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📘 10-02: IDS & IPS

Network Systems

Module 10: Security in Network Design

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📌 Detecting and Preventing Intrusions

IDS IPS
Action Detects & alerts (passive) Detects & blocks (active)
Placement Out-of-band (SPAN/tap) Inline (in the traffic path)
On attack Logs/alerts Drops/resets the traffic

An IPS must be inline to block; an IDS can watch a copy of traffic since it only alerts.


📌 Detection Methods

Method How it works Strength / weakness
Signature-based Match known attack patterns Great for known threats; blind to zero-days
Anomaly/behavior-based Compare to a baseline of "normal" Catches novel attacks; more false positives
Heuristic/policy-based Rules about suspicious behavior Flexible

📌 Host vs. Network

HIDS/HIPS NIDS/NIPS
Scope A single host Network segment
Sees That host's activity Traffic on the wire

  • SIEM aggregates and correlates logs/events for detection and investigation.
  • Port mirroring (SPAN) feeds a copy of traffic to an IDS or analyzer.

Tip

Key idea — IDS = alert (out-of-band); IPS = block (inline). Detection is signature-based (known) or anomaly-based (novel). Feed alerts to a SIEM for correlation.

See also: Firewalls & ACLs, Network Monitoring