CloudPassage Launches Halo Professional - the most Advanced Cloud Server Security Platform

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CloudPassage^™ Inc., the leading cloud server security company, announced today, at Gartner Symposium, the release of the Professional version of their award winning Halo^™ platform.  Industry leaders like Foursquare and StrongMail use Halo's host-based firewall administration, vulnerability management, account auditing, and security alerting capabilities to protect their cloud servers.

The Professional version adds to Halo's value through comprehensive APIs that extend and integrate these capabilities into existing environments.  Professional users also benefit from easier compliance management through instant access to historical cloud server security data, critical to achieving compliance with PCI, FISMA, HIPAA and other industry standards.  GhostPorts, another outstanding Professional feature, provides stealth access to network services.

"With Halo professional, systems administrators can manage cloud server security on a high order of scale from one place, no matter where servers are hosted," said Carson Sweet, co-founder and CEO of CloudPassage.  "The new Halo API capabilities meet broad demand from SaaS providers who want server security capabilities directly integrated with products and provisioning automation."

Lightweight, portable and elastic, Halo delivers all security capabilities necessary at the server level to secure cloud environments.  By using Halo APIs, system administrators with large-scale server deployments can leverage existing management systems to automate and scale server security capabilities.  GhostPorts also addresses a major cloud server administration issue by opening firewall ports temporarily, only to a single IP address, and only after single or two-factor authentication.

"Security and compliance are some of the most significant challenges to overcome when sourcing a cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) solution.  Because the security capabilities of service providers in the cloud vary greatly, IT managers must find new or better ways to secure their servers," said Neil MacDonald, Vice President Gartner Research.  

Halo Professional is priced at an hourly rate of 10 cents per server, with volume and prepayment discounts reducing the hourly rate to as low as 2 cents per server.  CloudPassage continues to offer the Basic version of Halo for free, allowing customers to secure an unlimited number of cloud servers.

Security and compliance remain major challenges that prevent companies from experiencing the tremendous scalability and agility of hosting their applications in the cloud.  Automated asset and security management are critical when deploying applications or bursting temporary server spikes in the cloud.  Customers deploying cloud infrastructure in many environments are largely on their own to protect their servers, which makes strong and highly automated host-based controls essential.

CloudPassage Halo was built from the ground up to deliver security at the virtual machine level, which is the intersection of control, portability, and scalability for IaaS.  Halo centralizes and automates security management, and includes a unique REST API that unlocks extensive integration capabilities.

About CloudPassage

CloudPassage is the leading cloud server security provider, and creator of Halo™, the industry's first and only security and compliance platform, purpose-built for elastic cloud environments. Halo supports cloud server bursting, cloning, and migration and operates across public, private, and hybrid cloud environments.  Industry leading companies like Foursquare, StrongMail and Exois trust Halo to seamlessly manage their server security configuration, host-based firewalls, intrusion detection, and server account auditing from one system.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., CloudPassage is backed by Benchmark Capital.  Gartner, Inc. named CloudPassage one of four "Cool Vendors in Cloud Security Services, 2011."  For more information, please visit: http://www.CloudPassage.com.

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CloudPassage, CloudPassage Halo SVM Server Vulnerability Management and CloudPassage Halo Firewall are registered trademarks of CloudPassage.  All other trademarks are registered to their respective companies. Copyright © CloudPassage 2011.

SOURCE CloudPassage Inc.