Snort®

The Snort® open source intrusion detection and prevention technology was created in 1998 by Martin Roesch, the founder of Sourcefire®. Snort uses a rule-driven language which combines the benefits of signature, protocol and anomaly-based inspection methods. With its dramatic speed, power and performance, Snort quickly gained momentum. With nearly 4 million downloads to date, Snort has become the single most widely deployed intrusion detection and prevention technology in the world.

The wide availability of open source Snort brings many advantages.

• Because the source code is open, development can occur at a markedly accelerated pace compared to proprietary models
• A vast community of security experts that continually reviews, tests, and proposes improvements to the code
• Security engineers and specialists the world over write Snort rules for new and evolving threats every hour of the day, often in record time.

As a result, the Snort open source community has a well-earned reputation for extraordinary organization and dedication.

Today: The Best of Both Worlds

The Sourcefire Next-Generation IPS (NGIPS) is based on the Snort intrusion detection and prevention engine, offering organizations the best of both worlds – open source collaboration and innovation teamed with a fully commercially supported solution.

Sourcefire products are easy to use, plug-n-protect appliances, built on optimized hardware, tuned and fully functional out-of-the-box. The Sourcefire NGIPS provides an automatic and integrated process of discovering risks, policy non-compliance, potential vulnerabilities, and threats; determining their impact to a business; and taking the appropriate action to defend a network. The Sourcefire intelligent cybersecurity approach unifies various security and IT policy compliance technologies under the same management console to provide customers with an efficient and effective layered defense – protecting network assets before, during and after an attack. Sourcefire customers enjoy superior network security, higher performance, and unmatched scalability at lower costs.

As part of the company's ongoing dedication and active involvement in the community, Sourcefire continues to enhance Snort and provide value-add services for open source and commercial users. For example, the Sourcefire Security Education Program is a comprehensive training program culminating in professional certifications. Through sessions delivered direct from the creators of Snort, users learn the latest real world tools and techniques for optimizing Snort technology and all Sourcefire products. Sourcefire also manages ClamAV®, the most commonly used open source anti-virus and anti-malware products in the world. Sourcefire also provides other open source and freeware tools such as OfficeCat® and Daemonlogger®. The result is a win-win for open source development, delivering truly effective network security for the real world.