Nexor Watchman for Microsoft’s Forefront Unified Access Gateway
In the 21st century, public safety and national security organisations face unprecedented challenges from a range of new behavioural, procedural and environmental factors. Increased instances of data loss or leakage, greater demand for collaborative working, a growing trend for remote and mobile working and the rise in information being exchanged on a “responsibility to provide” basis rather than a “need to know” basis all contribute to a more complex data management landscape. This is all set against a backdrop of the ever-increasing threat of cyber warfare as well as the heightened risk of physical terrorist attack.
To increase the protection of data in this complex environment, there is a rise in the importance of data classification and labelling and the implementation of Information Assurance (IA) measures to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of that data. A plethora of technology solutions exist to manage data in the unclassified space, but technology aimed at the high end of data classification with impact levels of 4 and above has typically been the preserve of the defence and intelligence organisations. It is now timely to adapt and adopt high assurance solutions to address the growing need for effective data handling in the medium assurance space at lower business impact levels.
As a leading provider of information assurance solutions to defence and government agencies, Nexor‟s solutions ensure that sensitive information is accessed, controlled and shared in accordance with prevailing security policies by managing the connection, transformation and protection of that information as it flows between individuals and domains. Nexor‟s solutions have been deployed widely in defence and public safety at classification levels of secret and above, but, in recognition of the challenges now faced by the wider government community, Nexor has made key technology available as a Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) product on Microsoft‟s Forefront Unified Access Gateway (UAG). Known as Nexor Watchman for UAG, this provides robust security policy enforcement for restricted, protected or private information levels in Sharepoint and Outlook Web Access (OWA) environments.
Microsoft now includes Nexor Watchman for UAG as a key component in its Secure Unified Communications portfolio for Public Safety and National Security. Wayne Phillips, Microsoft‟s Director Worldwide Defence Solutions, comments “Microsoft is delighted to be working with Nexor as a part of the Secured Unified Communications solutions area. Nexor is rightly recognised as a leader in information assurance for organisations who greatly value a high level of security and confidentiality for their information systems. By building upon Microsoft UAG COTS software, Nexor and Microsoft are now able to make this industrial-strength information assurance available to a broad market of security conscious customers. With its simple operation for both users and administrators and its tight integration with the Microsoft platform, Nexor Watchman for UAG is a massive step forward for any organisation looking to take information security to the next level.”