WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – April 14, 2003 – Symark today announced PowerPassword 2.8, which provides central management of password and login policies across heterogeneous UNIX networks. PowerPassword significantly increases UNIX password security while reducing administrative and support costs by providing a de facto single sign-on solution for enterprise UNIX deployments. PowerPassword augments traditional UNIX security by providing stronger passwords, aging and history, reset and synchronization, and comprehensive logging. Version 2.8 of PowerPassword also offers the broadest platform support available for UNIX password management and synchronization.

“Passwords remain a critical issue for both UNIX administrators and UNIX support techs charged with ensuring 99.99 percent uptime with diminishing budgets and reduced staff,” said Jeff McGrath, Director of Product Management. “IT administrators also face the ongoing threat of unauthorized information access not only by external hackers but by internal users. PowerPassword secures these inherent weaknesses of multi-vendor UNIX environments by giving administrators full control of UNIX logins and passwords as well as a centralized audit trail of all login activity.”

PowerPassword provides security that meets DoD-defined C2-level password policies, including specific character set requirements, longer password lengths, password aging, and password-checking against desired lists such as dictionaries and personal information. It also enables granular login policies, detailing which users may log in to which hosts using which methods as well as when they may log in and from which hosts or IP addresses they may log in. PowerPassword also integrates with SSH Secure Shell to offer a complete solution for secure access across heterogeneous UNIX networks.

In addition, PowerPassword provides a central, indelible audit trail that logs all UNIX login and password events. PowerPassword does not modify the UNIX kernel, thereby eliminating the risk of interfering with system performance or conflicting with other applications.

Version 2.8 of PowerPassword reduces UNIX administrative and support costs through the introduction of enhanced password synchronization, which extends the limited administrative abilities of UNIX and NIS (Network Information Services) by propagating a reset/changed password from any host to all other hosts within a UNIX domain.

PowerPassword 2.8 also offers new password policy capabilities to augment the security of UNIX environments. In addition to restricting password length and preventing users from simply adding or changing a single character when resetting a current password, version 2.8 prohibits users from selecting their username as their password, thereby securing one of the most common password weaknesses through which hackers gain unauthorized network access. 

Further, version 2.8 of PowerPassword adds support for Debian GNU Linux 3.0, HP-UX 11, and SuSE Linux 7.3 and 8.0. As a result, PowerPassword now supports more than 30 UNIX/Linux flavors, including systems from leading vendors Compaq, Digital, IBM, Red Hat, SGI, Sun, and more.

Symark services and support complement the company’s powerful product offerings. Symark offers onsite training, rapid deployment assistance, and 24x7 support by highly specialized technicians and staff.

Founded in 1985, Symark is the leading provider of security solutions for Global 2000 businesses that protect UNIX and Linux resources. Symark PowerBroker® enables granular delegation of administrative privileges while restricting root account access. Symark PowerPassword® provides login and password policy management with stronger passwords, aging, and history. Both products offer the broadest range of UNIX flavors, central administration, and detailed audit logs. Symark’s products strike the perfect balance between protection and productivity by preventing damage or abuse by trusted users, whether intentional or not. Symark offers extensive expertise in enterprise computing security, and its products are backed by unmatched technical support. For more information, visit us at www.symark.com.