Fortify scours code for security vulnerabilities - Fortify offers a code-level line of defense against those who would attack enterprise Web applications to wreak havoc or reap ill-gotten gains.

The old adage that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure sums up Fortify's approach to securing homegrown enterprise applications, which are frequently enticing targets for hackers and their malicious exploits. "It's these front-door apps that are the front-door access to the underlying data," says Fortify CEO John M. Jack.

The standard approach to securing enterprise applications is to look for attack signatures and then block them. Fortify's approach is to eliminate the vulnerabilities in the first place, so even if attackers breach network defenses they can't exploit the applications. "We look at the root cause," Jack says.

A big reason …