Cisco Releases Product To Reduce False AlarmsCisco Releases Product To Reduce False Alarms

Cisco Systems has released new intrusion-detection and firewall software that the networking vendor says will bolster security and slash false alarms generated by its intrusion-detection apps.

The company added roughly 30 enhancements to its Intrusion Detection System Software version 4, including pattern recognition as well as protocol- and traffic-anomaly detection, says Joel McFarland, manager of security appliances for Cisco.

Cisco is also shipping what it calls its Threat Response Technology, products resulting from its $12 million acquisition of Psionic Software last October, which McFarland says can reduce false alarms by up to 95%.

Cisco IDS Software version 4 is now available for free for customers with Smartnet contracts, as is Threat Response, the company says.

Cisco also enhanced its PIX Firewall software to support the Open Shortest Path routing protocols and support for "virtual" LANs as well as support for eight voice-over-IP protocols.