Abstract

Network security threats continue to grow not only in number, but also in type and sophistication. Organizations need protection from zero-day attacks, advanced persistent threats, intricate evasion techniques, and more. And while security is a key objective, maintaining network performance and availability remain top priorities as well. Organizations need both proactive protection and performance from their network security solutions.

IBM commissioned Tolly to evaluate the effectiveness and performance of its IBM Security Network Protection XGS 7100 appliance. The IBM XGS 7100 is a next-generation intrusion prevention appliance, and the model tested was outfitted with 8x10GbE ports. Efficacy testing encompassed attack detection/ blocking of various threat corpora, both with and without SSL/TLS inbound/ outbound inspection enabled. Performance testing included multi-protocol throughput with SSL/TLS disabled and SSL/TLS inbound enabled, along with HTTP connections per second. The system detected 100% of publicly-disclosed exploits tested along with successfully blocking 100% of the McAfee Evader test suite.