Internet Security Systems, provider of pre-emptive, enterprise security,  announced Linux support for its Proventia Server Intrusion Prevention System product line.

Key features of Proventia Server for Linux include vulnerability-based intrusion prevention, Buffer Overflow Exploit Prevention (BOEP) and support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SuSE Linux Enterprise Servers. ISS’ vulnerability-based approach to intrusion prevention is based on the findings of the company’s X-Force research and development team.

This proactive approach allows organisations to protect against software vulnerabilities before specific threats on those vulnerabilities emerge in the wild and impact network assets. By leveraging ISS’ Virtual Patch technology, Proventia Server for Linux is constantly updated with vulnerability discoveries and can automatically patch and protect critical servers until organisations are able to obtain and apply patches from affected vendors.

Also key to ISS’ pre-emptive server protection strategy is the company’s BOEP technology, which protects hosts from attackers and worms that attempt to use known or previously unknown buffer overflow attacks to exploit the system or propagate. Server protection products and services from ISS combine intrusion prevention, enterprise firewalls and BOEP within a single agent to block a wide variety of Internet attacks from entering a system.

ISS’ server offerings play a key role in the company’s Proventia integrated security platform, which provides comprehensive protection for enterprise IT infrastructures from network to host. ISS’ multi-layered approach to security allows organisations to continually stay ahead of the latest threats trying to infiltrate their networks.

“With this additional support, ISS offers the most comprehensive coverage in the security industry for the top server platforms, including Windows, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX and AIX,” said Heath Thompson, vice president of product engineering at Internet Security Systems. “Recognising that the Linux market is growing rapidly and that many of our customers have heterogeneous environments, we also provide organisations the unique ability to manage security events for all of their servers using minimal resources through our Proventia Management SiteProtector console.”