IMO, there is no reason for any organization connected to the Internet not to run IDS. There is an increasing trend in the security arena away from formal risk analysis/cost benefit methodologies towards one of implementing "best practices". There are several reasons for this:
1) Formal risk analysis methodologies generally take a long time and cost a lot of money. There are abbreviated versions of the process, but it's still a significant effort to do these correctly. 2) In the end, the effort may not be all that helpful. The problem is that a risk analysis is based on cost/benefit numbers that don't really map to hackers and vandals. You may not consider your web server to be worth much since it has only public data, but it may be very valuable to someone who can use it to attack other sites. Also, it is nearly impossible to weigh the risk of a loss of customer confidence in your company. If your site is publicly compromised, it doesn't matter much whether companies do financial transactions through your web-site or not, they probably will have a very dim view of your organization if you can't keep your web site secure. 3) There are efforts underway to formalize best practices for security for anyone connected to the Internet. (for example, see http://www.cisecurity.org/) It is logical to assume that as these efforts become widespread, a company may very well be held financially responsible if they do not follow these practices under traditional business standards of "due care". If your site is compromised and is used to compromise other sites, it is likely you will be sued and lose. If your site becomes a warez site, software companies may sue you for supporting piracy, and you will lose. There is simply too much information on good security practices and too many open source tools that can be deployed for almost zero cost for any organization to continue to claim ignorance or budget as an excuse for not implementing basic security measures. Given this, the question is not "should someone deploy IDS", the question is "what IDS should we deploy". Snort is an excellent choice for the cost and has a sizable installed base of admins to help newbies. If budget permits, there are lot's of decent products to choose from and one can certainly mix and match open source with commercial tools to suit almost any budget. Regards, Kent -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Patrick Ramsey Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 7:15 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Should I buy IDS ? [7:36053] Well...it depends on how secure you want your network! The size is completely irrelevant... if you own a medical practice with patient data floating around your network and you only have 10 computers, with 4 of them offering some type of internet service through the firewal,etc etc... then I would say yes...ids is important... if you own jokenetwork.com and you have 50,000 machines trading jokes all day, are you worried about sombody stealing your jokes? probably not... If you do decide to implement some type of ids, look at http://www.lids.org/ remember signature based ids are signature based ids regardless of company and price.... as long as you have a constant way to update signatures, you should be fine. To supplement your signature based design, though check out www.lancope.com ...They have an AWESOME supplement to signature based systems. Even though there box will trigger on some signature based attacks, it is not meant to trigger on them as soon as they happen....This is why I say it is a supplement and not a complete kit. Of course...a good security policy would help you decide on what you need! :) http://www.sans.org/newlook/resources/policies/policies.htm#template -Patrick ps. if you run tons of data through your internet connection (45mb plus) or your ids is from backbone to backbone, I would stay away from LIDS unless you have a BADA$$ machine to run it on... :) >>> "Arni V. Skarphedinsson" 02/21/02 09:32AM >>> I am administrating a network of about 500 computers, 30 servers, and somthink like 70 WAN locations, I have been thinking about the Cisco IDS system, anyone have any good reasons to use one, have you used it, and has it detected much intrusion. I realy need somthing to sell the ides to the managment. >>>>>>>>>>>>> Confidentiality Disclaimer <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< This email and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential and /or proprietary information in the possession of WellStar Health System, Inc. ("WellStar") and is intended only for the individual or entity to whom addressed. This email may contain information that is held to be privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. 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