual Network Firewall (available later this year) aim to help gain visibility, increase control, and better secure virtual environments. Many of its executive team are from network firewall giantCheck Point Software (NSDQ: CHKP) Technologies.
(full article)

Podcast: Virtual Strategy Magazine talks with Amir Ben-Efriam, CEO and co-founder of Altor Networks, about their Virtual Network Security Analyzer (VNSA).

Total listening time: 12:44. (link to podcast)

I spent some time with Amir Ben-Efraim, Altor’s CEO. I knew Amir from our days working together when he was at Check Point and I was at Crossbeam.

Amir has brought forward what he learned from his time served at CHKP and understands the gaps between how the current crop of security toolsets fall short in virtualized environments.

Altor’s solution called “Virtual Network Security Analyzer” is the company’s initial offering which is billed as providing the following functionality. Altor’s Virtual Network Security Analyzer (VNSA) delivers unprecedented, granular, real-time, and historical visibility into the virtual switch traffic.
(full article)

Altor’s VNSA provides customers with an insight into virtual switch traffic and control over virtual machines. To respond to the deficiencies of traditional security in virtualized environments, Altor has introduced the industry’s first virtual switch traffic analyzer. The VNSA (Virtual Network Security Analyzer) gives customers insight into virtual switch traffic and control over virtual machines, or VMs, in order to help network admins and security professionals meet strict HIPAA, PCI, and Sarbox regulatory compliance requirements, as well as integrate security best practices.
(full article)

Altor Networks celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with the launch of its Virtual Network Security Analyzer (VNSA) - he first security product built specifically for the virtual data center, with complete support of all virtualization features.

According to Poornima DeBolle, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Altor Networks, securing virtual servers is just as important as securing physical servers. However, the unique characteristics of virtualization, such as live migration and rollbacks, present new security challenges that are not addressed by traditional security solutions.
(full article)

Security and virtualization vendors said helping hands can make for more secure virtual environments.

While the world waits for the first major hypervisor exploit, vendors are doing their best to build technological defenses for virtual environments. However, developing that technology may lie with the ability and willingness of vendors to work together, officials at numerous companies said.

In February, VMware announced its VMsafe initiative, the first of what company officials said would be a number of security plays in the coming months. Twenty security companies agreed to use the virtualization vendor’s APIs to build a new class of open, interoperable and cross-platform innovations for virtual machines…

The interest in virtualization has caught the eye of a number of security-focused companies, from familiar names such as Cenzic and EMC’s RSA security division to startups such as Altor Networks, which publicly launched March 17 and released its Virtual Network Security Analyzer. (full article)

It is still early for security vendors to produce software using VMware’s recently released application program interfaces (APIs). But a fledgling virtualization security market is emerging to address the risks associated with the technology.

The latest entrant to the security virtualization market is Redwood City, Calif.-based Altor Networks Inc., which launched last week with a virtual security analyzer that taps into virtual switch traffic - a layer of network traffic just above the hypervisor. The vendor also plans to release a virtual network firewall when the product is ready later this year.
(full article)

As the economy worsens, the pressure to consolidate more physical servers into virtual machines to save money will mount. But don’t let security be a virtual concept, especially when it comes to the “virtual switch” that connects your virtual machines into a virtual network. They all need real security.

That’s the message from Amir Ben-Efraim, CEO of Altor Networks Inc. in Redwood City, Calif. Virtual switches cannot be managed or even detected by most network management tools, he says. And firewalls cannot keep track of changing internal IP addresses, he observes, a phenomenon exacerbated by tools like VMware’s VMotion technology that can move virtual machines from one physical server to another dynamically. (full article)

Virtualization is big business. It’s in the news, it’s in the datacenter, and it’s on the budget agenda for most IT departments. As the momentum to use VM technology grows, the need for security grows with it. With all this security came a single missing element, the ability to see the traffic between virtual machines. (full article)

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - Altor Networks, pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, today announced the launch of the industry’s first virtual switch traffic analyzer and Virtual Network Firewall™. Each system supports multi-vendor virtual platforms and is purpose-built to make virtualized data centers more secure than their physical counterparts.

Altor’s Virtual Network Security Analyzer™ (VNSA) and Virtual Network Firewall (VNF) provide unprecedented visibility into virtual switch traffic and control over virtual machines (VMs) being deployed by enterprises, government agencies and organizations in regulated industries. Altor’s VNSA and VNF solutions enable network administrators and security professionals to apply security best practices for virtual networks and help companies meet increasingly stringent HIPAA, PCI and SOX regulatory compliance requirements - at a fraction of the cost of legacy security products.

“One of the key drivers for virtualizing our data center is operational agility,” said Nicholas Portolese, senior manager, data center operations, with Nielsen Mobile, the world’s largest provider of syndicated consumer research to the telecom and mobile media markets. “Altor Networks’ Virtual Network Security Analyzer provides us, for the first time, with crucial insight into our virtual switch traffic with real-time and historical monitoring and analysis capabilities. This enables us to weed out, analyze and report on network bottlenecks caused by a number of sources including unwanted protocols, multicast and broadcast service announcements.”

“Most people don’t realize security virtualization has lagged far behind virtualization of storage, networking, and servers,” said Andreas M. Antonopoulos, senior vice president and founding partner at Nemertes Research. “The lack of suitable security is actually thwarting more widespread adoption of virtualization in some cases. Ironically, traditional static security solutions are subverting some of the operational return-on-investment offered by virtualization such as live migration.”

This “security gap” can be traced to the shortcomings of traditional security solutions that include legacy firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems, operating system firewalls and VLANs. Aging firewalls and IDS/IPSs that were designed to defend static, perimeter-based physical networks have no visibility into VM traffic and control over virtual networks - nor do they integrate easily with virtual network management systems. VLANs lack virtual switch traffic inspection capabilities, are complex to manage, and restrict usage of VM migration tools like VMotion. And OS firewalls suffer from lack of central management, inconsistency across differing operating systems and poor support for legacy OSes.

“Virtualization, as with any emerging technology, will be the target of new security threats,” according to Neil MacDonald, security & privacy vice president and Gartner Fellow, in a March 6, 2007, Gartner research note titled, “Security Considerations and Best Practices for Securing Virtual Machines.” Added MacDonald: “Many organizations mistakenly assume that their approach for securing VMs will be the same as securing any operating system (OS) and thus plan to apply their existing configuration guidelines and standards. While this is a start, simply applying the technologies and best practices for securing physical servers won’t provide sufficient protection for VMs. Several areas are often overlooked completely… Because of the rush to adopt virtualization for server consolidation efforts, many of the[se] issues are overlooked, [and] best practices aren’t applied, or in some cases, the tools and technologies for addressing some of the security issues with virtualization are immature or nonexistent.”

Altor’s Virtual Network Security Analyzer

Given the increasing adoption rates of virtualization, data center administrators must be capable of discovering inter-VM traffic for auditing, security and regulatory compliance. Altor’s VNSA delivers on these requirements by providing real-time visibility and historical views of virtual switch traffic though a centrally managed, comprehensive dashboard that integrates with existing virtualization management systems to import network, host and event information. The VNSA can also analyze virtual network traffic to track and organize VMs by network usage and create user-defined groups.

Unlike network security and monitoring solutions that are completely “blind” to inter-VM communications, Altor’s VNSA can alert data center administrators to security vulnerabilities and operational problems through the discovery of:

• Port scans, tunneling, insecure and unwanted protocols
• Configuration anomalies due to external DNS and NTP access and DHCP auto-configuration errors
• Multicast and broadcast service announcements that can erode network performance
• Optimize VMotion/DRS by grouping VMs based on network usage
• User defined and automated groups to monitor access to business-critical resources
• Report generation for regulatory compliance

Altor’s Virtual Network Firewall

Specifically built to secure inter-VM communications in highly dynamic virtual network environments, Altor’s first-of-its-kind Virtual Network Firewall uniquely enforces granular security policies that remain “attached” to individual VMs, even as they move about the data center. Centrally managed, the VNF supports and enforces roles-based security policies per-VM.
Altor’s VNF is built from the ground up for multi-vendor platform support which will include virtualization servers from VMware, Citrix, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun and others.

“As more servers are virtualized on multi-core systems capable of hosting dozens of VMs, CIOs and CSOs are beginning to recognize that securing the new access layer - the virtual switch - is a strategic imperative,” said Amir Ben-Efraim, CEO and founder of Altor Networks. “In view of the soaring adoption rates of virtualization in production data centers, we have a unique and considerable market opportunity to cost-effectively improve the security posture of organizations across a broad spectrum of industries.”

Pricing and Availability

Enterprise licenses for the Virtual Network Security Analyzer, (VNSA) start at $500 US per physical server, supporting an unlimited number of virtual machines. A single Altor Center management system supporting unlimited VNSA agents is available for $1,500 US. Annual maintenance and support licenses are also available. Release 1.0 of the Virtual Network Security Analyzer is generally available now. Free demo versions of the Altor agent and Altor Center can be downloaded at www.altornetworks.com.

About Altor Networks

Altor Networks is pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, purpose built to secure virtualized data centers. The company’s initial product lines include the industry’s first-ever virtual network firewall and security analysis system. Altor’s Virtual Network Security Analyzer™ [VNSA] proactively monitors and analyzes the security readiness of virtualization deployments to help enterprises meet stringent regulatory compliance requirements. Data center administrators can now pinpoint a broad range of virtual network security compromises and easily create roles-based security policies. For the first time, security policies can be continuously enforced on individual virtual machines, even as they move throughout the virtualized data center. Founded by security and networking experts from Check Point Software, Cisco and Oracle, Altor Networks is funded by Accel Partners and Foundation Capital and is headquartered in Redwood City, California. For more information, visit www.altornetworks.com.

These companies aim to keep virtual servers secure by providing access control, patch management and more

Few reports have surfaced of security breaches in virtual-server environments, but the potential looms large. “Every single platform we have had in IT eventually gets compromised. There is no reason for us to think that the hypervisor is going to be any different,” says Pete Lindstrom, a senior analyst with Burton Group. “While hypervisors seem to pose a fairly small attack-surface, as they multiply across a network, so do the attack surfaces. It is a huge unknown.”

That’s why companies widely adopting virtualization today must have a solid strategy for securing these environments, industry watchers say. “During the ‘Gold Rush’ mentality of this server virtualization craze — the more you deploy, the more you save — the cost of securing the virtual environment has not been weighed,” says Phil Hochmuth, a senior analyst with Yankee Group. “At the same time security has become an afterthought, researchers are publishing rootkits and people are thinking of ways to hack hypervisors — it has to raise some eyebrows in the security world,” he says.
…

ALTOR NETWORKS

Headquarters: Redwood City, Calif.
Management: CEO Amir Ben-Efraim, previously head of business development for Check Point Software.

How the company got its start: Company founders saw a “big blind spot in inter-virtual-machine communication” with what virtual vendors are calling virtual switches or virtual bridges, Ben-Efraim says. These virtual switches allow virtual machines to communicate with each other, but also create a new layer of switching that is “effectively invisible to network security and other network tools,” he explains. Altor wants to provide visibility into that layer of switching and make sure communications among virtual machines are secure.
(full article)

By Bridget Botelho

In the physical world, firewalls and port commands give system administrators control of communication between servers. But in the virtual world, virtual machines (VMs) communicate through virtual switches that IT hasn’t been able to control, said Amir Ben-Efraim, the CEO and co-founder of Redwood City, Calif.-based Altor Networks Inc..

“You certainly want VMs to talk to each other, but you also want to be able to control those conversations,” Ben-Efraim said.

Altor Networks has just reached the 1-year-old mark and has introduced its first products to address security concerns in virtual environments. (full article)

By Laurianne McLaughlin, CIO Magazine

There’s no shortage of startup companies hawking virtualization management and security tools, but a new entrant, Altor Networks, has an interesting angle for IT leaders worried about virtualization security. Its debut product, being announced today, the Virtual Network Security Analyzer, gives visibility into the data traffic between virtual machines - which has until now been a security blindspot for people managing virtualized servers.

Virtualization giant VMware and a slew of startup companies have addressed myriad management and security features, but none have been able to offer visibility into or analysis of the traffic running between multiple VMs. This means, for instance, that IT managers have been able to get a good look inside individual VMs, but have been blind to what one VM on one physical machine is trying to say to a VM on another physical machine. This presents real malware and compliance risks… (full article)

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Altor Networks CEO, Amir Ben-Efraim, so that I could find out more information about virtual networks and what Altor Networks is trying to do with them.

Q: So if you would, please tell us about Altor Networks?

A: Altor Networks is a virtual network security company whose vision is to make the virtual network more secure than its physical counterpart. Our team consists of world-class experts in network security, with experience from some of the most respected vendors in the industry.

Q: And what does the company do or provide?
(full interview)

Altor Networks, pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, today announced the launch of the industry’s first virtual switch traffic analyzer and Virtual Network Firewall ™. Each system supports multi-vendor virtual platforms and is purpose-built to make virtualized data centers more secure than their physical counterparts… (full article)

Altor Network announced the launch of the virtual switch traffic analyzer and Virtual Network Firewall. Each system supports multi-vendor virtual platforms and is purpose-built to make virtualized data centers more secure than their physical counterparts… (full article)

Altor Networks, pioneering a new class of virtual network security solutions, today announced the launch of the industry’s first virtual switch traffic analyzer and Virtual Network Firewall ™. Each system supports multi-vendor virtual platforms and is purpose-built to make virtualized data centers more secure than their physical counterparts… (full article)