Cisco Security Exec And Sourcefire Founder Martin Roesch Is Departing

Martin Roesch, founder and CTO of Sourcefire, is leaving Cisco Systems after five years as chief architect of the company’s Security Business Group.

Cisco bought Sourcefire, a provider of network security hardware and software, in October 2013 for $2.7 billion to round out its advanced threat protection portfolio. Roesch has been leading Cisco's Cybersecurity team since the close of the deal, but the longtime tech executive said he's ready to move on.

"After two decades of pouring my heart and soul into creating Snort, founding Sourcefire and then doing my small part to help lead the best Cybersecurity team in the world at Cisco, I’m ready to take on a new challenge," Roesch said in an article he posted to Medium.

[Related: Cisco Names Germany GM Oliver Tuszik As Global Channel Chief]

Cisco, San Jose, Calif., made note of Roesch’s contributions.

"We have been expanding our security offering to make it foundational throughout our business, to better protect our customers. We have built great momentum and we appreciate all of those who have contributed to our success. We wish Marty [Roesch] all of the best and thank him for his many contributions to the team and more widely to the cybersecurity industry," said a spokesman for Cisco.

Prior to starting Sourcefire, Roesch created Snort in 1998, a free, open-source network intrusion detection system and intrusion prevention system. Snort became one of the most popular intrusion detection software systems in the world in less than two years after its inception, according to Roesch. The tech entrepreneur then decided to build a company around his popular security software and founded Sourcefire in 2001 with a team of three employees.

Today, Sourcefire's enterprise-grade FirePower, now known as Cisco's FirePower network security appliances, are based on Snort code.

Roesch also sits on the board of directors at threat intelligence platform provider ThreatQuotient and Datum, a data governance company.

Roesch said that he'll be taking time off for now to focus on a new opportunity, which he plans to disclose more information on soon. He also said he's looking forward to giving back by way of mentoring, a pursuit near and dear to him thanks to the mentors he had along his own tech career.

"This isn’t really goodbye, just a change of course. I will still be close to the Cisco family in this new role— and I am hopeful that, in some way, I’ll always have a longstanding connection with this amazing company," Roesch said.