SNORT is an open source network intrusion prevention and detection system utilizing a rule-driven language, which combines the benefits of signature, protocol and anomaly based inspection methods. With millions of downloads to date, Snort is the most widely deployed intrusion detection and prevention technology worldwide and has become the de facto standard for the industry.

With over 3 million downloads and 100,000+ active users, SNORT® has become the most widely deployed intrusion detection technology worldwide. As the de facto standard for intrusion detection and prevention, Snort is integrated into hundreds of third-party solutions.

The power and reach of Snort is due in large part to the power and reach of the Snort user community. Aside from the seasoned developers at Sourcefire, there are literally thousands of experienced programmers adding to the functionality and rule sets. By leveraging the "many eyeballs" theory that was popularized by Eric Raymond and used to launch Linux to success in the operating systems market, people in the open source Snort community worldwide can detect and respond to bugs and other security threats more quickly and efficiently than in a "closed" environment.