McAfee Virtual Patching for Databases

McAfee Cloud Identity Manager Overview:

Organizations store their most valuable and sensitive data in their enterprise database. Still, a large number of organizations do not engage in the timely installation of vendor patches after those patches have been released by database management system (DBMS) providers—and this places that sensitive data at risk. In fact, a 2010 survey by the Independent Oracle Users Group revealed that of the 430 database administrators, consultants, and developers who were surveyed, only 37 percent installed Oracle Critical Patch Updates within three months of their release. McAfee® Virtual Patching for Databases shields databases from the risk presented by unpatched vulnerabilities by detecting and preventing attempted attacks and intrusions in real time without requiring database downtime or application testing.

Description:

McAfee Virtual Patching for Databases shields databases from the risk presented by unpatched vulnerabilities by detecting and preventing attempted attacks and intrusions in real time, without requiring database downtime or application testing. With Virtual Patching for Databases, organizations secure protection from threats even if they have not yet installed a vendor-released patch to deal with a known vulnerability.

Security for older versions of database management systems — Protect older versions of database management systems, even those no longer supported by the vendor. For applications running on older versions of the database where patches are no longer provided, Virtual Patching for Databases can protect the systems from attacks, helping to satisfy governance requirements.

Uninterrupted protection for production databases — Installation is nonintrusive, as the sensor is read-only, installs as a user process, and makes no changes to the database management system software. Only minimal testing of applications is necessary.

No database downtime required — Implement patch protection without having to take down databases during installation.

Benefits and Features:

• Protect sensitive databases between the release and installation of vendor patches
  Safeguard databases with virtual patches. McAfee host-based software uses a small, nonintrusive sensor on each database server to detect and prevent attempted exploits of vulnerabilities.
  
  
• Get ongoing updates to defend against exploits
  Trust continuous research of the evolving threat landscape to provide timely patch updates that keep organizations protected despite the changing nature of attack vectors.
  
  
• Facilitate compliance by keeping systems up to date
  Meet compliance standards, including PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOX, and other corporate governance rules.
  
  
• Secure your databases with an easy-to-implement solution
  Save time with less frequent patches, reducing the effort required for application regression testing and physical patch installation.

Solutions:

Easy-to-apply virtual patches protect sensitive databases from potential breaches

With McAfee Virtual Patching for Databases, organizations know that they have protection from threats even though they have not yet installed a vendor-released patch to deal with a known vulnerability. They also know that they can have this patch protection without having to take down their databases during installation.

McAfee Virtual Patching for Databases protects sensitive data during a period of serious potential vulnerability: the time window between the issuance of vendor patch updates and their actual installation.

A Highly Flexible and Effective Patching Solution for Protecting Sensitive Databases

With McAfee Virtual Patching for Databases, organizations can be confident that they have protection from threats even though they have not yet installed a vendor-released patch to deal with a known vulnerability and that they can have this patch protection without having to take down their databases during installation. McAfee Virtual Patching for Databases helps organizations:

• Patch and protect sensitive production databases without having to take them offline
• Provide immediate protection for hundreds of vulnerabilities
• Continue to protect databases based on older DBMS versions that are no longer supported by the vendor

Secure Sensitive Data Before Vendor Patches Can Be Installed

Exposure to dangerous hacker exploits is heightened during the time between the issuance of a vendor patch update and the time it is installed. Virtual patch protection can be used to protect databases during this period of potential exposure and helps organizations meet the requirements of compliance standards such as PCI-DSS and Sarbanes-Oxley, as well as governance policies, by keeping systems up to date. Beyond that, the installation of virtual patches can be performed in the most hassle-free way possible.

An Easy-to-Use and Simple-to-Deploy Patch Solution

In addition to not requiring customization or specific database management system knowledge, McAfee Virtual Patching for Databases is further enhanced by its scalability and continuing flow of automatic updates that keep system security status current and enable internal IT staff to focus on production needs.

Broad Blanket of Coverage for Multiple Database Versions

Covering an extremely wide array of database versions means that the virtual patching solution provides the only way to protect DBMS versions no longer supported by the vendor, adding to the useful life of DBMS versions and saving organizations time and money.

System Requirements:

These are minimum system requirements only. Actual requirements will vary depending on the nature of your environment.

Minimum System Requirements

• McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator 4.5
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or higher
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 with SP1 or higher
• 2 GB RAM
• 1 GB free disk space
• Browser (for management console): Firefox 2.0 or later, or Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 or later

Supported Databases

• Oracle version 8.1.7 or later, running on Sun Solaris, IBM AIX, Linux, HP-UX, Microsoft Windows
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or later on any supported Windows platform
• Sybase ASE 12.5 on all supported platforms

Documentation:

Download the McAfee Virtual Patching for Databases Datasheet (PDF).