Cloud-native application security firm Sysdig Inc. today announced the donation of Stratoshark, the company’s open-source cloud forensics tool, to the Wireshark Foundation to advance open-source cloud security.

Launched in January, Stratoshark is an open-source tool that extends Wireshark granular network visibility into the cloud and provides users a standardized approach to cloud system analysis.

Wireshark is a free 27-year-old open-source network protocol analyzer that allows users to capture and interactively examine network traffic in real time for troubleshooting, analysis and security purposes. It has more than 5 million daily users and has seen more than 160 million downloads over the last decade, with users using the tool to analyze network traffic and troubleshoot issues.

Though popular, Wireshark was never designed to provide visibility into cloud installations. Stratoshark, however, was designed to bridge the cloud visibility gap in Wireshark with features that unlock deep cloud visibility to assist in analyzing and troubleshooting cloud system calls and logs with a level of granularity and workflow familiar to longtime Wireshark users.

Stratoshark leverages Sysdig’s open-source Falco ecosystem, integrating its system call capture and analysis capabilities to provide deep, real-time visibility into cloud-native workloads. By combining Falco’s runtime detection with Wireshark’s packet-level insights, Stratoshark enables precise forensic investigations and contextual understanding of security events across both network and system layers.

Since its launch in January, Sysdig has expanded Stratoshark’s cloud system call analysis capabilities to include granular investigation of cloud logs. The offering provides a complementary, detailed event analysis, including the “who, what, when and where” of cloud activities.

“At Sysdig, we fundamentally believe that security should be a collaborative, transparent effort for defenders – not an asymmetrical battle,” said Loris Degioanni, founder and chief technology officer of Sysdig. “That belief was the foundation for Wireshark and Falco, and it’s the guiding principle that led us to create Stratoshark. By donating Stratoshark to the Wireshark Foundation, we’re ensuring that the community can continue to innovate, refine and strengthen security together.”

The Wireshark Foundation was founded in 2023 and serves as the official steward of Wireshark and its related open-source projects. The foundation’s mission is to ensure the long-term sustainability, governance and growth of the widely used network protocol analyzer.

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