RE: Value of IDS, ROI

[Justin.Ross () signalsolutionsinc com]

Tim, great marketing response :) I'll will do my best not to dissect it, 
as a reply like that could only be expected from someone who works for an 
IPS company hehe

While I agree that a good IPS (such as Top Layer) is a great investment 
and possibly capable of showing a positive ROI, I wouldn't say that an IDS 
is incapable of also providing the same. What is the ROI of a burglar 
alarm? What is the ROI of a carbon monoxide alarm? What is the ROI of a 
smoke/fire alarm? None of those automatically prevent you from burning to 
death in a fire, so why even purchase them? They clearly have no worth in 
your line of reasoning.

If anyone has ever written an ROI for one of those things I would like to 
see it. Is it even necessary to write an ROI for such things (including 
IDS/IPS)? Equating an IDS with a smoke alarm, and an IPS to a smoke alarm 
with sprinklers, I really don't see how either of them could show a 
negative ROI. What's the ROI for a burglar alarm? It doesn't capture the 
burglar or keep the burglar from entering the building, does that negate 
its value or its benefit?

A CIO may ignore having an IDS/IPS or even a firewall, they can claim 
ignorance to any problems, the same way a building manager can claim 
ignorance not knowing there was a fire and never having thought to spend 
the money for a smoke alarm. Could that building manager get sued for 
gross incompetence/negligence? Could a CIO/CSO get sued for gross 
incompetence/negligence if a certain attack had devastating consequences? 

Perhaps we can all go crash some liability attorney forum to ask, but my 
bet would be that yes a company could get sued big time for not knowing 
(or at least trying to know) an attack was taking place. How does the 
avoidance of consequential litigation factor into an ROI? 

O day exploits are typically not alerted on (IDS) or prevented (IPS), does 
that then negate a positive ROI for either of those two solutions? 
 
I personally don't know why a ROI would be necessary in any of those 
scenarios. I've never had to write one, anywhere; simply because when you 
demonstrate attacks are taking place to or from your resources and the 
associated risks, an IDS/IPS sells itself; much like a smoke/burglar 
alarm. I think the question isn't whether they bring value (positive ROI), 
but whether or not one needs or can afford the model with integrated 
sprinklers.

 YMMV 

Justin Ross
MCP+I, MCSE, CCNA, CCSA, CCSE
Senior Network Security Engineer
Signal Solutions Inc.    -   http://www.signalcorp.com
Email: Justin.Ross-at-signalsolutionsinc.com





THolman () toplayer com 
05/19/2005 04:38 PM

To
patel1210 () yahoo com, focus-ids () securityfocus com
cc

Subject
RE: Value of IDS, ROI






Hi Jason,

This is one of the big problems with IDS.  Being detection-based 
technology,
IDS is only capable of detecting intrusions\worm\virus outbreaks, rather
than PREVENTING them.
What is the ROI of a detection-based system that alerts you to the fact
you're completely overrun by worm activity?  Absolutely nothing.  In fact,
if you are relying on IDS to protect you, you will face a negative ROI, as
by the time a zero-day attack gets past it, you will be losing money, even
more so if you've an online presence to protect.
Your CIO should ultimately be concerned in preventing attacks, rather than
detecting them, and you should steer his/her investments toward a good IPS
to compliment (and protect) existing IDS technology, and in some cases, do
away with IDS devices altogether, as they are simply not relevant in terms
of protection.

Regards,

Tim


-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Patel [mailto:patel1210 () yahoo com] 
Sent: 03 May 2005 19:15
To: focus-ids () securityfocus com
Subject: Value of IDS, ROI



I was wondering how big companies CIO show their executives Return of
investment on IDS. What is the monitoring strategy for IDS alerts. I am
trying to figure monitoring strategy and how to show my executive that how
important job this is, but cant come up with a convincing solution. 
Anyhelp
is highly appreciated. 

Thanks,

Jason

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