BERKELEY, Calif., September 14, 1999 -- StarNine Technologies, Inc. today announced the U.S. Army's main Web site, www.army.mil, is now being served by StarNine's WebSTAR Server SuiteTM software on the Mac OS®. The Army site had previously been served from a Windows® NT-based server when it was hacked in late June by a 19-year old Wisconsin man who was thoroughly investigated by the Army's Criminal Investigation Command and arrested on August 30 for malicious altering. After careful evaluation of WebSTAR on the Mac OS and review of the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) favorable reports on WebSTAR's security, the switch to WebSTAR on the Mac OS has been completed. The W3C's general security analysis can be found at http://www.w3.org/Security/faq/wwwsf1.html.
"WebSTAR has long been known as the easiest Web server to administrate, but it's also the most secure Web server anywhere," said Scott Steward, president of StarNine Technologies. "Besides the Army, the State Department is also using WebSTAR for it's main site, and there are lots of WebSTAR servers running at government and military departments. It's the best choice for anyone who wants security, performance and economy in a server that is easy to use and well-supported."
"Properly securing a Windows NT server is non-trivial," explained Eric Zelenka, product manager for WebSTAR. "It's a process that requires the disabling of remote login support and the regular, ongoing application of security patches as they are released from Microsoft. In contrast, WebSTAR running on the Mac OS, is inherently secure and ships that way out of the box.
"The Army uses different products, on different platforms, depending on the requisite business functions and processes," explained Stephen Bates, webmaster for the US Army. "What we didn't need was a Rube Goldberg solution. For the Army public Web site (http://www.army.mil), WebSTAR running on the Mac platform was the right solution, at the right time, and for the right reasons."
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StarNine and WebSTAR are registered trademarks of StarNine or its subsidiaries. ListSTAR is a trademark of StarNine or its subsidiaries. Apple, Macintosh and Mac OS are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. All other brands and products referenced herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.