For some organizations security has always been a concern, for these organizations they were ahead of the game and already had a basic security policy in place. Security of a network cannot be trusted to just one method of security, it must consist of many layers of security measures. These security measures may consist of, strong passwords, screening routers, firewalls, proxy servers, and intrusion detection systems. This paper will cover the last security measure mentioned, intrusion detection systems, also known as IDSs. An IDS is an important part of modern network security.
Intrusion detection is the monitoring of a computer network with the goal of detecting an attack.
IDSs do this well, but must be used in conjunction with other security measures. There are two major types of IDSs, Host and Network-based. If an IDS is to be installed it must be deployed with the network type and topology in mind. If not deployed correctly it may be ineffective, thus giving management a false sense of security. Intrusion detection is a security technology that attempts to identify intrusions against a computer network.