Main solutions of intrusion detection systems

Faced with an increasing number and increasing complexity of alert escalations, security and network administrators need to receive structured and organized information.

Similarly, when they deploy a solution or hardware for detection (IDS) or intrusion prevention (IPS), a centralized administration console is essential for them, whether for one or more strategic servers - solutions called " Host IDS ”- or for the entire corporate network -“ Network IDS ”solutions.

Functioning as anti-virus or anti-spam solutions, IDS refer to a database of known attack signatures. But in order to give their solution more responsiveness when an attack arises, some publishers have decided to transform their offer into IPS (Intrusion Prevention System), focusing their technology on proactive prevention, capable of reacting in real time when a anomaly is detected or an intrusion is proven.

In this market, there are two key players, ISS and Cisco. Then follow in sequence Network Associates, Snort, Symantec, NetASQ, Top Layer Networks, Netscreen, Hogwash, TippingPoint, etc.

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The advantages of having a 100% managed security service

In response to this context, a series of new products grouped under the term Managed Security Services are emerging in the cybersecurity market. These group common services in this field (antivirus programs, firewalls, intrusion detection, updates, security auditing, content filtering, etc.), but adopting a new approach to the company's security needs, on the basis of which said services pass to be managed by a third party that assumes responsibility for them to remain operational and monitored at all times.

A study conducted at the beginning of last year in the US, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany showed that 74% of organizations continued to manage their security systems, but that 82% of IT professionals worked or planned to work in the future with Managed security service providers.

Advantages of managed security services
Managed security service providers help mitigate the risks that security management entails, and resorting to them carries a clear set of advantages:

The first and most obvious is the cost one: using a managed security service usually saves costs compared to the option of an organization investing in its own personnel, software and hardware.

It offers advantages in terms of personnel management and talent acquisition: there is a relative shortage of specialized cybersecurity personnel, which generates great pressure on IT departments to retain staff with sufficient qualification. Having a truly solvent team to face the challenges of the company may be prohibitive for some of them, but feasible for managed security service providers. Outsourcing this function allows you to concentrate internal resources on more critical aspects for the business.

They allow you to keep security systems up and running 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, which many companies can only guarantee during normal business hours.

We can see advantages in terms of the efficiency granted by the scale at which the providers of managed security systems work: it is difficult for an organization to keep track of all the new threats and potential vulnerabilities that arise, as well as update their good practices and safety tools, while the suppliers are in contact with international experts that reinforce their know-how and their ability to react. In addition, many of them have had the opportunity to work side by side with law enforcement is useful when conducting forensic analysis useful in judicial proceedings.

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IDS and IPS detection and prevention systems: What are they for?

IDS and IPS Detection and Prevention Systems

There are many criminals who, hard, strive to gain free access to our systems, to obtain some kind of benefit: be directly economical - demanding a rescue to recover our information, such as after a ransomware attack -, or with the purpose of spy on the company, to achieve some competitive advantage. To fight against these intrusions, we currently have various means. And, with the help of Punt Informàtic, we can do so both reactively and proactively.


Monitor incoming traffic

Both the Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and the Intruder Prevention Systems (IPS) increase the security of our networks. Both systems are responsible for monitoring traffic, and for this they examine the network and ports, analyzing data packets, to detect suspicious patterns. The factor that ensures the success of an IDS or an IPS is its ability to identify already recognized firms. And the most prominent difference between the two systems is how they react when they have detected an attack.

The IDS contain an extensive updated database, with many known attack signatures. The IDS solution is responsible for monitoring incoming traffic - through an exhaustive network analysis and a port scan - and all this is compared with the information available on malicious elements. In the case of any suspicious activity, this detection system issues an early warning, which directs the system administrators. And it is these IT managers who must take appropriate action.

Decide on access control

On the other hand, the IPS emerged as extensions of the IDS solutions - with which they continue in relation -, and were developed to not only deal with the search for malicious activity, but also try to stop it. These proactive network security devices monitor traffic on a continuous basis, as well as all the activities of an IT environment. The IPS controls access in a computer network, protecting computer systems from abuse and attacks.

By locating traffic detection systems, IPSs resolve ambiguities in the tasks of passively monitoring computer networks. To combat potentially malicious activities, this software is capable of making decisions about access control, based on the contents of the traffic - instead of ports or IP addresses. Therefore, we must recognize that IPS represent a significant improvement over traditional firewall technologies.

Read More:   ids/ips tools