During their recent visit to Manila, they echoed the same message to everyone, "Don’t put the Internet at risk."

The first to face local IT media was Jon Kuhn, Product Line Manager for PRO Line of Unified Threat Management security appliances, management and reporting products and SonicWALL threat protection suite.

Kuhn has been working in the information security business for over 11 years in various security and consultative capacities. He has expertise and certifications in multi-level security design, application architecture and security policy definition.

The second, Microsoft Security Readiness Product Manager Aaron Turner flew in to Manila from Redmond, Seattle. Aaron leads the development, implementation and maintenance of Microsoft’s information security readiness curriculum for over 22,000 of Microsoft’s field staff.

His experience in securing Windows 2000, XP & 2003, Microsoft Office, Active Directory, Internet Information Services, Exchange 2000 & 2003, Internet Security and Acceleration Server, and SQL Server 2000 influenced his efforts to create several service offerings currently being used around the world by Microsoft Services professionals.

Aaron’s past experience has ranged from designing hardened configurations, responding to security intrusions, assisting international law enforcement in prosecuting cyber-criminals and researching new ways to allow companies to design, deploy and maintain secure Internet-connected systems that adequately protect critical business information assets.

In spite of serious security issues, businesses are still not defending themselves well against potential threats.

"If I do not patch my computer, I put the Internet at risk," Turner said, adding "For every computer unprotected, there is one system which a criminal exploits."

He continued, "Think strategically. Do not be reactionary about security."

Since as long as there is something of value, e.g. money, there will be criminals, he said.

Identity thieves who once relied on just shifting through trash cans to find confidential, personal data have now found that it’s more worthwhile to obtain such information from companies that collects it - and profits can really be very rewarding, said a SonicWall press release.

The report continued, "The focused, targeted attack is generally small enough that Internet security firms looking for broader attacks often miss them, thereby giving cyber-criminals enough time to research their targets before infiltrating them."

A recent SonicWALL survey over 1,000 IT administrators in US small and mid-sized businesses, revealed that many respondents were frustrated by lack of choices available in order for them to meet increased demand for remote network access.

The research also showed that SonicWALL’s latest SSL-VPN (secure socket layer-virtual private network) appliance range that provides branch offices, telecommuting workers and roaming users with secure access to the company’s resources via a simple Web browser interface, is considered by many a desirable option for remote access.

With the recent introduction of its more powerful, simple and affordable VPN appliance range called the SSL-VPN 2000, SonicWALL has removed the cost penalty for its use.

Kuhn explained that the SSL-VPN 2000 offers a scalable remote access that is simple to deploy, manage and use a fraction of the total cost of most other SSL-VPN appliances.

He said the new SSLVPN tool shall enable companies to deliver high level productivity, security, and IT control, enabling more businesses to operate beyond the walls of traditional security and at the same time helping reduce risks for business.

Some months back, Juniper Networks brought to the Philippines the industry’s first network security platform designed to help local service providers generate additional revenue by providing network-based SSL VPN Managed Services to their customers.

SA 6000 SP, Juniper’s new high-end solution, is the first to offer software for end-to-end application layer, network-layer and access management virtualization, letting service providers create 255 virtual SSL VPN gateways on a single appliance - each representing a customer - to deliver remote and extranet access, disaster recovery and Intranet LAN security services (e.g. wireless LAN, VoIP) to enterprise customers, explained Andrew Ma, Head of Solution Marketing, Asia Pacific Juniper Networks

The Secure Access IVS software provides complete customer separation and traffic segregation. Service providers can set granular network, security (endpoint, authentication, authorization and auditing), and management policies tailored for individual customers.