What is an Intrusion Detection System in information security?

An intrusion detection system (IDS) is software specifically develop to monitor network traffic and find irregularities. An IDS is designed to detect network traffic and match traffic designs to known attacks. Through this method, sometimes known as pattern correlation, an intrusion prevention system can determine if unusual event is a cyberattack.

Because suspicious or malicious activity is found, an intrusion detection system will send an alarm to specified technicians or IT administrators. IDS alarms allows us to rapidly start troubleshooting and identify root sources of problems, or discover and stop harmful agents in their tracks.

Intrusion Detection System (IDS) technology is an essential element in designing a secure environment. It is an approach of security management system for computers and networks. An IDS assemble and analyzes information from multiple areas within a computer or a network to recognize possible security breaches, which contains both intrusions and misuse.

It is software and hardware designed to identify unwanted attempts at accessing, manipulating, and disabling of computer systems, generally through a network, including the Internet. These attempts can take the form of attacks such as by crackers, malware and disgruntled employees.

An intrusion detection system is used to identify multiple types of malicious behaviors that can negotiate the security and trust of a computer system. This involves network attacks against vulnerable services, data driven attacks on applications, host based attacks including privilege escalation, unauthorized logins and access to sensitive information, and malware (viruses, trojan horses and worms).

An IDS can be composed of multiple components such as sensors which make security events, a Console to monitor events and alerts and control the sensors, and a central Engine that data events logged by the sensors in a database and need a system of rules to produce alerts from security events received.

There are various methods to categorize an IDS depends on the type and area of the sensors and the approaches utilized by the engine to make alerts. While there are various types of IDSs, the general types of work the same. They analyze network traffic and log files for specific designs.

The administrator can view if it can checks the access log of the firewall, but that can be weeks or even months after the attack. This is where an IDS appears into play. The attempts to move through the firewall are logged, and IDS will evaluate its log. At some point in the log there will be multiple request-reject entries.

An IDS will flag the events and alert a management. The administrator can see what is appearing right after or even while the attacks are taking place. This provides an administrator the benefit of being able to analyze the methods being used, source of attacks, and approaches used by the hacker.