Blue Lance Extends NetWare Vulnerability Assessment

For example, the Assessment product can determine whether accounts have been set up that do not require passwords, and whether accounts exist with no user login activity for a long period of time. It can also identify who has access to critical files, and whether unauthorized users have access to critical files.

The Assessment release also adds disk utilization features that identify disk space by user account. This can show who is storing MP3 and MPEG files for instance. In one recent example, a customer of the company discovered one user had filled 54Gb on a home directly with MP3 files.

Assessment is priced on an annual subscription basis starting at $16.95 and decreasing as users are added. A company with 1,000 users would be charged $10.95 per user or approximately $11,000 per year for the product.

"The state monitoring features collect information about configuration and provide reports on where the possible holes are in the network," says Peter Thomas, CTO of Blue Lance, based in Houston.

Blue Lance's vulnerability assessment software for eDirectory and NetWare users rounds out Novell's nSure offering for secure identity management, says Tom Cathey, director of strategic relations for Blue Lance. At the recent BrainShare Novell user group meeting, approximately half the 6,000 attendees expressed interest in the products that help them comply with HIPPA regulations affecting the health care industry.

"The event and state monitoring tools are attracting interest from companies in industries affected by the regulations," Cathey said.