Astaro Corporation Donates Appliances to Hacker Spaces’ Warzone Initiative

Astaro Security Gateway will help hackers identify potential network vulnerabilities.

August 3, 2009 (Wilmington, MA) – Astaro Corporation (http://www.astaro.com), a leading network security vendor, today announced that Astaro has donated three Astaro Security Gateway appliances to the Warzone Project, a joint research venture between multiple hacker spaces in the United States. The Warzone Project creates a secure private network between hacker spaces around the country for information security research.

Hacker spaces are community-operated physical spaces where people meet and collaborate on all forms of technology, culture and crafts in new and interesting ways. Members are encouraged to share research and discoveries and use what they learn to help educate others.

Astaro donated three Astaro Security Gateway appliances to this initiative group as part of the company’s ongoing commitment to educating the technology community about network security. The Astaro Security Gateways will be used to interconnect and build the Warzone infrastructure. Additionally, the Astaro Security Gateways will provide insight into traffic patterns helping the Warzone hackers identify potential vulnerabilities and develop attack defenses.

"When we began organizing the Warzone Project we knew we needed a trusted security product for the program be successful," said Bill Swearingen (alias: hevnsnt) of the Cowtown Computer Congress. "We approached Astaro to sponsor our events by donating the appliances because the Astaro Security Gateway offers a reliable Intrusion Protection System that was ideal for testing the effectiveness of real-world attacks, and for helping us to develop security standards."

There is a common misconception that people who identify as hackers are criminals or engaged in other unethical activities. In reality hackers are simply knowledgeable technology and security enthusiasts.

"Hacker spaces and the Warzone project are helping to combat the negative image hackers have acquired by demonstrating that most hackers are not engaged in criminal activity and are more interested in finding and sharing information; including possible network vulnerabilities," said David Rogers, Vice President, Americas, Astaro Corporation. "Astaro is proud to be a part of initiatives like the Hackerspace Warzone project because they will help network administrators and security vendors create more secure environments."

The Warzone project will entail a secure "darknet", connecting hacker spaces from around the country and creating a sandbox environment for both offensive and defensive research. The first hacker spaces to participate are the Cowtown Computer Congress in Kansas City and Pumping Station: One in Chicago.