Sourcefire Expands Intrusion Prevention Capabilities with New SSL Appliance

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New Sourcefire Appliance Allows Users to Seamlessly Inspect SSL Encrypted Traffic with No Impact on Performance

Sourcefire, Inc. (Nasdaq:FIRE), the creators of Snort(R) and a leader in intelligent cybersecurity solutions, today announced the immediate availability of its new SSL Appliance. The SSL Appliance enables the Sourcefire intrusion prevention system (IPS) to inspect SSL (secure sockets layer)-secured traffic - blocking malicious traffic that would have previously been masked by encryption. The SSL Appliance decrypts traffic before sending it to the IPS, and the IPS can then optionally redirect the secure and visible traffic back to the SSL Appliance for re-encryption.

The SSL Appliance allows users to maintain the highest levels of data security with SSL encryption without worrying about malware or other attacks hidden within the traffic. The expanded capabilities also provide Sourcefire IPS users with SSL visibility without impacting IP Sensor performance.

"SSL is the leading form of data encryption used by companies around the world to safeguard their communications, but for many organizations this has also created a significant hole in their protection efforts," said Greg Fitzgerald, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Sourcefire. "With the SSL Appliance, Sourcefire is addressing this security blind spot. And by using separate purpose-built hardware for our SSL and IPS capabilities, the Sourcefire IPS can inspect and block malicious encrypted traffic without impacting IPS performance."

Unlike on-box SSL decryption solutions that use shared hardware resources for inspection, Sourcefire's architecture permits the IPS and SSL processes to run on separate systems, offloading all encryption and decryption requirements from the Sourcefire IPS. This provides users with greater IPS performance and scalability.

Two Sourcefire SSL Appliance models are available now, including a 4-port (fail-open) 1G fiber model and a 4-port (fail-open) 1G copper model.

To learn more, contact a member of the Sourcefire Global Security Alliance(TM) or visit the Sourcefire website at sourcefire.com/products/3D/ssl.