Sourcefire Outperforms All Competitors in Tuned-Detection for Second Consecutive Year According to NSS Labs Comparative Test

Published on Thursday, 13 January 2011 09:10 Written by TradersHuddle Staff

COLUMBIA, Md.-( Business Wire )-

Sourcefire, Inc. (Nasdaq: FIRE), the creator of Snort® and a leader in intelligent cybersecurity solutions, today announced that the Sourcefire Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) protected against 98 percent of all attacks and established a new industry record in NSS Labs’ recent independent tests. The results highlight Sourcefire IPS technology as the industry best -- offering the most effective tuned detection of any Intrusion Prevention System tested.

"To combat today's evolving threats, organizations require security solutions that can be tailored to their unique environments and needs, which is why our evaluation process places significant focus and resources on the effectiveness of tuning detection," said Rick Moy, president, NSS Labs, Inc. "The Sourcefire 3D 4500 IPS, tuned by Sourcefire engineers, achieved the highest level of protection for the second year in a row. It should remain one of the top choices for organizations looking to leverage a network IPS."

For the second consecutive year, Sourcefire’s IPS took the top spot in tuned detection of any product tested and, once again, earned NSS Labs’ highest “Recommend” rating. The Sourcefire 3D 4500 Sensor, promoted by Sourcefire as a 2 Gbps IPS, actually achieved 3.2 Gbps of throughput, equating to 161 percent of its vendor-stated performance—the highest percentage of all IPS models tested. Additional highlights of Sourcefire’s test results include:

• Industry best 98 percent tuned security effectiveness
• Industry best 99 percent tuned detection of target-initiated attacks
• Industry best 98 percent tuned coverage for vulnerabilities reported between 2004 and 2010
• 100 percent anti-evasion coverage

“Focusing on customizing and tuning our IPS is one of the critical ways we protect our business from threats that target our applications, systems and users,” said John South, chief security officer at Heartland Payment Systems, one of the nation’s largest payments processors. “Sourcefire offers a premier IPS solution that enables us to protect against threats to our specific environment through IPS customization coupled with automated tuning capabilities. NSS Labs’ findings further validate the effectiveness of Sourcefire’s technology.”

“The results of this test from NSS Labs highlight the importance of Intrusion Prevention technology in today’s dynamic enterprise networks. We are proud to lead the industry for a second consecutive year in blocking more attacks than any other IPS vendor,” said Matt Watchinski, senior director of Vulnerability Research at Sourcefire. “This year’s test reaffirms the importance of selecting an IPS solution that not only protects against current threats, but has the ability to adapt to new attacks, as well.”

Designed to address the challenges faced by IT professionals in selecting and managing security products, NSS Labs reports offer unbiased, actionable information based on real-world test data. Using its real-world testing methodology, NSS Labs compared 13 enterprise IPS solutions against 1,179 live exploits and six anti-evasion categories representing another 75 tests, in the industry’s most comprehensive test to date. All devices were tested twice, once using default policy settings and then again after being configured and tuned by each vendor’s technical experts. Ratings were then awarded based on the product’s security effectiveness, performance and total cost of ownership (TCO). Each product earned a rating of either “Recommend,” “Neutral,” or “Caution” based on its composite test results. Only the top technical products earned a Recommend rating, regardless of their market share, brand recognition, or the company’s size.

Sourcefire Individual Test Report Available Now

The Sourcefire Individual Test Report from NSS Labs can be found at: http://sourcefire.mktoweb.com/NSSLabs.html

The full group report can also be purchased at www.nsslabs.com.

Join Sourcefire and NSS Labs Webcast: Selecting an Enterprise IPS

Tuesday, January 25, 2011, 11am EST / 8am PST / 4pm GMT

Featuring Vik Phatak, CTO of NSS Labs and Jason Brvenik at Sourcefire https://sourcefire.webex.com/sourcefire/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=797995461

About NSS Labs, Inc.

NSS Labs, Inc. is the leading independent, information security research and testing organization. Its expert analyses provide information technology professionals with the unbiased data they need to select and maintain complex security products for their organizations. Pioneering intrusion detection and prevention system testing with the publication of the first such test criteria in 1999, NSS Labs evaluates firewall, unified threat management, anti-malware, encryption, web application firewall, and other technologies on a regular basis. The firm’s real-world test methodology is the only one to assess security products against live Internet threats. NSS Labs tests are considered the most aggressive in the industry. Founded in 1991, the company has offices in Carlsbad, California and Austin, Texas. For more information, visit www.nsslabs.com.

About Sourcefire

Sourcefire, Inc. (Nasdaq:FIRE), is a world leader in intelligent cybersecurity solutions. Sourcefire is transforming the way Global 2000 organizations and government agencies manage and minimize network security risks. Sourcefire’s IPS, Real-time Network Awareness and Real-time Adaptive Security solutions equip customers with an efficient and effective layered security defense – protecting network assets before, during and after an attack. Through the years, Sourcefire has been consistently recognized for its innovation and industry leadership by customers, media and industry analysts alike – with more than 50 awards and accolades. Today, the name Sourcefire has grown synonymous with innovation and network security intelligence. For more information about Sourcefire, please visit http://www.sourcefire.com.

SOURCEFIRE®, Sourcefire IPS™, SNORT®, RAZORBACK™, the Sourcefire logo, the Snort and Pig logo, SECURITY FOR THE REAL WORLD™, SOURCEFIRE DEFENSE CENTER®, SOURCEFIRE 3D®, RNA®, RUA®, DAEMONLOGGER™, CLAMAV® and certain other trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sourcefire, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

Media:Welz & Weisel CommunicationsTony Welz, 703-218-3555 x226Principaltony@w2comm.comorNSS Labs, Inc.Julie Rockett, 760-560-7228Marketing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.