Stories about: Sourcefire

Open-source security software maker Sourcefire has rejected a US$186 million unsolicited takeover offer from Barracuda Networks.

Barracuda Networks plans to focus on finding prior art to defend itself and the open-source ClamAV project against patent claims by rival antivirus vendor Trend Micro, which stressed Tuesday that it owns a tested and valid patent.

We hear from SourceForge and SourceForge.net Marketplace Vice President Mike Rudolph about the world's largest Open Source software development web site, which, as of today, claims 162,855 registered projects and 1,732,552 registered users.

In areas such as CRM software and portals, open source gained a foothold because users were willing to compromise -- less could be more, because the price was right. In security, open source rushed in because commercial vendors fell down on the job. As security problems in the enterprise outstripped the capabilities of commercial solutions, a number of talented security researchers stepped into the breach via the open source model.

Network security specialist Sourcefire announced Friday that it has acquired ClamAV, an open-source gateway anti-malware project whose technologies are used in the products of a number of other vendors.

Security start-up Sourcefire on Monday saw a 30 percent drop in its stock price following a statement issued Friday by the company warning of a first-quarter loss.

Sourcefire, the security firm that oversees the open source intrusion-detection system software, Snort, is making available another open source tool for network traffic logging.

Open source technologies already permeate most data centres, and their influence is spreading. However, data centre managers who wouldn't think twice about dropping a new Linux server into a rack feel very differently about building an open source firewall as the main barrier between their own network and the great unwashed. Security remains outside the open-source comfort zone.

A flaw in Snort, the popular open-source intrusion detection system, could be used by attackers to run malicious code on vulnerable machines, several security organizations reported Monday.