Enter open source and community supported security software. In many cases, open source security software can fill the gap when funding for heavy, commercially supported, closed-source security tools is hard to come by. For SMBs, having a few open source security tools in their back pocket to meet specific security challenges can be a godsend. Because the tools are free (as in beer), they’re relatively easy to get pushed out without the need to go through a purchasing cycle — and because they’re popularly adopted and focused in scope, they can often be deployed without significant staff overhead.
I’ve put together a “short list” of open source and community-supported security tools for just these situations. These aren’t the only open source security tools out there; however, the tools in this list are easy to deploy, fill needs that most SMBs have, and are widely adopted enough to have staying power over a long deployment cycle.