Dell Security Eases Management of Converged Networks

Dell security announced the release of SonicOS 6.2.5 for Dell SonicWALL SuperMassive, NSA and TZ Series firewalls. This new firmware extends security to Dell switches, wireless access points and firewalls by consolidating the management of the converged network infrastructure. The release also significantly advances capabilities associated with inspecting encrypted traffic, a major threat vector in today’s malware economy, and meets strict certification requirements of the US Department of Defense.

Making Network Management Simpler and More Efficient

SonicOS 6.2.5 simplifies support for Dell Security partners by providing one version of firmware to handle the majority of Dell SonicWALL products. The new SonicOS also increases connection counts on encrypted HTTPS sessions, enabling stronger encryption support and expanding government certification for high security applications. It simplifies network management for both distributed enterprises and managed service providers by allowing management of the Dell Networking X-Series switches by SonicWALL TZ series firewalls and SonicWALL Global Management System, enabling central management of distributed converged networks. This release also improves performance, increases flexibility and makes systems more secure against today’s more sophisticated attacks.

“Over the last two years, through government initiatives such as Digital India and Make In India, there has been an increasing focus on expanding the digital footprint in India. The digitization process of a country also means that there will be increase in demand for solutions which protect from cyber threats. In an era of growing security threats, it is important for customers to ensure that their network is well protected from internal as well as external attacks without too much complexity,” said Amit Singh, Country Manager, Dell SonicWALL. “With the release of SonicOS 6.2.5, customers can establish a secure platform which is easy to manage and administer as well as optimize security, manage organization’s growth and gain insight into application traffic, bandwidth and threats. This new release will deliver improved application intelligence, control, and real-time visualization, intrusion prevention, high-speed virtual private networking (VPN) technology along other robust security features.”

“The life of a security officer in any sized organization is not easy, no matter what the industry. With the introduction of SonicOS 6.2.5, Dell Security has made strides to make their lives easier. The new OS has features designed to enable a converged infrastructure across switching, wireless, and security, allowing organizations to do more with less and reduce the complexity of network management,” said Patrick Sweeney, vice president, product management and marketing, Dell Security. “This is yet another innovative offering we deliver to help our customers navigate today’s rising threat landscape, keep their network secure and workforce productive.”

Highlights of SonicOS 6.2.5 include:

• New Dell Networking X-Series Switch Integration: Organizations now can effectively manage Dell X-Series switches as an extension of the Dell SonicWALL TZ series firewall functionality, providing single-pane-of-glass management of all network infrastructure, including SonicWALL TZ firewalls, Dell X-Series switches, SonicWALL SonicPoints and SonicWALL WAN Acceleration devices. The ability to centrally manage all of the switches, firewalls and wireless access points in an increasingly dispersed network is a significant benefit for organizations in all industries. Dell SonicWALL TZ Series integration with the Dell Networking X-Series switches delivers the necessary security and expandability without the burden of having extra management consoles that increase complexity, overhead costs, and result in the potential for misconfiguration and non-compliance issues.

• DPI SSL Enhancements: The recently published 2016 Dell Security Annual Threat Report shows a 50 percent surge in encrypted traffic ‒ including encrypted malware ‒ affecting millions of users in 2015. Continuing Dell Security’s commitment to deep packet inspection (DPI) on encrypted traffic, multiple DPI SSL enhancements to SonicOS 6.2.5 provide more efficient inspection of DPI SSL traffic, as well as improved troubleshooting, better scalability and better certificate support. Key enhancements include:
• CFS category-based exclusion/inclusion of encrypted connections for efficient standards compliance (PCI, HIPPA)
• Strengthened Encryption Methods (TLS 1.2, SHA256)
• Increased default Certificate Authority (CA) database
• Improved troubleshooting for encrypted connection failures
• Finer granularity for encrypted connection exclusions based on alternate domain names (excluding youtube.com vs. *.google.com)
• Refreshed GUI for easy-to-use configuration of encrypted connection processing