Catbird CTO to Share Expertise in Securing Virtual Environments in Government Agencies at VMworld 2010

Renowned Security Expert Michael Berman to Present Real-World Best Practices During Panel Session Focusing On Locking Down Government Virtualization Deployments

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Catbird, the pioneer in leading-edge security and compliance solutions for virtual, cloud and physical networks, announced today that chief technology officer Michael Berman, will draw upon Catbird’s recent experience at the Department of Homeland Security, NASA and the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS) to highlight best practices for securing virtualization deployments in the government sector, as part of a panel discussion at the VMworld 2010 Conference today in San Francisco.

“The public sector has done an excellent job of leveraging the cost savings and higher level of service that virtualization provides”

The session, “Securing Government Virtual Environments” (Session ID SE8371) at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, September 1, brings together leaders in the area of virtual security who will discuss ways to meet the security and compliance challenges of virtualization in government agencies in order to accelerate virtualization deployments.

With public sector regulatory agencies now mandating continuous security compliance to augment traditional periodic auditing, only Catbird is able to deliver the continuous security posture required to meet the stringent demands of virtually every regulatory security standard including FISMA, DIACAP, FDIC, and HIPAA.

“The public sector has done an excellent job of leveraging the cost savings and higher level of service that virtualization provides,” Berman, said. “Because of their commitment to security and assurance, organizations such as DHS, NASA and NLETS have called on Catbird to weave security and continuous compliance into the fabric of their virtual infrastructure. In this session, we’ll talk about how the lessons learned in these deployments can be applied in other agencies, as well as the private sector, such as financial services.”

Catbird’s comprehensive coverage of critical controls provides continuous auditing and enforcement for virtual infrastructure in the public sector, easily manageable from a single dashboard for monitoring and reporting in accordance with NIST SP-800-53 rev3 specifications. By delivering operational visibility into virtualized networks, Catbird enables federal agencies and private enterprises to implement a framework of policy-based controls to meet operational and regulatory goals, demonstrate continuous security and compliance, and reduce time, effort and cost associated with obtaining and maintaining “Authority to Operate” (ATO).

“Catbird protects our crown jewels,” noted Bill Phillips, the security specialist at NLETS, a U.S. 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization owned and governed by the states which links federal, state, local and international law enforcement, justice and public safety agencies for the purpose of information exchange. “As the ‘center square’ in criminal justice, we had stringent requirements for protecting our critical data and network as we moved from physical to virtual infrastructure. Catbird was the only product we found that could do the job.”

“Catbird meets DHS’ requirements for delivering continuous security and compliance,” said Richard Rodriguez with ST Net, Inc., a Catbird partner that facilitated DHS’s Catbird acquisition.

“Michael is a visionary in Virtualization Security,” said Keith McCloskey, Vice President for SE Solutions Inc.'s Technology Consulting Services Business Unit. “Catbird has the vision and capability to address many of the key security issues and risks that enterprises and service providers face in delivering virtualized data center and cloud-based services to their customers. Based on our work in virtualization, security and cloud technologies, SE Solutions has determined that Catbird's comprehensive approach to virtualization security delivers continuous compliance. Catbird’s focus on industry, and in particular Public Sector, security standards allows our customers to achieve a high degree of assurance and supports our clients’ requirements for continuous reporting.”

Catbird will be in booth 1531 at the VMworld 2010 conference, which runs August 30-September 2 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.vmworld2010.com.

To learn more about Catbird’s industry-leading, comprehensive security solutions for virtual and cloud environments, visit www.catbird.com.

About Catbird (www.catbird.com)

Catbird is the industry leader in comprehensive security and compliance for virtualized, cloud and physical environments, and a winner of three Best of Show Finalist Awards at VMworld 2009 and 2008; the Windows IT Pro Best of Tech·Ed 2008 IT Pro Editors Choice Award for Security; and winner of the 2007 VARBusiness Technology Innovator Award for Virtualization. Via Catbird vSecurity and the “Catbird” virtual appliance, Catbird is the only company delivering best-practice security for Hypervisor, Guest VMs and Policy/Regulatory Security Compliance. As companies migrate mainstream servers and desktops to virtual environments, uncertainty over security and compliance can impact deployment plans. Catbird’s protection eliminates these worries and keeps virtualization plans on track. Founded in 2000 by Internet pioneer Ron Lachman, the company’s innovative technology protects tens of thousands of customer systems and networks who rely on Catbird and its partners to protect their valuable IT assets from external and internal threats. The private company is based in Silicon Valley, and is currently recruiting new partners and resellers.