Sguil: Excitement!!!!!

As the active member of NSM community, I got the first hand information about the acquisition of Sguil by Cisco. My friend Hanashi hits it first in his blog. Here's the full announcement -

Cisco Announces Agreement to Acquire SguilTM Open Source Monitoring Project Acquisition Furthers Cisco’s Vision for Integrated Security Products

SAN JOSE, Calif., and LONGMONT, Color., April 1st, 2008 – Cisco and the SguilTM project today announced an agreement for Cisco to acquire the SguilTM project, a leading Open Source network security solution. With hundreds of installations world-wide, SguilTM is the de facto reference implementation for the Network Security Monitoring (NSM) model. SguilTM-based NSM will enable Cisco’s customer base to more efficiently collect and analyze security-related information as it traverses their enterprise networks. This acquisition will help Cisco to cement its reputation as a leader in the Open Source movement while at the same time furthering its long-held vision of integrating security into the network infrastructure.

Under terms of the transaction, Cisco has acquired the SguilTM project and related trademarks, as well as the copyrights held by the five principal members of the SguilTM team, including project founder Robert "Bamm" Visscher. Cisco will assume control of the open source SguilTM project including the Sguil.net domain, web site and web site content and the SguilTM Sourceforge project page. In addition, the SguilTM team will remain dedicated to the project as Cisco employees, continuing their management of the project on a day-to-day basis.

To date, SguilTM has been developed primarily in the Tcl scripting language, support for which is already present inside many of Cisco’s routers and switches. The new product, to be known as “Cisco Embedded Monitoring Solution (CEMS)”, will be made available first in Cisco’s carrier-grade products in 3Q08, with support being phased into the rest of the Cisco product line by 4Q09. Linksys-branded device will follow thereafter, though the exact deployment schedule has yet to be announced.

“We’re extremely pleased to announce this deal,” said Cisco’s Chief Security Product Manager Cletus F. Simmons. “For some time, our customers have told us that our existing security monitoring products did not extend far enough into their network infrastructure layer. Not only was it sometimes difficult to intercept and monitor the traffic, but there were often political problems at the customer site with deploying our Intrusion Detection Systems, as management had heard several years ago that they were ‘dead’. Now, with SguilTM integrated into all their network devices, they’ll have no choice!”

Although the financial details of the agreement have not been announced, SguilTM developer Robert Visscher will become the new VP of Cisco Rapid Analysis Products for Security. “This deal means a lot to the SguilTM project and to me personally,” Visscher explains. “Previously, we had to be content with simply being the best technical solution to enable intrusion analysts to collect and analyze large amounts of data in an extraordinarily efficient manner. But now, we’ll have the additional advantage of the world’s largest manufacturer of networking gear shoving it down their customers’ throats! We will no longer have to concern ourselves with mere technical excellence. Instead, I can worry more about which tropical island to visit next, and which flavor daiquiri to order. You know, the important things.”

About Cisco Systems

Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

About SguilTM

SguilTM is the leading Network Security Monitoring (NSM) framework. It is built for network security analysts by network security analysts. Sguil’s main component is an intuitive GUI that provides access to a wide variety of security related information, including real-time IDS alerts, network session database and full packet captures. SguilTM was written by Robert “Bamm” Visscher, who was apparently too cheap to buy a book on Java or C.

With this deal, Sguil will go into active and sharp development very soon and kudos to the Sguil team, I would say Cisco has made the best decision ever!!!!!

I bet the stubborn of using TCL works this time .....

Enjoy (;])