U.S. Defense Department Certifies Juniper Networks Firewalls

Juniper Networks, a leader in high-performance networking, has announced today its firewall solutions have been tested and certified as interoperable with Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) by the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC), and are going to be listed on the Unified Capabilities Approved Products List as IPv6 Capable.

 

Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is the fourth revision of Internet Protocol (IP) but the first version to be widely deployed. Together with IPv6, it is at its core, a standards-based internetworking method of the Internet, and is still by far the most widely deployed Internet Layer protocol.

 

JITC is DISA’s primary agent for testing, evaluation and certifying information technology and national security systems used in joint and combined operations.

 

“Ensuring security across the ever-expanding network ‘edge’ of IP access devices, assets and users is now an essential component of federal and commercial network security strategies,” said Bob Fortna, vice president, Juniper Networks (News - Alert) Defense Sector. “Network security and resiliency is particularly critical given the rapid growth in the number and sophistication of cyber attacks on federal agency and U.S. industry networks.”

 

Company officials commented that upon following earlier JITC IPv6 certifications of its T Series Core Routers and M Series Multiservice Edge Routers in 2006, the IPv6-interoperability certifications of Juniper firewalls help address what many have cited to be a deterrent to IPv6 adoptions: the lack of security at the firewall or gateway level.

 

The Juniper firewall solutions receiving JITC certification as an “Information Assurance Device” include the SSG550M, SSG320M, and SSG20 Secure Services Gateways; the ISG2000 Integrated Security Gateway (News - Alert); and the NetScreen-5400. All have been certified with Juniper’s ScreenOS Version 6.2 software. Moreover, all are considered to be “of equivalent architecture to, and therefore a representative sample of” related families of devices, including the SSG520M, SSG350M, SSG140, and SSG5; the ISG1000; and NetScreen-5200.

 

“One lagging element in IPv6 adoption strategies has been on the security side, particularly in firewalls,” said Shawn McCarthy, research director, IDC (News - Alert) Government Insights, an analyst group focused on the federal market. “Some agencies have reported that network security concerns have slowed IPv6 implementations, yet all recognize that IPv6 adoption strategies are essential to future network growth. These JITC certifications should offer reassurance to federal network managers that IPv6 adoption is not only ‘smart growth,’ but highly secure.”

 

Because of the increasing use of convergence of IP-centric voice, data, video, web traffic and file-sharing applications (driven by concurrent explosions in demands for network access, new forms of social media, and systematic cyber attacks and viruses) it is leading to a depletion of IPv4 addresses. By most estimates, IPv4 addresses will be exhausted in two to four years.