pfSense Software's Sweet 16

Today marks the 16th anniversary of the 1.0 release of pfSense^® software on October 13, 2006. And what better time since October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month?

At Netgate^®, we’re committed to providing leading-edge network security at a fair price - regardless of organizational size or network sophistication. This has been a part of our mission and culture since before we were part of this great pfSense project!

pfSense software was originally forked from the m0n0wall project in 2004. A lot has changed since then! Netgate was an early supporter of the project, providing financial support to ensure the developers had incentives to move the project forward. In 2012, Netgate became the pfSense project steward, responsible for providing the infrastructure, architecture, software development, documentation, and test resources for the project. Additional milestones include growing the team to include 24/7 worldwide Technical Assistance Center (TAC), adding AWS and Azure cloud availability, and incorporating new features like Zero Trust using Tailscale. But rather than list all the accomplishments here, we’d prefer to focus on you, the users who are helping to keep this product relevant and fresh.

Let’s start with a big thanks to each and every one of you! For those who purchase Netgate Security Gateway Appliances with pfSense Plus software pre-installed, or a Netgate TAC subscription, an extra huge thank you! You are the lifeblood of the project. By purchasing from Netgate, you are directly supporting our ability to hire and retain the best engineers and support staff, as well as fund additional open source work that we upstream to FreeBSD, the Linux Foundation FD.io, Clixon, and other projects that benefit everyone. Your enthusiasm for pfSense software and Netgate inspires us to continue to provide the best products possible.

We would also like to recognize the contributors to the community-led add-in packages such as Snort, pfBlocker-NG, WireGuard, and so many others. And let's not forget the pfSense community who contribute in so many ways, from advice and guidance on the Netgate Forum, to their work with us on great projects like the Zenata translation project, making pfSense software accessible in other, non-English languages.

Along with our gratitude, we’d like to provide a couple of reminders to help keep your firewall providing the protection you deserve:

• Don’t forget to stay current! Install your updates. Firewalls are easy to set and forget. Check the Release Notes first, but if you haven’t updated in a while, here’s your gentle nudge.
• Make backups of your configuration. Automatic Configuration Backup (AutoConfig Back or ACB) is a feature available within the pfSense software. With ACB set up, you automatically make an encrypted backup every time you make a configuration change. Our docs have full details on ACB and other Backup and Recovery options.
• Our Technical Assistance Center (TAC) is available and here to help 24x7x365. An up-to-date TAC subscription means you have access to our experts anytime you need them. Let's face it - network problems happen at the most inconvenient times. Our TAC professionals have your back, working around the clock to help you when you need it the most.

Most “Sweet 16” teenagers aren’t known for being reflective on the past, but are “heads up” looking toward the future. The Netgate team is also looking forward to new possibilities on the horizon. We’ve learned a lot over the last sixteen years with pfSense, and we still have a lot to offer. Our goal remains the same, to keep leading-edge open-source network security available to everyone.

“Don’t forget about us, and we won’t forget about you.” - Joe Elliot, Def Leppard