Linux powered Yoggie goes open source

Davey Winder
Tuesday, 11 November 2008 16:57

Business IT - Open Source

Yoggie Security Systems has today released the source code for its Linux-based mini-security computers to the developer community, and aims to release the source code to most of the applications on the Yoggie Gatekeeper system in due course.

The Yoggie Gatekeeper Card already caused quite a stir when it became the first computer designed to be installed inside another computer for security purposes.

The more familiar product, however, remains the tiny USB key sized device. The Gatekeeper Pico is actually a Linux-based mini-computer that offloads the security requirement from the host computer courtesy of its built-in security applications.

These include firewall, intrusion detections, anti-virus, anti-spam and multi-layer security agents. Now, with the release of the Open Firewall PicoT, it has morphed into an open source hardware firewall.

The form factor remains the same, a standard USB key sized device, and under the skin you get a Linux-based miniature computers with 520 MHz ARM CPU, 128 RAM and 128 Flash memory. Plus, of course, the opportunity to further tweak the Yoggie firewall yourself.

Yoggie says it will release the source code to its powerful firewall products in a full developer SDK, as well as source code to most of the applications on its platform to enable the open source and hobbyist coder community to try their own scripts and experiment in real time on their own pocket version of a hardware firewall.

Developers will be able to both reconfigure the hardware and modify the software installed with the command line interface using standard SSH protocol. Applications such as PuTTY, or file-manager type applications such as WinSCP, are fully supported.

Shlomo Touboul, Founder and CEO of Yoggie Security Systems says "Limited only by their imagination, developers can add incredible extensions and applications to produce enhanced solutions for PC security, management, backup and content sharing."

Prices start at USD $49 and include a full product suite consisting of a hardware firewall, developer SDK and full SSH access, as well as membership of the online Yoggie developer community.