Sourcefire Integrates with VMware vShield App and vShield Edge

Sourcefire has announced an integration between Sourcefire and VMware vShield App and vShield Edge. With this integration, VMware vShield App or vShield Edge can be configured Sourcefire Intrusion (News - Alert) Prevention System (IPS) to restrict any policy-violating activity within a customer’s virtual environment.

The Sourcefire Next-Generation IPS (NGIPS) integrates real-time contextual awareness into its inspection. By passively scanning the network, the Sourcefire NGIPS becomes fully aware of network devices, applications, behaviors, and identities on your network.

The integration between Sourcefire and VMware vShield solutions helps users reduce the risk of a security breach or data loss with this ability to enforce security policies. Detecting policy violations such as the use of unauthorized applications on non-standard ports or unpermitted access to a critical host, the Sourcefire IPS monitors real-time network and user activity in a virtual environment.

“According to a 2010 survey of enterprise users by Prism Microsystems, 60 percent will virtualize their production servers by the end of 2011, but only 20 percent have deployed specific security technologies or strategies for the virtual environment,” said Martin Roesch, chief technology officer at Sourcefire. “This leaves a significant hole in most organizations’ security postures – especially as more customers begin employing these systems to support critical applications.”

To restrict the activity causing the violation Sourcefire uses when a violation is identified VMware vShield APIs to dynamically configure vShield App or vShield Edge. Sourcefire tracks when configuration changes are made and automatically removes restrictions after a specified time interval, to provide automation and minimize administrator intervention. The Sourcefire IPS integrated with VMware vShield products provides users with application detection, application control and real-time adaptive security.

Recently, the company expanded its global customer support through an agreement with Unisys (News - Alert) Corporation. Under the terms of the agreement, Unisys is providing in-country warehousing for Sourcefire appliances to facilitate next business day delivery for warranty replacement and on-site installation services. This logistics network provides on-site, next business day customer support across Europe and Asia Pacific. This agreement allows the company to quickly scale its support and logistics capabilities as it expands globally.



Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Raju’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell