Sourcefire Launches IPS Product Suite

The suite, dubbed Sourcefire 3D, includes the Columbia, Md.-based vendor's Sourcefire Intrusion Sensor 4.0 and Sourcefire RNA Sensor 2.1, as well as the brand-new Sourcefire Defense Center 4.0, a policy-enforcement engine that constantly gauges vulnerability in realtime. It was expected to be available to channel partners later this summer.

Sourcefire CEO Wayne Jackson said the three-pronged suite is effective because it monitors attacks at the perimeter but sits inside the network itself.

"Perimeter defenses alone can't be effective because the perimeter is rapidly dissolving," he said. "In a world where there are no borders, different approaches have to be taken to ensure network security on many levels."

According to Jackson, the product draws its name from its three major functionalities. First, the Intrusion Sensors and RNA Sensors discover threats and threatening behavior and build an understanding of those behaviors in realtime to effect an awareness of change.

Next, the Defense Center associates these observations with responses and determines what actions to take in the event of vulnerabilities. Finally, the product itself defends against threats by responding to them according to preset security policies, completing what Jackson described as a fourth "D"--a differentiated approach to security.

"If you look across the security landscape, vendors are operating in silos," he said. "We feel that our ability to unify all of these components and deliver truly radical innovation is extremely important in the long run."

Sourcefire's IPS software is based on Intrusion Detection System (IDS) technology known as Snort. Launched in the mid-1990s, Snort quickly became the most pervasive IDS technology in the industry and sparked the notion of realtime intrusion sensors.

It was pioneered by Martin Roesch, who founded Sourcefire in 2001.