Qualys Pushes New Products and Updates at Black Hat

Last week at the Black Hat Conference in Las Vegas, SaaS-based IT security solution provider Qualys, made several announcements including a new QualysGuard Consultant Edition, a revamped user interface for its QualysGuard Security and Compliance SaaS Suite, and availability of the latest version of its Web Application Scanning solution.

The Redwood Shores, California based company has historically used the Black Hat Conference as a platform to make new product announcements and this year was no different.

The new QualysGuard Consultant Edition features virtualized scanner appliances (vScanners) and a report customization module the enables consultants to quickly and easily set up vScanners on their laptops or at client sites to initiate engagements and perform security assessments. A built-in reporting engine and library of templates allow consultants to create a variety of dynamic reports as well as specialized operational reports, such as patch reports, helping to simplify remediation efforts. QualysGuard Consultant Edition is offered as an annual subscription starting at $2,495 per year, which includes one vScanner and 250 scans. The QualysGuard vScanner is available in beta now as part of the QualysGuard Consultant Edition.

The new QualysGuard user interface (UI) features interactive dashboards, streamlined workflows, and consolidates the user interfaces in the QualysGuard Suite for vulnerability management, policy compliance, Web Application Scanning and PCI Compliance, making it easy for customers to transition to the next generation platform. The new platform will also provide mobile interfaces to the appropriate mobile devices – adapting to the user and device. With the new UI, customers can more easily navigate, conduct scans, analyze results, remediate vulnerabilities and create useful, customizable reports. The new UI is now available in beta for QualysGuard customers in the US and Europe.

The company also announced the latest version of its Web Application Scanning service, QualysGuard WAS 2.0, which helps organizations catalogue and scan large numbers of web applications. Qualys says that the new version simplifies the complexity and reduces costs of web application scanning with an intuitive, easy-to-use automated solution with a low false positive rate and a rich dynamic user interface. The solution can scan web applications that utilize JavaScript and embedded Flash, and can identify common web application vulnerabilities including OWASP Top Ten risks such as SQL injection, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), URL redirection and Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF). It can also help discover Web applications that could possibly disclose sensitive data. QualysGuard WAS 2.0 will be generally available for US customers on August 30, 2011.

Qualys also offers a free BrowserCheck which Ensure all browsers and plug-ins used within your organization are up-to-date with the latest security patches. BrowserCheck Business Edition:

* Provides you with a unique URL to give to users inside your company

* Allows your users to scans their browsers and plug-ins for security issues

* Helps you track the state of browser security in your organization over time

Because browsers today are used to access applications, conduct business transactions, use social media, and surf the web, hackers often target browsers for attacks, making browser security crucial to protecting against data compromise.