Two Decades in the Making
NetDefense wasn't born as a startup idea. It was built by engineers who spent 20+ years in the trenches of real infrastructure — and never stopped working on the problem.
The Journey
From a first prototype to a modern platform — the long road that shaped how we think about security.
The Problem
SMBs needed real network security, but the market offered nothing both capable and affordable. Firewalls were either too expensive, too complex, or designed for environments that looked nothing like small business reality.
NetDefense v1
An x86 security appliance running FreeBSD, built on open-source technologies. Everything managed through a unified web interface backed by PostgreSQL.
Evolution
The platform grew alongside the changing landscape of SMB connectivity and managed services, supporting dozens of customer networks in production.
Wayback MachineDiscontinued
The market shifted. Commercial security products became easier to resell and support. Building a custom platform stopped being the most viable path.
"The work never stopped. We kept building, operating, and learning — watching the open-source ecosystem evolve, waiting for the right moment."
Finding OPNsense
While tracking the evolution of open-source firewall projects, we found a deep synergy between our ideas and the OPNsense project. Its philosophy matched what we believed a security platform should be — and we started deploying it across our managed infrastructure.
Integration Begins
The ecosystem had matured. Hardware was affordable, open-source tools reached enterprise grade. We decided to build the NetDefense vision — starting with an OPNsense plugin as the foundation for everything to come.
NetDefense as an Open Tool
Not a reboot. A continuation. The same vision, with far stronger foundations — designed from day one for MSP operations and built on the platform we know best.
See what we're building
Security doesn't fail because of technology.
It fails because of complexity.
NetDefense exists to remove it.
The Engineers
No managers. No advisory boards. Just engineers who build.
Marcos Machado
Infrastructure & Network Security
Years of hands-on work with networks, security architecture, and infrastructure platforms. Focused on building systems that are resilient, predictable, and engineered to operate under real-world constraints.
Leonardo Kamache
Operations & Delivery
Brings the operational perspective that makes complex systems succeed in the real world. Focused on delivery, implementation, and making sure security infrastructure can be deployed and maintained consistently.
Alfredo Saldanha
Systems Telemetry & Automation
Focused on telemetry, monitoring, and automation — the foundations that allow secure infrastructure to scale. His work is centered around observability, operational insight, and systems that reduce friction.
Want to join the team? hello@netdefense.io
The Roadmap
Built in public. Shipped in phases.
Phase 1: Foundation
Shipped- Core API & CLI (NDManager, NDCLI)
- WebSocket broker (NDBroker)
- Device agent for OPNsense (NDAgent)
- Configuration sync & task dispatch
- Web dashboard (NDWeb)
- Policy templating engine
Phase 2: Scale
In Progress- WireGuard mesh overlay
- Multi-vendor device support
- WebSocket relay tunneling (NDPathFinder)
- S3-compatible config backups
- Workflow automation engine
- MCP integration for AI agents
Phase 3: Intelligence
Planned- AI-powered config auditing
- Anomaly detection across fleet
- Compliance reporting
- Advanced observability dashboards
- Multi-tenant self-service portal
We spent 20 years watching the gap between enterprise security and everyone else grow wider. While tools improved, managing them at scale across customer environments stayed needlessly complex.
NetDefense is built to close it.
A platform that lets service providers and IT teams deploy, automate, and operate open-source security infrastructure — with centralized control, consistent policy enforcement, and none of the weight.