Lockdown Networks

Lockdown Networks, Inc. provided appliance-based security management for wired and wireless enterprise networks. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company was formerly known as Interact Networks until being renamed in 2004. The company was led by President and CEO Brett Helsel, the former CTO of F5 Networks.

Lockdown Networks offered a suite of products to identify network vulnerabilities and protect against attacks. Its main product was the Lockdown VMA (vulnerability management appliance), a Linux-based device that scanned networks to identify weaknesses such as insecure firewalls or unpatched PCs. This was complemented by the Lockdown DataSafe, which could scale the auditing capability to as many as 25,000 network devices, and Lockdown Wireless, which detected and could deny access to unauthorized 802.11 devices. Another key product, Alcatraz, was a hardware device for vulnerability assessment and Network Access Control (NAC), which scanned all computers and devices to ensure they met security criteria before allowing network access.

Throughout its operation, the company raised a total of $28.4 million in funding from investors including Ignition Partners, Cypress Nevada, Fluid Capital, Integral Capital Partners, and Intel Capital. A significant funding round occurred in November 2007, raising $14.7 million in a Series B. In August 2008, Lockdown Networks was acquired by McAfee.

Keywords: network security appliance, vulnerability management, network access control, NAC, enterprise security, vulnerability assessment, wired security, wireless security, security appliance, Brett Helsel, McAfee acquisition, Ignition Partners, Intel Capital, Integral Capital Partners, network vulnerability scanner, enterprise network protection