Ixia - Experts & Thought Leaders

Keysight Technologies has announced Breach Defense, a security operations (SecOps) platform designed to improve operational security effectiveness. An integral element of the new platform is the Threat Simulator breach and attack simulation solution which enables network and security operations teams to measure the effectiveness of operational security by safely simulating the latest attacks and exploits on live networks. Security operations teams are faced with an increasingly complex network environment that is continuously under attack by a flood of cyber threats generated inside and outside of their organisations. Test-based evidence According to a recent Keysight Security Operations Effectiveness survey: Good security tools don’t always protect as expected: 50% of survey respondents stated they found their security solution was not working as expected after a breach had occurred. Most organisations don’t verify their security is working as it should: Only 35% of respondents have test-based evidence to prove their security products are configured and working correctly. Most organisations recognise the value of security testing: 86% of respondents stated they would value a solution that finds and helps to remediate vulnerabilities in a company’s security posture. Testing security capabilities Threat Simulator uses a series of lightweight agents to simulate attacks on a live network “An organisation can be safe one day and vulnerable the next. Testing security capabilities at one point in time provides limited visibility to an organisation’s ongoing security posture,” said Paula Musich, Research Director, Security and Risk Management at market research firm Enterprise Management Associates. “At its heart, security is both a people and processes issue." "By testing defenses on a regular basis using attack simulation, security operations teams can stay on top of changes that can turn good security hygiene into an exploitable vulnerability.” Enterprise security operations Keysight’s Threat Simulator solution provides enterprise security operations teams a method for testing security tools to determine their effectiveness in protecting the organisation. It provides a continuous, automated security assessment of end-to-end production network security infrastructures, enabling organisations to quickly spot gaps and environment drift of security configurations, which is typically the result of someone in IT or a related group making a change without any malicious intent, while a patented recommendation engine provides clear remediation steps. Built on a software-as-a-service platform, Threat Simulator uses a series of lightweight agents to simulate attacks on a live network without exposing production servers or endpoints to malware or attacks. Threat Simulator features a library of threat simulations which is continuously updated by Keysight’s experienced Application and Threat Intelligence Research Center. An integrated dashboard makes it easy to conduct assessments, spot vulnerabilities and drill down on issues. Instructions to mitigate vulnerabilities Threat Simulator helps security operations teams find those gaps and gain actionable insight into how to close those gaps" It features step-by-step instructions to mitigate vulnerabilities to help security operations teams solve the issue. “Today’s network and security teams just don’t know how effective their security solutions are on a continuous basis,” said Scott Register, Vice President, Security Solutions, Keysight Network Applications & Security Group (formerly Ixia Solutions Group). "Security breaches aren’t always caused by a lack of capable products — often they are due to misconfigurations or a lack of security skills. Probing for coverage gaps has never been an easy task on a live network. Threat Simulator helps security operations teams find those gaps and gain actionable insight into how to close those gaps and improve their security posture.” Stop infected internal devices In addition to Threat Simulator, Keysight’s Breach Defense SecOps platform includes ThreatARMOR, a threat intelligence gateway. Complementing an existing security infrastructure, ThreatARMOR reduces attack surface by blocking up to 80% of malicious traffic at the source—decreasing the number of security information and event management (SIEM) alerts. ThreatARMOR can: block traffic from known bad IP addresses at line-rate speeds; block malicious IP addresses manually or automatically from SIEM tools; identify and stop infected internal devices from communicating with known botnet C&C servers; block traffic by geography; and block unused IP space / unassigned IP addresses and hijacked domains from a network.

Keysight, the test and measurement vendor introduces its new Automotive Cybersecurity Program that delivers a broad cybersecurity portfolio, including hardware, software and services, to address the growing concern of cyber-attacks on connected vehicles. The cyber world is increasingly impacting the safe operation of automobiles, opening the risks of exposure, including malicious hacker activities. The new reality is that cyber-attacks against automobiles could result in the loss of human life. The most recent report from Consumer Watchdog has exposed the reality about the cybersecurity risk in connected vehicles. Deliver extensive security ISG’s visibility solutions deliver an enhanced infrastructure that improves the efficiency of security tool Keysight Technologies understands these risks and offers solutions to test and measure connected vehicle technologies, including the newly announced Automotive Cybersecurity Program that validates the resiliency of connected components of a vehicle, individually or as an entirely functioning automobile prior and post deployment. In addition, security solutions developed by Ixia Solutions Group (ISG), enables Keysight to deliver extensive security validations of the 4G/5G radio access network (RAN) infrastructure that connects vehicles, and the backend data centers that manage business operations. ISG’s visibility solutions deliver an enhanced infrastructure that improves the efficiency of security tool sets in production networks. Keysight provides test and measurement of cybersecurity effectiveness from the ECU level up to the cloud data center. Pre-deployment testing “Early assessment, prior to production, is essential to enabling our automotive customers to deliver safe and supportable vehicles,” stated Mark Pierpoint, president of Ixia Solutions Group, a Keysight business.  “Potential issues identified post production, with the risk of recalls, cost orders of magnitude more to repair than when found during pre-deployment testing, notwithstanding the possible loss of human life." Cars today support multiple communication methods, like Bluetooth and USB" "Continued detection and mitigation of cybersecurity threats once vehicles are on the road are equally critical to keep consumers safe. Cybersecurity testing is an essential defence to ensure the design and implementation of a bullet-proof security posture in connected vehicles. Cars today support multiple communication methods, like Bluetooth and USB while a growing number of cars use mobile communication for a variety of services available in the car,” said Tom Goetzl, Automotive & Energy Solutions business general manager for Keysight. Available communication ports “Keysight’s Automotive Cyber security program can test for vulnerabilities on all available communication ports and provides direction to our customers on how to close such vulnerabilities.” Keysight offers a broad portfolio of solutions to help prevent vehicles from being cyber-hijacked, including: Automotive Cybersecurity Program – to validate and exploit the potential attack surfaces existing in connected vehicles Automotive Gateway Security Test – to validate the zoning and security posture of in-vehicle networks Network Security Test – to validate and stress a network infrastructure and backend data centers Application & Threat Intelligence (ATI) Research Center – to ensure testing that includes the latest application and security strike simulation Visibility for Network Security – to improve the performance of a security architecture with 100% visibility of all traffic on an automotive network

Keysight, the test and measurement vendor, has announced that Ixia, its cybersecurity and visibility business, has announced BreakingPoint QuickTest, which enables organisations to quickly evaluate the performance and security of devices and networks to assess their cybersecurity readiness. Today’s IT departments struggle against increasing network security threats while suffering from a cybersecurity skills shortage. According to Jon Oltsik, principal analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group, “more than half of organisations report a problematic shortage of cybersecurity skills.” The lack of testing expertise creates opportunities for vulnerabilities in IT environments. Optimising speed of cybersecurity testing This innovation enables organisations to optimise the speed of their cybersecurity testing without compromise"“Organisations are under pressure to make the right security investments to ensure their networks and applications are secure. This pressure, combined with the shortage of expert resources, forces organisations to compromise on the quality of their security testing,” said Sunil Kalidindi, vice president of product management at Ixia, a Keysight Business. “BreakingPoint QuickTest offers users all the power of BreakingPoint in pre-packaged test methodologies with expert analysis capabilities. This ground-breaking innovation enables organisations to optimise the speed of their cybersecurity testing without compromise.” Features of the test suites BreakingPoint QuickTest offers concise and actionable test scores for rapid result analysis, and complete automation for continuous assessment. Test suites include: Performance: to measure system performance while handling various types of application traffic mixes that include encrypted traffic NetSecOPEN: to validate the device or system against NetSecOPEN standardised tests, industry guidelines and best practices for testing modern network security infrastructure including firewall, next generation firewall (NGFW), intrusion protection system (IPS), and threat detection solutions and services Encryption Performance: to measure the system performance of TLS inspection devices or networks, while handling traffic encrypted using various types of ciphers and key sizes Security: to validate the effectiveness of a security device or system in mitigating attacks and breach attempts while maintaining traffic continuity Powered by threat intelligence BreakingPoint QuickTest is powered by threat intelligence provided by Ixia’s Application Threat Intelligence (ATI) Research Center, a globally distributed team of dedicated cybersecurity professionals that monitor and analyse the ever-evolving indicators that could threaten the security of IT networks worldwide. Ixia’s ATI Research Center has been performing advanced security research for over a decade, providing intelligence updates to customers around the globe.