Re: Israeli Software Company Faces U.S. Probe

["S.f.Stover" <sam.stover () gmail com>]

Ryan Counts wrote:

> I think this is just a case of bad journalism.  They put snort at the
> head of the article because it'll raise eyebrows, but the heart of the
> matter is that Sourcefire does a lot of security work for the
> government.

I know some of the folks at Sourcefire, and I don't think this is the
case (I could be wrong however) - it's my understanding that they focus
on product, not services.

After reading the Washington Post article, I got the impression that the
stir is based more around what I'll call a "perceived bait and switch".
 Not perceived by me, but by companies/agencies/etc. that have policies
against foreign-owned software.  Think of it like this:  you install
snort everywhere because it's A) free and B) you know it.  Maybe you
even start purchasing appliances, support, etc. from Sourcefire.  Then
Sourcefire gets acquired by a foreign-owned company, and all of a sudden
 everything snort-related violates some policy that stipulates you can't
run foreign-owned software.  Not that this will happen everywhere, but
it will definitely happen in some places (stranger things, right?).  So,
it's not an intentional "bait and switch" (i.e. Sourcefire didn't
intentionally build an install base, then announce their acquisition),
but the effect could amount to the same thing.

Standard disclaimers:  I don't work for Sourcefire, I don't care if
Sourcefire gets acquired by a foreign-owned company, and I have no
secret insight supporting my opinions/thoughts.

-- 
S.f.Stover
http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x5C4DAB68
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