Alex Thurber

Pulse Secure, the provider of software-defined Secure Access solutions, announced successful integration and joint compatibility testing between Gigamon and Pulse Secure to ensure customers that Pulse Secure’s Network Access Control (NAC) solution, Pulse Policy Secure, can fully leverage the endpoint contextual information received from Gigamon as remote workers return back to their office. The combination of Gigamon and Pulse provides organisations real-time visibility of network-connected devices and Zero Trust control leveraging adaptive authentication and User and Entity Behaviour Analytics (UEBA) to detect anomalies and mitigate unauthorised and malicious access to network applications and resources. Traffic information with dynamic filtering Pulse Policy Secure is a full-featured Network Access Control solution that is easy to deploy, manage, integrate and scale. Gigamon, sends consolidated traffic information with dynamic filtering to Pulse Policy Secure to enhance endpoint visibility across distributed networks and more automated endpoint security compliance. Ensure that critical security analytic data flows seamlessly across solutions to provide the visibility and control" Leveraging Pule Secure UEBA features, Pulse Policy Secure can identify and respond to anomalous activity such as suspicious IoT activity, DGA attacks and MAC spoofing as part of the solution’s adaptive authentication capabilities aligning to Zero Trust control. “The growing adoption of Zero Trust makes it essential that the security vendor community works in concert to ensure that critical security analytic data flows seamlessly across solutions to provide the visibility and control enterprises need to make better informed secure access decision in real time,” said Alex Thurber, Chief Revenue Officer for Pulse Secure. “We have worked closely with Gigamon at a technical level to create a smooth integration process with capabilities that will ensure our joint customers gain tangible benefits in deploying our technologies together to aid both network management and secure access in support of Zero Trust.” Granting network access according to security posture Joint Solution Benefits include: Support Zero Trust strategies. Discover, profile and authenticate users and devices prior to granting access according to their security posture. Define security posture policies for user roles and endpoints. Then automatically enforce access rules on all endpoints (based on identity, role, device class and security posture) before they are allowed on the network. Improve overall security. Enforce dynamic network segmentation of devices at the network edge to prevent threats from spreading laterally, and enable bidirectional integration with the security infrastructure (SIEM and NGFW, for example) for expedited threat response. 360-degree endpoint insight. Pulse Policy Secure captures in-depth endpoint intelligence and continuously monitors for suspicious state changes to provide reports about access issues and trends. Behavioural Analytics. Correlation of user access, device contextual information, and system logs in a new analytics engine to find anomalies and mitigate threat risks. Monitoring all network traffic for suspicious behaviour Pulse Policy Secure captures in-depth endpoint intelligence and continuously monitors for suspicious changes Pulse Policy Secure integrates with the Gigamon Visibility and Analytics Fabric, which is used to monitor all network traffic - including east-west data centre traffic and private and public cloud workloads - so all traffic can be analysed together in order to reduce blind spots and increase the likelihood of spotting suspicious behaviour. “Ecosystem partnerships are essential to the adoption of Zero Trust initiatives and working closely with key Secure Access vendors, such as Pulse Secure, to help ensure seamless integration is vital for customers to maximise their return on investment,” said Gigamon President and Chief Operating Officer Shane Buckley. “As organisations strive to do more with fewer resources, they often turn to automation to help realise benefits that are greater than the sum of their contributing parts.” Additional benefits of using Gigamon alongside Pulse Secure include traffic aggregation to minimise port utilisation. In cases where network links have low traffic volumes, the Gigamon Visibility and Analytics Fabric can aggregate these together before sending them to the Pulse Policy Secure NAC solution in order to minimise the number of ports that need to be used. By tagging the traffic, the Fabric ensures the source of traffic can be easily identified. Where network links have low traffic volumes, the Gigamon Visibility and Analytics Fabric can aggregate these together Endpoint information and fortified security analytics In addition, Gigamon Visibility and Analytics Fabric offers enhanced control of asymmetric routing to ensure session information is kept together. Pulse Policy Secure gains the complete context of an endpoint’s connections and fortified security analytics. “Based on the principle of ‘never trust, always verify,’ Zero Trust Networking (ZTN) requires the coordination of various security technologies to enable perimeter enforcement, network segmentation and adaptive access control,” said Tony Massimini, senior industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan. “Vendor collaboration, such as that between Gigamon and Pulse Secure, demonstrates the value of interoperability that supports customers advancing Zero Trust initiatives.” The enhanced integration capability is freely available as part of the standard licencing model for both platforms, as part of Pulse Policy Secure and Gigamon Visibility and Analytics Fabric. Pulse Secure Partners also offers Gigamon solutions to its client base, making the partnership of particular relevance to the security channel community.

Pulse Secure, a renowned provider of software defined Secure Access solutions, announced achieving Common Criteria certification for both its virtual private network (VPN) and network access control (NAC) solutions under NIAP’s most current collaborative Protection Profile for Network Devices (NDcPP). Pulse Secure’s certified solutions increases cyber security assurance for remote, cloud and on-premises access productivity, visibility and compliance for government agencies, government contractors, as well as private-sector enterprises. Common Criteria certification is governed by ISO/IEC standards bodies and maintained by the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP) according to internationally recognised security testing standards. Encompassing security requirements The solutions were awarded certification against the most current NIAP approved protection profile Common Criteria certification listing for Pulse Connect Secure v9.1 (VPN) and Pulse Policy Secure vv9.1 (NAC) can be found respectively on the NIAP website. The solutions were awarded certification against the most current NIAP approved protection profile encompassing security requirements, an evaluation and validation scheme, and rigorous test activities carried out by UL Verification Services Inc. Prior versions of both solutions had achieved Common Criteria certification. Pulse Secure has been extensively deployed in federal, military and supporting contractor applications to support: Comply to Connect standards, Command Cyber Readiness Inspections (CCRI), 802.1X port-control and DISA STIGs, NIST’s Risk Management Framework (RMF), Host-based Security System (HBSS) and DFAR 252.204-7012 assurance, and Internet of Things (IoT) security initiatives. Assure increased requirements In addition, the solutions have also attained FIPS 140-2 Level 1 certification, and are certified on the U.S. DoD Unified Capabilities (UC) Approved Products List (APL) and for JTIC joint warfighting IT interoperability. “Government IT organisations are always on the defensive, but like commercial entities, they must also assure increased requirements for availability, responsiveness and compliance. This is especially true for users and devices requesting access to and operating on federal and military networks,” said Alex Thurber, Chief Revenue Officer at Pulse Secure. Secure access challenges For over a dozen years, Pulse Secure has helped government agencies address secure access challenges for hybrid IT “Pulse Secure is uniquely positioned to give Federal CIOs the means to advance network and cloud access, situational intelligence, and endpoint protection in a timely and cost-effective way that supports compliance mandates. Our recent Common Criteria certifications serves to further validate the design and effectiveness of our Secure Access platform.” For over a dozen years, Pulse Secure has helped government agencies address secure access challenges for hybrid IT – efficiently, seamlessly and cost-effectively. Unified access control By implementing Pulse Secure, Federal defense, intelligence and civilian agencies can: Assure user experience and protected connectivity with always-on and on-demand VPN, as well as simultaneous and split tunneling Satisfy NIST 800-53 controls and specifications regarding 802.1x, Layer 2 Switch STIG, WLAN Authentication Server Security STIG, and Comply-to-Connect requisites Centrally manage an easy-to-use VPN and NAC/802.1x solution for wired, wireless and remote connections with flexibility for physical, virtual and cloud deployment Gain extensive user insight and unified access control for remote and internal endpoints, whether managed, uncatalogued, unsanctioned or unknown Automate endpoint and access situational awareness and security response through end-to-end visibility, policy-based controls, and infrastructure interoperability Validate device compliance with continuous remote, pre-network connection and post-connection host checking to efficiently find, assess and mitigate exposures Preserve remote and onsite user experience with context-aware identity authentication supporting a range of smartcards, certificate handling and single sign-on (SSO) Leverage build-in User Entity Behavior and Analytics (UEBA) anomaly detection and response Integrate Pulse Secure via open standards that negates single vendor lock Security access tools Organisations can centrally orchestrate Zero Trust policy to ensure compliant access to applications Pulse Secure’s VPN and NAC solutions can be procured separately or as part of its Pulse Access Suite Plus solution set that provides adaptive identity and device authentication, protected connectivity, extensive visibility and analytics, and threat response across mobile, network and multi-cloud environments. By consolidating disparate security access tools into an integrated platform, government agencies gain easy access for users and a single-pane-of-glass to streamline provisioning, management and scalability. Organisations can centrally orchestrate Zero Trust policy to ensure compliant access to applications, resources and services across distributed network, private cloud and public cloud environments. On-premise access control “The federal government continues progress cyber security and data protection capabilities with mandates to be more proactive, vigilant and agile. Beyond broader mobility, IoT and cloud initiatives, recent work from home and increased remote access capacity have expanded threat vectors and attack surfaces – placing greater requirements to modernise disjointed, legacy VPN and NAC solutions,” said Jerahd Hollis, Chief Technology Officer at immixGroup. “Pulse Secure’s integrated, interoperable and scalable approach to remote and on-premise access control address these challenges and allows agencies to deliver easier accessibility with necessary operational insight, controls and efficiency to satisfy NIST guidelines and achieve Zero Trust readiness.”

Pulse Secure, globally renowned provider of software-defined Secure Access solutions, has announced that Alex Thurber is joining the executive team as Chief Revenue Officer, where he will be responsible for global sales strategy, management and team development. “We are committed to providing the easiest, most effective solutions for enterprises to secure access to applications and data across their hybrid IT environments,” said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, CEO of Pulse Secure. Zero Trust solutions He adds, “We are excited to have Alex join our team and spearhead our forward momentum in the marketplace. Alex has the experience to drive growth of our industry-renowned Zero Trust solutions into an ever-evolving security landscape.” Thurber brings more than 20 years of international leadership experience across the tech industry for security and channel development. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President, General Manager of Blackberry’s Mobility Solutions Business Unit, where he transformed the hardware BU into a mobility solutions licensing group. At WatchGuard, he successfully revamped their sales, channel and go-to-market strategy. Alex has also held sales leadership roles at Tripwire, McAfee, and Cisco Systems. Challenging IT and security issues Businesses are looking to companies like Pulse Secure to address challenging IT and security issues" “Enterprises are faced with the weight of transforming their businesses to meet the productivity needs of their employees and customers while ensuring access to their applications and information are protected and compliant,” commented Thurber. “Businesses are looking to companies like Pulse Secure to address challenging IT and security issues, and I am excited to join the team and continue the great success we’ve built.” Pulse Secure, LLC provides easy, comprehensive software-driven Secure Access solutions for people, devices, things and services that improve visibility, protection and productivity for our customers. Our suites uniquely integrate cloud, mobile, application and network access to enable hybrid IT in a Zero Trust world. Secure information access Over 23,000 enterprises and service providers across every vertical entrust Pulse Secure to empower their mobile workforce to securely access applications and information in the data center and cloud while ensuring business compliance.