Security technicians at the managed security services firm scrambled to find the source of the suspicious traffic, which was hitting one of its client's networks. Once they traced it to the source, DefendNet's techs phoned the IT department of the outside company running the culprit machine. False alarms like this unfortunately are all too common for intrusion detection technology. So the choice is whether to staff 24 x 7 security techs on your own or opt for an outsourcer. And they manage all the hardware and software tools, too.
Companies typically pay a monthly fee for such services.
Indeed, most security providers now package intrusion detection as part of a suite of managed security offerings that also includes firewalls, vulnerability assessment and, in some cases, secure VPNs. Other security companies, like Axent Technologies, plan to roll them out soon. Now companies are under pressure to place full-time software sentries, or monitoring tools, at the hot spots in the network to continuously sniff out and deter intruders. An intrusion detection tool works similar to an antivirus package. The server then sends out an alarm.