Check Point's protection against IE vulnerability

BANGALORE,INDIA: Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., the worldwide leader in securing the Internet, today announced users of Check Point Security Gateway R70,  VPN-1 R65, VPN-1 VSX R65, InterSpect, IPS and Endpoint Security WebCheck products are protected against the zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE). Check Point customers are preemptively protected from the unpatched threat that if exploited causes the browser to crash and leave systems vulnerable.

Also known as “Summoner,” the still unpatched vulnerability can occur when IE tries to access an object that has been deleted (or “summoned from the dead”). To trigger the issue, an attacker may create a malicious web page that will cause IE to exit unexpectedly, leaving a system vulnerable and allowing a hacker to execute arbitrary code on the targeted system. The flaw affects widely used IE6 and IE7 running on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and on Microsoft Windows 2000 SPT4 systems.

Check Point IPS and Endpoint Security solutions detect and block HTML pages attempting to exploit this vulnerability. Customers using the IPS Software Blade in Security Gateway R70, VPN-1 R65, VPN-1 VSX R65, InterSpect, and Endpoint Security WebCheck solutions are preemptively protected and require no system updates to address the threat. At the time of this writing, there is no patch available from Microsoft. Check Point has provided preemptive protection against exploits that use this vulnerability since November of 2006.

“Network vulnerabilities and threats pose serious risks to all businesses. Enterprises large or small look at scaling up quickly and protecting any size of network. With Check Point providing zero day protection, it leaves very less scope for vulnerabilities to affect enterprises. ” said Bhaskar Bakthavatsalu, Regional Director, Check Point Software Technologies ltd, India & SAARC.

 Check Point IPS and Endpoint Security solutions provide intrusion prevention capabilities available on dedicated platforms or integrated into Check Point gateways and are continuously updated by Check Point’s services. Check Point provides real-time updates and configuration advisories for defenses and security policies. Check Point protections are developed and distributed by Security Research and Response Centers located around the globe.

Based on the Software Blade architecture, Check Point IPS Software Blade provides complete in-line firewall intrusion prevention capabilities at multi-gigabit speeds, with preemptive threat coverage for clients, servers, OS from vulnerabilities, malware/worm infections, and more. Software Blades are independent and flexible security modules that enable companies to select the functions they need to build a custom Check Point Security Gateway.