The first phase of the ESM service expands Gladiator's information security monitoring and reporting capabilities to include Jack Henry & Associates' core banking applications and IBM Power (formerly IBM System i) host systems. This new service establishes Gladiator ESM as the only security monitoring solution that is fully automated, integrated with the core system, and supported with a 24/7/365 monitoring service. Gladiator ESM is expected to generate tangible benefits for diverse financial institutions by proactively protecting them from costly security threats that could interrupt business operations, enabling immediate responses to the latest security-related issues and trends, and supporting compliance with the related regulatory mandates with real-time monitoring, immediate notification, and comprehensive reporting on key events occurring in their core software systems.

Danny Johnston, group president of Gladiator Technology, said, "Today, financial institutions recognize the need for a more comprehensive suite of services to protect both their customers' personal information and their reputations. As regulatory and compliance expectations continue to escalate, financial institutions will need to implement monitoring services from a proactive perspective, and our ESM solution does just that. The goal of ESM is to provide security alerts to Jack Henry & Associates' clients in real-time -- 24x7x365 -- and to provide easy-to-understand reports that support the related regulatory guidelines. These reports are valuable in helping clients to better manage information security within their enterprise and in helping prove to regulators that they have adopted a proactive approach to protecting customers' non-public information within their banking applications. ESM also helps address internal monitoring, where more than 60 percent of reported security breaches occur today."

All of Gladiator's monitoring layers, including ESM, address the detection, prevention, and mitigation of Red Flags to protect the privacy, security, and confidentiality of non-public confidential information as mandated in the recent ID Theft Prevention Program Guidelines (FACT ACT modifications) that must be addressed by November 1, 2008.

Johnston added, "Gladiator takes great pride in being an innovator in the information security arena, and our ESM service provides a leading-edge information security solution for our clients. We anticipate releasing new versions of this service to incorporate a continually broadening range of software, hardware, and complementary system alerts and reporting capabilities."