Suricata vs Snort

What is Suricata in Cyber Security?

Suricata is a free, open-source IDS/IPS cybersecurity tool that acts as both an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) and an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS). It is used by organizations all around the world to detect cyber threats and monitor networks for suspicious activity.

Suricata’s strength lies in its versatility. When tuned correctly, it is a high-performance tool that can handle large volumes of network traffic and generate vast amounts of network traffic data. It is also extremely flexible, offering deep analysis of various protocols and the ability to customize rule sets to fit your organization’s specific needs. Because it’s an open-source IDS/IPS, Suricata benefits from a large, active community that constantly develops and refines its capabilities.

Put simply, Suricata is a powerful and adaptable tool that provides a robust layer of defense for any organization’s network security strategy.

What is Snort used for?

Snort is a widely-used, free, and open-source intrusion detection tool for network security. It can also be configured to act as an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS). Snort monitors network traffic, analyzes packets to search for malicious content using a rule-based system to identify potential threats, and alerts or blocks traffic based on its findings.

Like many other open-source intrusion detection tools, Snort can provide a solid first layer of defense against threats in network traffic.

Is Suricata better than Snort?

When comparing Suricata vs Snort, both stand out as impressive intrusion detection systems. However, Suricata offers some distinct advantages that Snort does not possess:

Native Multi-Threaded: Suricata utilizes a multi-threaded architecture, allowing it to handle high-traffic environments more efficiently than Snort's single-threaded approach. This translates to better performance on modern hardware.
Network Security Monitoring (NSM) data: Unlike Snort, Suricata can generate rich NSM data in formats like JSON (EVE). This data provides valuable insights into overall network activity, making it easier to identify trends and potential anomalies beyond just malicious traffic.
Conditional PCAP storage: Suricata allows for conditional PCAP (packet capture) storage. This means you can configure it to only capture packets that meet specific criteria, saving valuable storage space compared to Snort, which captures all packets by default.

Other factors to consider:

Rule compatibility: Suricata can leverage most Snort rules with some adjustments, making the transition easier. It also has its own growing rule set.
Resource consumption: While Suricata is generally more efficient, it still requires more resources than Snort, especially on low-powered devices.
Community and support: Both Snort and Suricata have active communities, but Snort has been around longer and might have a wider range of readily available resources.

Ultimately, the best choice depends on your specific needs and network environment. Both Snort and Suricata offer significant value for network security, and trying both could help make an informed decision.

What are the benefits of Suricata?

To help decide between Snort vs Suricata, it could be helpful to look at some of Suricata distinct benefits:

Speed: Unlike some other IDS tools, Suricata is multi-threaded, meaning it can use multiple CPU cores simultaneously. This allows it to handle complex tasks and analyze vast amounts of traffic in real time, ensuring threats are detected quickly without compromising network performance. Suricata is also designed to manage memory efficiently, minimizing resource consumption and maximizing processing speed.
Scalability: Suricata can easily adapt to your organization’s needs as it grows. It can be deployed in a distributed fashion, with sensors strategically placed across your network. This allows for wider network coverage and the ability to scale processing power by adding more sensors as your network expands. It can then be configured to prioritize specific network segments or workloads, ensuring optimal performance for critical areas while efficiently handling less sensitive traffic. Because Suricata is so efficient, it can run effectively even on modest hardware. As your organization’s needs grow, you can upgrade hardware or leverage distributed deployments for continued scalability.
Flexibility: Suricata offers a high degree of customization through extensive rule sets and indicators of compromise (IOCs). Suricata supports various rule sets from multiple sources, including Emerging Threats and Snort rules. You can also create custom rules to address specific vulnerabilities or concerns. Additionally, Suricata can be configured to detect specific indicators associated with known threats, such as malicious IP addresses, URLs, or file hashes. This allows for highly targeted threat detection.
NSM Functionality: Suricata goes beyond basic IDS/IPS functionalities, tracking network flows to provide valuable insights into network activity patterns and identifying suspicious connections. Suricata can collect various network telemetry data, including packet size, source and destination information, protocol details, and more. This comprehensive data aids in network behavior analysis and threat detection.
Depth of Data: Suricata provides a wealth of valuable data for various security purposes, including detailed packet inspection, flow data, alert logs, and more. This data is invaluable for forensic analysis after a security breach and can be used for security audits and compliance purposes. Additionally, the detailed data Suricata provides can be fed into your organization’s SIEM, other dedicated security analytics platforms, or a network detection and response (NDR) system to be leveraged by machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) engines for advanced threat detection and automated incident response.

What are the disadvantages of Suricata?

It is easy to promote the benefits of Snort alternatives, but it is also important to highlight that Suricata does face certain challenges that organizations must overcome:

Complexity: Suricata offers a high degree of flexibility, but this can also translate to complexity. Setting up, configuring, and maintaining Suricata effectively requires a good understanding of network security concepts, IDS/IPS functionalities, and potentially scripting languages for rule customization. This can be a challenge for organizations with limited security expertise. It’s open-source nature offers cost advantages, but troubleshooting complex issues or integrating Suricata with other security tools could pose challenges to organizations without Suricata expertise.
False Positives and Alert Fatigue: Suricata relies on predefined rules and signatures to identify threats. Overly strict or outdated rules can lead to false positives, where legitimate traffic gets flagged as suspicious. This can create unnecessary alerts and waste valuable security personnel time investigating non-existent threats. The number of alerts generated, especially in complex network environments, can lead to alert fatigue without proper filtering and prioritization. This can cause security personnel to miss critical threats amidst the noise.
Performance Overhead: While Suricata is known for its speed, it can still consume significant CPU and memory resources, especially when dealing with very high-bandwidth networks. This might necessitate upgrading hardware or implementing distributed deployments to ensure optimal performance.

Many of the challenges with Suricata can be solved by opting to use a more optimized network-based security solution that includes Suricata in its technical stack. One such solution is SELKS, a turn-key Suricata-based IDS/NSM and threat-hunting system. SELKS is an incredibly powerful and effective way to begin learning Suricata, and for many organizations, SELKS functions as a production-grade NSM and IDS solution.

Can Suricata block traffic?

One of the reasons Suricata tops the list of best Snort alternatives is because it is capable of functioning in intrusion prevention (IPS) mode, meaning it can be configured to actively block unwanted traffic. When in IPS mode, Suricata can perform actions such as:

Dropping packets: This completely blocks the malicious traffic, preventing it from reaching its intended destination on your network.
Resetting connections: Suricata can terminate established connections that it deems suspicious
Rate limiting: It can limit the number of connections or packets from a specific source to prevent denial-of-service attacks.

For Suricata to effectively block traffic in IPS mode, it typically needs to be deployed "inline" on your network. This means network traffic would flow through Suricata, allowing it to analyze and potentially block malicious packets before they reach your internal systems. Suricata's ability to handle high-volume traffic efficiently is a big advantage. Its native multi-threading architecture allows it to process traffic faster compared to Snort. This makes Suricata a good choice for networks with heavy traffic loads.

Does Suricata do deep packet inspection?

Yes, Suricata performs deep packet inspection. In fact, it is one of its core functionalities for network threat detection and intrusion prevention, making it a highly effective Snort alternative. Here’s how Suricata leverages deep packet inspection:

Examining beyond headers: Unlike shallow packet inspection that focuses on packet headers, Suricata looks into the packet payload. This allows it to analyze the actual content of the data being transferred, searching for malicious patterns or indicators of compromise (IOCs).
Rule-based detection: Suricata utilizes a rule set that specifies what constitutes suspicious activity within the packet payload. These rules can target specific attack signatures embedded within the data or identify vulnerabilities within application protocols.
Protocol decoding: Suricata can decode a wide range of network protocols, allowing it to understand the context and meaning of the data carried within the packets. This comprehensive understanding enables more effective detection of threats that might try to exploit specific protocols.

Is Suricata free?

Suricata is one of the best free Snort alternatives, though it is important to note that despite being free, there are other costs that could result from any IDS installation:

Hardware: Suricata can be resource-intensive, especially when dealing with high volumes of network traffic. You might need to invest in additional hardware with sufficient processing power and memory to run Suricata effectively. This could involve upgrading existing servers or purchasing new ones entirely.
Setup and Configuration: While Suricata offers a user-friendly interface, proper configuration requires a good understanding of network security concepts and IDS/IPS functionalities. If your IT team lacks this expertise, you might need to hire consultants to help with the initial setup and configuration.
Training: Using Suricata effectively often requires training for your IT security personnel. They'll need to understand how to interpret Suricata's alerts, investigate potential threats, and fine-tune the rule sets for optimal performance. Training can be done internally or through external providers.
Integration with other security tools: Suricata can be a powerful tool, but it might not be the only one in your security arsenal. Integrating Suricata with other security tools like firewalls, SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) systems, and threat intelligence feeds can enhance its effectiveness. Depending on the chosen tools, there might be additional licensing or integration costs involved.

While Suricata itself is free, there can be some indirect costs associated with its implementation and ongoing use. The extent of these costs will depend on your specific needs, existing infrastructure, and internal IT expertise.

Learn More About Suricata

Suricata stands out as a powerful and cost-effective foundation for any organization's network security strategy. While some technical expertise is required for setup and maintenance, Suricata's potential return on investment makes it a serious contender for organizations seeking to actively monitor and protect their networks.

For those interested in learning more about Suricata, there are various resources available. One free option is "The Security Analyst’s Guide to Suricata" published by Stamus Networks. This book offers a practical approach to threat detection and hunting using Suricata, focusing on key Suricata features and providing valuable network security insights for security operations center (SOC) analysts and threat hunters.