WALTHAM, Mass.-- April 10, 2006 -- Watchfire, the market-leading provider of web vulnerability assessment software and services to help ensure the security and compliance of websites, today introduced AppScan(R) OnDemand, a new service for enterprises to manage web application vulnerability assessments. Watchfire customers can now benefit from the full power of AppScan Enterprise, the industry's first web application vulnerability scanning and reporting solution for the enterprise, to deliver centralized control, remediation capabilities, executive security metrics and dashboards, and key regulatory compliance reporting - without many of the costs associated with deploying and managing complex software and hardware.
AppScan OnDemand is entirely web based and requires no installation, hardware or maintenance. AppScan OnDemand is ideally suited for organizations that must continually monitor and manage vulnerabilities but do not have security expertise in house, want to scale their in-house testing or those that want to lower their total cost of ownership. AppScan OnDemand gives organizations the ability to focus on fixing the vulnerabilities uncovered by Watchfire. At the same time, customers receive instant access to Watchfire's security expertise, best practices and guidance provided by the company's web application security consultants.
"Financially motivated and targeted Internet attacks are increasing. A wave of security breaches have dramatically changed the data protection landscape and Web application vulnerabilities are a fact of business life for all companies," said Peter McKay, president and CEO, Watchfire. "Increasingly organizations are recognizing the need to effectively manage their application security. For those organizations with little or no security expertise in house, or those who need to quickly scale their security expertise, AppScan OnDemand delivers the market-leading web vulnerability testing solution but lets customers focus their efforts on fixing the vulnerabilities Watchfire uncovers. AppScan OnDemand lets organizations outsource enterprise-wide support to improve productivity by removing the complexity of managing and maintaining web applications across multiple locations."
"New methods for attacking web applications are growing in volume, complexity and frequency. Organizations should regularly scan Web applications for vulnerabilities and push for early testing," said Neil MacDonald, VP Distinguished Analyst, Gartner. "Because many organizations may not have the resources to do this internally, Web application security solution vendors should provide their scanning capabilities in multiple ways - as a product, as a service or in a hybrid model that combines both approaches."
More than 500 customers worldwide rely on Watchfire's software and services to help ensure the security and compliance of their websites. With the introduction of AppScan OnDemand, Watchfire now offers hosted versions of its full line of web vulnerability assessment and compliance solutions. Since 2002, Watchfire has offered a software as a service version of its WebXM(TM) platform of products for assessing web privacy, compliance and quality controls. Managed services account for approximately 40 percent of Watchfire's business and the introduction of AppScan OnDemand is expected to further accelerate adoption of this popular model.
The AppScan OnDemand service provides companies with flexible reporting options and packages, giving customers alternative ways to immediately utilize Watchfire's leading web application vulnerability scanning capabilities and is comprised of the following components:
-- Hosting and management of the software
-- Technical administration
-- Training and customizations
-- Testing analysis and issue prioritization
Benefits of the service include:
-- Outsourced web application vulnerability management
-- Helps ensure regulatory compliance
-- Access to Watchfire security experts and industry best practices
-- Eliminates hidden costs associated with software deployment and ongoing administration
-- Best path to actionable data for web application security management
-- Reduced learning curve and adoption time
-- Shields against knowledge loss from turnover or reorganization
Service Offerings:
-- Managed Service - Watchfire hosts, runs the tests, and its consultants prioritize the data
-- Self Service - Watchfire hosts the software and the customer manages the testing and reporting
-- In-house - The software is deployed at the customer's location and Watchfire remotely manages the application
About Watchfire
Watchfire provides Online Risk Management software and services to help ensure the security and compliance of websites. More more than 500 enterprises and government agencies, including AXA Financial, SunTrust, HSBC, Vodafone, Veterans Affairs and Dell rely on Watchfire to audit and report on issues impacting their online business. Watchfire has been the recipient of several industry honors including the HP/IAPP Privacy Innovation Award, InfoSecurity Product Guide's Hot Security Company 2006, Computerworld's Innovative Technology Award, and "Recommended" rating by Computer Reseller News. Watchfire was named by IDC as the worldwide market-share leader in web application vulnerability assessment software. Watchfire's partners include IBM Global Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers, TRUSTe, Microsoft, Interwoven, EMC Documentum and Mercury. Watchfire is headquartered in Waltham, MA. For more information, please visit www.watchfire.com.
