IDS Policy Manager v3.0 has been released. This release adds a few new features over previous  v3 betas such as support for shared object rules, customizable dashboards, Emerging Threats Dashboad panels, and some code cleanup. This version also changes the location of the embedded database to better support UAC in Vista.

We are very happy to announce the release of a new free product Activeworx - Free Logger. This is a complete log management solution available to collect logs from almost any source on your network, store in flat file format, index it and give you the ability to query the data in various output formats. Enjoy the new release and please use the forums if you need any assistance.

There is a new build of IDSPM that now works with freeSSHd SFTP server. You can download it in the download section...

This new build fixes a parsing problem . This became a problem recently when sourcefire changed a few lines in the snort.conf and added spaces where ones didn't exist before. This new build can be downloaded from the downlod page.

We are happy to announce the release of IDSPM v3.0 for Activeworx v5. This version is designed for a multi-user environment that works as a plug-in for Activeworx v5 SIEM.

Remember you must login to download beta releases.

IDS Policy Manager v3.0 Standalone Beta has been released. This release has been a year in the making with hundreds of hours dedicated to it. There are significant changes in the way the product now works and how it stores rules.

Over the last few years we have moved from each policy being opened indivdually in v1.x, to all the rules stored in a database, but all policies stayed separate in v2.x, to all rules shared among all the polices in v3.x. This change makes it much easier to manage multiple policies. You may still have unique rules per policy, but when you have over 20,000 rules that are updated by another source it just doesn't make sense to store each rule for each policy.

In IDSPM v3 each rule is stored 1 time per update location. This greatly decreases the bloating effect of duplicating storage that was done in v2. It also allows you to quickly make changes to all policies that use a rule by disabling it across the board, or enabling it on only some policies.

We have also added a lot more usability functionality such as new dashboards, new policy overviews and make the product easier to use. A lot of time has been put into helping the user use the product. You will notice this from when you first run it. No longer do you need to guess how to get started.. IDSPM will walk you through getting things setup.

Remember this is a beta and if you have any questions or comments, please post them in the forum or send an email to us.

We have a lot of new things coming down the pipe in the coming months. The first is going to be IDS Policy Manager v3 beta... In the wake of this we thought it would be a good time to start a blog to share ways of using some of the free tools we provide here at Activeworx.org. If there is anything you would like to see us cover feel free to send us an email.