Sourcefire® Delivers Latest Version of Snort with Target-Based Prevention Capabilities; Target-Based Defragmentation Increases Protection for All Hosts on the Network

Business Wire, August 9, 2005

COLUMBIA, Md. -- Sourcefire, Inc., the creators of Snort(R) and the world leader in intrusion prevention, today announced the latest version of Snort, providing users with increased accuracy and tuning for their intrusion prevention implementations. Incorporating technologies originally developed for the innovative Sourcefire 3D System, Snort 2.4 is the first generation of the world's leading intrusion prevention system to incorporate target-based prevention capabilities.

Until now, most intrusion prevention systems (IPSs) were only capable of assembling packets in one format, to match the most common operating system on the network. With the new target-based defragmentation capability, Snort 2.4 can now assemble packets in the same fashion as any of the hosts on the network based on their attributes, ensuring that users can tune their IPS to protect all of the devices on their network from attacks.

"While many in the industry have been talking about the potential benefits of target-based protection, Sourcefire has been focused on making this vision a reality, and we are excited to also offer this innovative approach to the open source Snort community," said Martin Roesch, Creator of Snort and Founder and CTO of Sourcefire. "Because of our strong ties to the open source community, Sourcefire's goal is to drive innovation that can be contributed back into Snort. This creates a collaborative environment of support between Sourcefire and the open source Snort community, which has great benefits for end users."

To fuel and support this innovation, Sourcefire recently announced its Certified Snort Integrator Program, which allows third-party solution providers to deliver Sourcefire(R) VRT Certified Snort Rule updates directly to their end users. Since its creation in 2001, Sourcefire's Vulnerability Research Team (VRT) has taken Snort rules to the next level, ensuring that rules are accurate and fully tested before they are released to the community. Snort has been downloaded more than 2 million times and has over 100,000 active users. Sourcefire's award-winning Vulnerability Research Team works closely with the open source community to develop the official VRT Certified Snort Rules that are distributed on Snort.org. This partnership results in much faster response to new threats while maintaining unparalleled quality and performance. Snort Rules continue to be the industry standard with download rates for rule updates tripling over the last year alone. The Sourcefire VRT Certified Rules represent the pinnacle of Snort Rules development and the best detection rule sets for Snort.

About Sourcefire

Sourcefire, Inc., the world leader in intrusion prevention, is transforming the way organizations manage and minimize network security risks with its 3D Approach - Discover, Determine, Defend - to securing real networks in real-time. The company's ground-breaking network defense system unifies intrusion and vulnerability management technologies to provide customers with the most effective network security available. Founded in 2001 by the creator of Snort, Sourcefire is headquartered in Columbia, MD and has received numerous accolades including being named the Frost & Sullivan 2005 Network Security Infrastructure Protection Company of the Year. At work in leading Fortune 1000 and government agencies, the names Sourcefire and founder Martin Roesch have grown synonymous with innovation and intelligence in network security. For more information about Sourcefire, please visit www.sourcefire.com.