Watchfire Wins Top Honor of Best Security Company, Sweeping Three out of Five SC Magazine Awards at RSA Security Conference

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Friday, February 9, 2007; 03:08 AM

With a who’s who of the world’s top security experts and vendors gathered at this week’s RSA Conference, Watchfire® and its market-leading web application security solution AppScan® secured the top honor in the SC Magazine Awards. Watchfire was recognized with the Excellence Award for Best Security Company at the 10^th Annual SC Magazine Awards gala on February 6, 2007. The Best Security Company honor capped an impressive evening for Watchfire, after AppScan had already won two awards with recognition as the Best SME Security Solution and the Best Regulatory Compliance Solution.

AppScan was the only product to win three awards, and was also recognized as a “Reader’s Choice” finalist in two other categories. AppScan was the only application vulnerability solution recognized among the finalists for the Best Audit/Vulnerability Assessment Solution, as well as the Best Managed Security Services categories. The winning entries were chosen by a judging panel of 17 chief information security officers at major corporations. Winners were recognized during SC Magazine’s U.S. awards ceremony in San Francisco, held in conjunction with the recent RSA Conference, the world’s leading information security event.

“Winning one SC Magazine award is a tremendous honor, much less three out of only five Excellence Awards given. Watchfire’s selection by such a highly-esteemed panel of CISOs and security analysts, including the Best Security Company recognition, is overwhelming validation of the impact we’re having in the real world,” said Peter McKay, president and CEO of Watchfire. “We’ve been at the forefront of innovation, with solutions on the market for years to address the latest vulnerability scanning needs such as Web 2.0 to AJAX. But what makes Watchfire really stand out in the market is our focus on helping customers get to the root problems beneath the marketing hype. We not only identify and prioritize web security vulnerabilities, Watchfire has the unique ability to help analyze, understand and manage the resolution of security issues throughout the entire software development lifecycle.”

Well publicized online security breaches and heightened concerns over more rigid regulatory compliance requirements have demonstrated the ongoing need for web vulnerability scanning. AppScan automates web application security audits to help identify security and compliance vulnerabilities and provides intelligent fix recommendations to improve the overall security posture. Watchfire offers an AppScan solution for various types of web application security testing (outsourced, individual scans and enterprise-wide analysis) and for many types of users (application developers, quality assurance teams, penetration testers, security auditors and senior management). The selection of AppScan across multiple award categories showcases the diverse impact AppScan is having upon multiple aspects of enterprise security.

The Excellence Awards:

From among 350 companies nominated for the SC Magazine Excellence Awards, Watchfire was selected as the winner for three of the five Excellence Awards given out this year. The judging panel consisted of 17 security industry analysts and chief information security officers at major corporations--including eBay, Oracle, Forrester Research, Frost and Sullivan and Deloitte & Touche.

• Winner – Best Security Company: Watchfire was selected as the Best Security Company based upon the strength of the AppScan product line, customer base, Watchfire’s customer service and support, its security team’s research and development, the overall company growth and solvency, technology innovation and more.
• Winner – Best SME Security Solution: AppScan was chosen as the Best SME Security Solution based upon evaluation of AppScan as a leading solution during the last year, having helped to strengthen the IT security industry’s continued evolution. AppScan uniquely helps small and medium sized businesses understand and act upon web security vulnerabilities found—simplifying the remediation process for developers, even those with little or no security expertise.
• Winner – Best Regulatory Compliance Solution: AppScan was recognized as the Best Regulatory Compliance Solution based upon assessment of its ability to help organizations comply with specific regulatory requirements, particularly in the healthcare, financial services and government markets.

Reader’s Trust Awards:

Judged upon the opinions of end-users and security professionals who read SC Magazine, voters recognized Watchfire and AppScan as the only web application security vendor among finalists for either of the following Reader’s Trust awards.

• Finalist – Best Managed Security Services: Watchfire’s hosted offering of AppScan OnDemand was recognized among the top providers in the industry across all managed security services, positioning the web application security solution as one of the top five service offerings among a class that ranged from email security to intrusion prevention.
• Finalist – Best Audit/Vulnerability Assessment Solution: With analyst reports showing web application security as the fastest growing segment of the entire Security and Vulnerability Management marketplace, Watchfire was recognized as the only vendor in the segment among the five finalists.

“As we witness more and more incidents of data theft and exposure, it becomes obvious that our IT security practitioners and companies that support them are critical in today’s business world,” says SC Magazine Editor-in-Chief Illena Armstrong.

AppScan is the industry’s first web application security testing suite, and remains the market share leader with nearly one-third of the global market, more than twice any competitor. AppScan is the only solution to provide comprehensive remediation tasks at every level of the application—it scans web applications within an organization’s infrastructure, tests for security issues and provides actionable reports and recommendations.

For more information or to download a trial version of AppScan, visit: http://www.watchfire.com/products/appscan/default.aspx

About SC Magazine

SC Magazine provides IT security professionals with in-depth and unbiased information through timely news, comprehensive analysis, cutting-edge features, contributions from thought leaders and the best, most extensive collection of product reviews in the business. By offering a consolidated view of IT security through independent product tests and well-researched editorial content that provides the contextual backdrop for how these IT security tools will address larger demands put on businesses today, SC Magazine enables IT security pros to make the right security decisions for their companies. The brand’s portfolio includes the SC Magazine Awards, SC Directory, SC Magazine Newswire and SC Magazine IT Security Executives Forums.

About Watchfire

Watchfire is the leading provider of web application security software and the only company to offer an end-to-end solution including intelligent fix recommendations to evaluate, understand and resolve issues. More than 800 enterprises and government agencies, including AXA Financial, SunTrust, HSBC, Vodafone, Veterans Affairs and Dell rely on Watchfire to identify, report and help remediate security vulnerabilities. Watchfire has been the recipient of several industry honors including the HP/IAPP Privacy Innovation Award, Computerworld’s Innovative Technology Award, finalist for the pending Dr. Dobb’s Jolt Product Excellence Awards, and “Recommended” rating by Computer Reseller News. For two years in a row, Watchfire has been named by IDC as the worldwide market share leader in web application vulnerability assessment software. Watchfire’s partners include IBM Global Services, Fortify, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sapient, Microsoft, Interwoven, EMC Documentum and Mercury. Watchfire is headquartered in Waltham, MA. For more information, please visit www.watchfire.com.