Security response team, analytics laboratory and systems launched to protect digital business

Network security multinational F5 Networks has launched a security incident response team (SIRT) and the F5 Labs cybersecurity laboratory service in addition to a suite of cybersecurity systems to protect modern digital commerce, says F5 Networks senior engineer Martin Walshaw.

The SIRT will identify threats and deliver an immediate response to mitigate or neutralise potentially harmful activities and protect business operations, while F5 Labs provides a visible platform for the company to weigh in on security topics affecting the broader information technology (IT) industry.

The SIRT services team augments F5’s solution portfolio through additional monitoring, analysis, post-incident reports, and recommended best practices to effectively respond to cybercrime attempts, and to help make sure that websites, applications and users stay secure and connected. The service is available to all F5 security customers throughout the security product life cycle.

F5 Networks VP and chief information security officer (CISO) Mike Convertino will lead insights produced by F5 Labs, and other CISOs from within the industry will also provide their insights over this platform.

F5 has expanded and rebranded its existing analytical capabilities to form F5 Labs by recruiting additional industry experts and researchers to gather cutting-edge global threat intelligence, analyse application threats, and publish related findings.

“F5 Labs provides opportunities for threat- related intelligence and learnings to be incorporated into the company’s development roadmap, along with customised innovations such as F5’s programmable technologies and DevCentral community,” confirms Walshaw.

Meanwhile, the company also released an application security solution to protect digital business applications and user data, by providing new levels of visibility and control.

“Protecting customers and data requires deep insight into application traffic and user behaviour. The more traffic that is encrypted with secure socket layer (SSL), the less effective security tools are to detect when SSL traffic hides malware and other malicious software,” says Walshaw.

“Sophisticated threat intelligence and response strategies paired with simplified access controls for applications and data are essential. Our new solutions, capabilities and services have been designed to holistically address the impact of emerging threats and shifts within the broader IT industry.”

For example, the Herculon SSL Orchestrator, which provides better insight to cover the visibility gaps created by the growing use of encryption for application data, uses F5 hardware for SSL/TLS (transport layer security) enhanced decryption performance by providing cryptographic capabilities, context-aware dynamic service chaining and native integration, notes Walshaw.

“Meanwhile, the Herculon DDoS Hybrid Defender gives customers a multilayered defence by integrating high-performance hardware with offsite cloud scrubbing using the F5 Silverline cloud platform.”

Mitigation of DDoS is improved with this hybrid approach and provides comprehensive DDoS coverage through behavioural analytics, sub-second attack mitigation, and visibility into sophisticated application layer attacks, he adds.