U.S. Investigating Sale of Snort as Security Risk

msmoriarty writes "The Associated Press is reporting today that the same U.S. committee that approved the Dubai ports deal is 'strongly objecting' to Israeli-based Check Point's acquisition of Snort's parent company, Sourcefire, because it doesn't want a foreign company to own Snort's underlying technology. According to the article, the broader 45-day review process rejected for the ports deal is already underway regarding this transaction, and 'secret' meetings between the FBI, DoD and Check Point have been held."

Comments

Eh, big deal.

[irregular_hero]

First, I should point out that some of the other posters here seem to think Sourcefire == Snort. It does not, although Sourcefire's products have some dependency on Snort as a general engine. Sourcefire's main product line is actually far deeper than just SnortOnABox -- it delves into areas like vulnerability management and event collection/aggregation, things that "open source" Snort does only if you have a really good administrator who knows how to piece together all the various moving parts into something manageable.

Second, it's remarkable that the DoD would question Check Point's intentions. If they truly cared whether this particular deal was in the best interests of "national security" (whatever that happens to mean today, then they wouldn't use Check Point's firewall products either. But they do! The US Navy uses Check Point firewalls in great, prodigious quantities -- enough that they need Check Point's ISP-class management console software to run all of them! And they're not the only branch of the military using it, not to mention the multitude of other Federal agencies.

This sounds like a reach to me. Something based in rumor, started by a politician, that has to be ended by the press finding the real story inside the rumor...