Start-up Finjan Ltd, based in Netanya, Israel thinks it has the Java hostile applets problem licked. Its first product, Surfin’Board went into public beta test recently and when run, warns users of applets that are attempting to circumvent security or break user-defined resource-usage barriers. Rogue applets can be killed, either by the user or automatically. The software (itself a Java applet) also monitors the Java runtime environment, in terms of memory, threads and Universal Resource Locators. The first version, which should be finished this month, is being aimed at nervous home users, and will cost around $50. But a more advanced version aimed at corporates is due in September. This will enable data processing staff to set security policies globally, and will presumably admit the tacky West-coast user interface. An entirely new product, Surfin’Guard, is expected before year end. This has much greater pretensions, and is claimed to build a complete security shell around both the Java run-time environment and the operating system. Surfin’Guard will initially run under Windows NT with Windows95 and various versions of Unix following on. How the product will work isn’t entirely clear. Company founder Shlomo Touboul says the company is writing device drivers that will extend the operating system. At the same time, data processing managers will be able to set up an access list that will grant special privileges to particular applets. One of the problems that may face Finjan in the future is how to cope with encroachment from the Java operating system itself. Touboul says that JavaSoft is likely to implement something like the Surfin’Board approach itself by early next year and acknowledges that keeping Surfin’Board ahead of the game won’t be trivial. Touboul says that he is co-ordinating with JavaSoft and hopes to persuade it that a strong, third party security market is best for the language’s development. The privately held, 10-strong company is likely to be floated at some stage, said Touboul. It’s to be found at http://www.finjan.com.
