Lucent Firewall Service Clears Government Hurdle

By Jennifer Freer, Staff Writer

MAY 25 - For the first time, Lucent Technologies can sell its firewall service to government agencies, allowing the U.S. government to build secure networks to protect the confidentiality of government information, a company official said.


Lucent, based in Murray Hill, N.J., announced May 24 that its firewall service has been tested by the National Security Agency, which ensures that vendor products meet security guidelines.


Lucent's Virtual Private Network Firewall Brick Model 201 is a security platform with integrated encryption, authentication and firewall features. It passed security tests of performance and reliability administered by Computer Sciences Corp., a systems integrator based in El Segundo, Calif., and an NSA-accredited commercial lab.


Lucent's firewall is one of the first to comply with both the National Information Assurance Acquisition Policy, a policy enforced by NSA that defines guidelines for vendors to make sure products are secure for the government, and the U.S. Government Traffic Filter Firewall Protection Profile. The latter specifies security requirements for firewall products in government agencies to ensure the protection of electronic transactions for government security.


"Information assurance has become a strategic focus as agencies look to protect their information infrastructure by controlling access to their networks as well as to their information resources," said Nancy Lamberton, vice president of Lucent's Government Solutions.


In March, Lucent's firewall products passed tests by ICSA.net, an Internet security company based in Reston, Va., that provides testing and certification of Internet Protocol Security products.