Re: IPS, alternative solutions

[Jason <security () brvenik com>]

I think we can all agree that IPS is no replacement for Patch 
Management. My point is that there is no demonstrable ROI that I have 
seen for IPS yet there appears to be a perception that it is a more cost 
effective way of dealing with the problem. This is likely a result of 
the parroting by some IPS vendors of a virtual patching concept. I am 
open to the case if it can be shown, this is why I asked anyone to 
provide an actual ROI.

The way I see it, an IPS can attempt to contain your infestation and 
help reduce your legal exposure from outbound attacks that would 
otherwise make it to your partners... This is a value I can quantify and 
the best use case I have seen for IPS. The problem I have with it is 
that a properly implemented firewall can most likely do the same and 
provide much better overall value.

With IPS we also have to consider that it is often implemented to "fail 
open" allowing traffic to pass unmolested in the case of a failure. If 
we can all agree that system overload is often the case in worm 
outbreaks then we have a bad situation brewing. I predict that the 
failure will ultimately result in containment being lost when the IPS is 
overwhelmed. I would like to test that prediction IRL if I get a chance. 
Does anyone have real world data surrounding the failure cases under 
extreme load?

Cure, Samuel J wrote:

> I agree with Paul that IPS is not a solution to replace existing patch
> management solutions. In fact, I would not even rely on it to "buy time"
> until a consolidated update is ready (such as quarterly). There are too many
> opportunities for exposure while waiting for the consolidated update even
> WITH IPS installed. There are many encoders available these days that allow
> for the most commonly detected exploits to be concealed over the wire and
> bypass IDS/IPS systems. 
>
> I do agree however with the resource requirements necessary for testing and
> rolling out each patch or hotfix. 
>
> Scott, to answer your question on cost effective, perhaps IPS will more than
> likely be less expensive than the resources required to test and update
> patches. 
>
> There are  many factors to consider during this evaluation as well such as 
> -standard builds and services that are not needed. 
> -several patch management systems are available today that are starting to
> take away from the argument of patch test resources being unavailable
> -IPS technology is being developed that provide more holistic analysis  to
> detect anomalies for zero day and newer exploits. These may have ability to
> verify encoded exploit packets as well. 
>
> Just my thoughts,
>
> Scure
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Palmer, Paul (ISSAtlanta) [mailto:PPalmer () iss net]
> Sent: Friday, September 17, 2004 10:36 AM
> To: Jason; Scott Wimer
> Cc: Daniel; focus-ids () securityfocus com
> Subject: RE: IPS, alternative solutions
>
>
> Jason,
>
> The ROI in a medium+ organization does not come from using IPS as a
> patch replacement system. The IPS lets the organization schedule the
> patches at its convenience instead of the de facto schedule implied by
> the release of the patch. That is, without something like an IPS in
> place, the organization needs to apply patches as quickly as possible to
> maintain their security posture. This is problematic for many reasons.
> However, there are two common, major ones. First, it can take months
> (even longer) to deploy a patch to all levels of an organization. During
> this time the organization remains vulnerable. Second, it is difficult
> to manage multiple overlapping patch and/or frequent patch processes.
>
> The IPS allows them to delay patch installation until it is convenient
> and this is where the ROI materializes. The IPS protects the
> organization until it can deploy the patch everywhere. The ROI here is
> obvious when a worm hits before you can complete the patch installation.
>
> It turns out that the cost to install a dozen patches at once (even from
> multiple vendors) is not much more than the cost to install one critical
> patch. So an organization that can defer all patch installation to the
> beginning of each quarter for example can reap huge dividends over the
> cost of rolling out each patch individually. They only need to test one
> set of changes prior to applying them (instead of several per quarter).
> In addition, the number of different configurations present in the
> organization at any moment is reduced, thereby lowering support costs.
>
> Paul
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jason [mailto:security () brvenik com] 
> Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 3:47 PM
> To: Scott Wimer
> Cc: Daniel; focus-ids () securityfocus com
> Subject: Re: IPS, alternative solutions
>
>
> I've heard of no medium+ sized business that is considering deploying 
> inline technology on the internals of the network in a sufficiently 
> pervasive manner that there would be any measurable benefit from the 
> technology over patching and asset management.
>
> I would be seriously interested in an ROI that can demonstrate savings.
>
> The simple question is how is inline packet scrubbing easier and more 
> cost effective than patching?
>
> Scott Wimer wrote:
>
>
> > Daniel,
> >
> > I agree with your assessment.  What I have encountered in the 
> > financial sector though is a desire to have the packets "scrubbed" 
> > before they reach the servers.  People _want_ to deploy network based 
> > IPS tools because it is easier and more cost effective.  That it 
> > doesn't seem to be possible yet is another story altogether.
> >
> > Regards, Scott Wimer
> >
> > On Tue, 2004-09-14 at 06:01, Daniel wrote:
> >
> >
> > > So far there has been a load of talk discussing which is the better 
> > > technology. Personally i dont think IPS is ready for the big time. 
> > > Yeah its great for small mum and dad networks, but for large 
> > > financial networks with billions of pounds flowing across them, would
>
>
> > > you trust a technology to think and block what it seems as bad 
> > > traffic?
> > >
> > > So what are the alternatives? I'd say more host based protection such
>
>
> > > as:
> > >
> > > - Stack protection - Application level firewalls
> > > (ModSecurity/SecureIIS) - Host based firewalls
> > >
> > > I'm interested to see what everyone else feels are alternatives to 
> > > IPS
> > >
> > >
> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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