Network Intrusion Detection System

What is NIDS?

NIDS stands for Network Intrusion Detection System. It's a security tool that monitors your network traffic for suspicious activity. It does this by performing the following tasks:

• Traffic Monitoring: NIDS continuously monitors all the data packets flowing through your network.
• Analysis: It analyzes each packet for patterns and behaviors that might indicate a security threat. This could include port scans, malware signatures, attempts to gain unauthorized access, and more.
• Alerts: If NIDS detects something suspicious, it will alert the network administrator so they can investigate further.

NIDS is a passive system, meaning it just monitors and detects threats, it doesn't take any action to stop them. That's the job of a Network Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), which works alongside NIDS to actively block malicious traffic.

What is the purpose of NIDS?

The purpose of NIDS is to monitor network traffic for suspicious activity across your entire network. This is different than the purpose of a host-based intrusion detection system (HIDS), which monitors individual devices or servers (hosts) within the network for suspicious activity.

Both of these systems function basically the same way. They monitor traffic, analyze the packets for evidence of threats, and alert when potentially malicious traffic is identified. The only real difference is whether they are monitoring individual devices or the network as a whole.

What are the benefits of using NIDS?

Benefits may vary depending on the type of intrusion detection system or the method of detection used by the system. NIDS in particular will provide:

Improved Security Posture:

• Early Threat Detection: NIDS constantly monitors network traffic, allowing it to identify suspicious activity in real time. This enables you to detect potential attacks before they can gain a foothold on your network, significantly improving your overall security posture.
• Identification of Unknown Threats: NIDS can not only detect known threats based on signatures but also analyze traffic patterns to uncover anomalies that might indicate zero-day attacks or other previously unknown threats.

Enhanced Network Visibility: 

• Comprehensive Monitoring: NIDS provides a holistic view of all network activity, giving you a deeper understanding of how your network is being used. This allows you to identify potential vulnerabilities and weaknesses in your network security.
• Detection of Internal Threats: NIDS can detect not just external attacks but also suspicious activity originating from within your network. This can help identify insider threats or compromised devices.
  
  

Faster Response Times:

• Real-Time Alerts: When NIDS detects suspicious activity, it generates immediate alerts, allowing you to react quickly and take necessary steps to mitigate the threat. This can minimize the potential damage caused by an attack.
• Improved Incident Response: The detailed information provided by NIDS alerts, such as the source and nature of the suspicious activity, can streamline your incident response process.
  
  

Additional Advantages:

• Compliance with Regulations: Many industries have regulations that require organizations to monitor their network traffic for security threats. NIDS can help you meet these compliance requirements.
• Security Efficiency: By proactively detecting threats, NIDS can help you avoid costly security breaches and downtime.

Why do we need network intrusion detection systems?

There are several compelling reasons why network intrusion detection system software is essential for robust network security. Here are some of the key benefits:

• Early Warning System: NIDS constantly monitors your network traffic for suspicious activity. This allows you to detect potential attacks before they can infiltrate your systems and cause damage. Early detection is crucial for mitigating the impact of cyberattacks.
  
  
• Improved Visibility: NIDS offers a comprehensive view of your network activity. Think of it like having a detailed map that shows everything flowing through your network. This enhanced visibility helps you identify weaknesses in your security posture and potential vulnerabilities that attackers might exploit.
  
  
• Internal Threat Detection: NIDS isn't just about external threats. It can also detect suspicious activity originating from within your network. This can help uncover insider threats or compromised devices that might be masquerading as legitimate users.
  
  
• Faster Response Times: When NIDS detects something suspicious, it triggers immediate alerts. This allows your security team to react quickly and take steps to contain the threat before it can escalate. Faster response times are essential for minimizing damage and preventing a security incident from snowballing.
  
  
• Compliance Advantages: Many industries have regulations that mandate organizations to monitor their network traffic for security risks. NIDS can help you comply with these regulations and demonstrate your commitment to data security.
  
  
• Cost-Effectiveness: By proactively identifying and addressing threats, NIDS can help you avoid the significant costs associated with security breaches, such as data loss, downtime, and reputational damage.

What is an example of a NIDS?

The best network intrusion detection system is Suricata.

Suricata is a popular open-source Netowrk-based IDS (depending on configuration) that offers a powerful and flexible solution for network security monitoring. Here's how Suricata functions as a NIDS:

• Traffic Monitoring: Suricata is deployed on a network and continuously monitors all incoming and outgoing traffic passing through that specific point.
• Deep Packet Inspection: It goes beyond just looking at header information in data packets. Suricata performs deep packet inspection, analyzing the actual content of the packets to identify suspicious patterns or malicious payloads.
• Rule-Based Detection: Suricata relies on a rule set to detect threats. These rules are essentially instructions that define what kind of network activity is considered suspicious. Suricata matches the captured network traffic against these rules and flags any traffic that meets the criteria for further investigation.
• Customizable Rules: A significant advantage of Suricata is the ability to customize its rule set. There are pre-configured rules available for known threats, but you can also create custom rules to address specific security concerns within your network environment.
• Threat Detection Capabilities: Suricata can detect a wide range of threats, including port scans, unauthorized access attempts, malware signatures, denial-of-service attacks (DoS), and many more.
• Alert Generation: When Suricata detects something suspicious, it generates alerts that notify security personnel about the potential threat. These alerts typically include details about the nature of the suspicious activity, the source and destination IP addresses, and the time of detection.
  
  

Suricata's versatility extends beyond basic NIDS functionalities. It can also be configured to function as:

• Network Intrusion Prevention (NIPS): With additional configurations, Suricata can take action beyond just raising alerts. It can actively block malicious traffic, preventing attacks from reaching your network.
• Network Security Monitoring (NSM): Suricata can be used for broader network security monitoring purposes. It can provide valuable insights into network traffic patterns and overall network health.

Which are the three main types of intrusion detection systems?

The three types of intrusion detection systems in cyber security based on detection methods are: Anomaly-based, Signature-based, and Hybrid. These methods define how the IDS analyzes data to identify potential intrusions.

1. Anomaly-Based IDS: Anomaly-based IDS focuses on identifying deviations from normal behavior within a network or system. It works by establishing a baseline for normal activity by statistically analyzing network traffic or system activity over time. This baseline becomes a reference for identifying anomalies. The IDS then continuously monitors network traffic or system activity and compares the real-time data to the established baselines. Significant deviations from these baselines are flagged as potential intrusions.
2. Signature-Based IDS: A signature-based intrusion detection system relies on a predefined database of attack signatures to identify malicious activity. These signatures represent known patterns or fingerprints of network attacks or suspicious system behavior. The IDS continuously monitors network traffic or system activity and compares this data against the database of attack signatures. Any matches trigger an alert, indicating a potential intrusion attempt.
3. Hybrid IDS: A hybrid intrusion detection system combines both anomaly-based and signature-based detection methods to address the limitations of each approach. A hybrid system leverages signature-based detection for known threats and anomaly-based detection for novel attacks. This enhances the overall effectiveness of intrusion detection.
   
   

Each of these three detection methods (Anomaly-based, Signature-based, Hybrid) offers different strengths and weaknesses. Choosing the most suitable approach depends on factors like the specific security requirements of the network, the resource availability for managing the IDS, and the acceptable level of false positives.

It is also important to consider switching to a more advanced modern network security solution, such as network detection and response (NDR). The Stamus Security Platform (SSP) is a modern NDR solution that leverages the best from IDS technology without the same challenges faced by IDS users. Learn more at https://www.stamus-networks.com/stamus-security-platform

What is the difference between IPS and IDS?

The difference between IPS and IDS is that IPS actively blocks threats while IDS simply provides alerts. The best intrusion detection systems can function as both depending on the configuration, but both systems serve a purpose in an organization’s strategy and come with their own unique benefits and challenges.

• Intrusion Detection System (IDS): Intrusion detection system software continuously analyzes network traffic or system activity for suspicious patterns that might indicate an ongoing attack. These patterns can be identified through signature-based detection, which matches traffic against known attack signatures, or anomaly-based detection, which looks for deviations from regular behavior. Upon detecting suspicious activity, an IDS can raise alerts, log events, and provide valuable insights for security personnel to investigate and respond to potential threats.
• Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): An IPS extends the functionality of IDS by actively taking steps to prevent intrusions. Based on predefined security policies and identified threats, an IPS can block malicious traffic, terminate suspicious connections, or otherwise disrupt the attacker's progress. This can involve techniques like packet filtering, which blocks unwanted traffic based on pre-defined rules, or deep packet inspection, which examines the content of packets for malicious payloads. It is important to note that one of the challenges with IPS is the possibility of non-malicious traffic being blocked based on a “false positive”. 

What is the difference between network detection and response and IDS/IPS?

Network detection and response (NDR) is an approach to cybersecurity that uses an organization’s network traffic to identify and respond to potential threats. Using advanced detection mechanisms, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, network detection and response systems monitor traffic in near real-time and then provide actionable insights that enable security professionals to mitigate serious threats. By enhancing an organization’s ability to both detect and respond to threats, NDR reduces the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access.

Network detection and response systems continuously collect and analyze network traffic data, and then use a combination of tools to identify known threats, abnormal patterns, or other signs of malware infection. Many NDR systems include tools for behavioral analysis, which allow the system to establish a baseline of “normal” network behaviors and then recognize deviations indicative of potential security threats.

Network detection and response is different from many other traditional security tools because it combines multiple capabilities. Most NDR systems do include traditional security measures, such as those found in an intrusion detection system (IDS), but they also provide organizations with more modern technologies that are equipped to identify emerging threats.

Both NDR and IDS/IPS function by monitoring network traffic, but the difference between the two security systems lies in their approach to how threats are detected using network traffic data.

IDS/IPS is reactive, relying on a limited database of known threats and vulnerabilities to stop malicious traffic from entering or leaving the network. NDR is proactive, emphasizing the early detection and response to security incidents. IDS/IPS does not have the advanced functionality of NDR, however many NDRs include IDS signature-based detection methods.

IDS simply issues an alert anytime network traffic matches a signature for a known attack signal. This means it is not only unable to detect novel threats, but it also cannot detect more nuanced or weak attack signals like those found in unauthorized user activity, anomalous network activity, malware beacons, or homoglyphs.

Alternatively, NDR includes functionality that filters events from various sources into actionable alerts with context. It also includes more advanced detection methods built with machine learning and artificial intelligence to detect the more nuanced attack signals that are missed by IDS. NDR will typically also include other useful features, such as interfaces for threat hunting.

Explore a modern alternative

IDS is undoubtedly a powerful and effective means to detect known threats on your organization’s network. Unfortunately, most IDS deployments are riddled with false positives, provide limited threat detection, and lack sufficient visibility into anomalous activity and subtle attack signals. Traditional IDS vendors have failed to innovate in ways that solve these challenges, leading to inefficient or downright ineffective threat detection.

You need a network security platform that doesn’t generate an endless stream of useless alerts across part of your network, and instead automatically identifies alerts of interest and notifies you of only serious and imminent threats. Your organization deserves response-ready detection with visibility into your entire network regardless of the environment with easy access to all the contextual evidence you need to stop an attack before it can cause damage. Replace your legacy IDS with a modern network detection and response platform that gives you these features and more.

The Stamus Security Platform™ is a network-based threat detection and response solution that eliminates the challenges of legacy IDS while lowering your response time. Stamus Security Platform harnesses the full potential of your network, bringing state-of-the-art threat detection, automated event triage, and unparalleled visibility to the security team.

Book a demo to see if Stamus Security Platform is right for your organization.