Re: Recent anti-NIDS Gartner article

[Stephen Samuel <samuel () bcgreen com>]

Mike Blomgren wrote:
> If IDS is the looser, and a firewall is the solution - then why do we
> have surveillance cameras when we would be better off with good locks on
> our doors? 

To folow the analogy: cameras record things that locks can't
stop.  A  camera/NIDS with humans paying good attention to it
can recognize things like somebody breaking a window, loitering
suspiciously, etc.

No matter how good your door locks may be, it still won't stop
someone from bringing in a vehicle(tank) as a battering ram.
or doing something as breaking a window to get access (had that
happen to me twice!). Not to mention the use of a lockpick.

With a good recording system (with or without human intervention)
they can sometimes provide infomation on the identity, methods
and intentions of an intruder. This can be useful either for
filing later charges or simply determining what needs to be fixed
to prevent a recurrence.

Firewalls can prevent some of the more obvious attacks, but
a well-tuned NIDS could also recognize things like suspicious
outgoing connections and malicious web/ftp sites. Those are
kinds of attacks that the firewall paradigm isn't really
designed to handle well.

--
Stephen Samuel +1(604)876-0426                samuel () bcgreen com
                   http://www.bcgreen.com/~samuel/
   Powerful committed communication. Transformation touching
       the jewel within each person and bring it to life.


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