Blue Lane Technologies

Blue Lane is the first company to create an inline patch proxy for enterprise servers. This technology helps organizations take control of server security by protecting critical applications and databases against remote attacks against known vulnerabilities. Their PatchPoint System directly reduces the costs and risks associated with the traditional methods of patching servers and provides protection for servers that are hard to patch or cannot be patched. 

The Blue Lane server vulnerability shield utilizes inline patches that are functionally equivalent to software security patches. An inline patch mimics the corrective action of the security patch, checking for the same conditions and applying the same corrective action as the software vendor's patch to fix application-specific vulnerabilities at the root cause. The primary difference between an inline patch and an actual software patch is that the inline patch operates in the network and does not require any software to be installed on the server.

The Blue Lane solution is a protective gateway between enterprise servers and the rest of the world. It provides inline vulnerability remediation for server operating systems, databases and enterprise applications, offering instant protection with zero footprint on the server, zero downtime, and zero tuning. PatchPoint’s only task is to keep all traffic compliant with patches, which are updated daily. Hundreds of servers located behind a Blue Lane appliance can be instantly patched with Blue Lane's inline patch, requiring no code or configuration changes to servers, thereby maximizing server stability and uptime. See how it works. 

This in-line patching proxy allows network administrators to apply new patches immediately on the network packet stream, and then schedule testing, validation and server deployment of vendor patches at a time that works best with network use patterns. Roger Grimes of InfoWorld says to “think of it as Tivo for patches.” Grimes gave the Blue Lane solution an 8.7 rating with this Bottom Line: “Blue Lane PatchPoint patch proxy appliance is a laudable addition to the IPS field. PatchPoint excels at protecting unpatched Windows, Linux, and Unix servers against many publicly known exploits for popular applications by analyzing network packets and removing harmful bits. However, PatchPoint does not patch client-side applications such as Internet browsers or e-mail clients.” See his complete review on the InfoWorld website for a good look at the protection Blue Lane does and doesn’t provide. (Roger Grimes is contributing editor of the InfoWorld Test Center.)

Blue Lane currently supports versions of operating systems, databases and enterprise applications that are commonly found in typical datacenters. They offer instant server protection for Windows (including NT), Oracle and Linux/Unix, among other applications and operating systems. See specifics. By Q3, Blue Lane will also add support for MySQL. 

With increasingly sophisticated attacks on the rise, mitigating server vulnerabilities quickly to prevent data breaches and financial losses is mandatory. We highly recommend the Blue Lane products as a first line of defense. See the Blue Lane website for more details.