Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS) are essential security tools used to detect and respond to unauthorized access attempts, anomalies, or malicious activities within a network.
Also known as Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), IDPS play a crucial role in safeguarding networks by monitoring and analyzing network traffic, identifying potential threats, and taking action to prevent or mitigate them.
IDPS systems are important because they provide real-time monitoring and analysis of network traffic, allowing security teams to detect and respond to threats promptly. They help in preventing unauthorized access, data breaches, and other cyberattacks, thereby enhancing the overall security posture of an organization.
IDPS can be used in various ways, such as signature-based detection, which compares network traffic against a database of known attack signatures, and anomaly-based detection, which identifies deviations from normal traffic patterns. They can also be deployed in different environments, including on-premises networks, cloud environments, and industrial control systems, to protect against a wide range of threats.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS) have evolved significantly since their inception.
In the past, IDPS primarily focused on signature-based detection, which involved comparing network traffic against a database of known attack signatures. While effective against known threats, this approach was limited in its ability to detect new or unknown attacks.
Over time, IDPS have evolved to incorporate more advanced techniques, such as anomaly detection and machine learning, to identify abnormal or suspicious patterns in network traffic that may indicate an attack. This has significantly improved their ability to detect and respond to a wide range of threats, including zero-day attacks and advanced persistent threats (APTs).
Today, IDPS are an integral part of network security, providing real-time monitoring, threat detection, and response capabilities. They are also increasingly integrated with other security tools and technologies, such as Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems, to provide a more comprehensive security posture.
The evolution of IDPS reflects the growing sophistication of cyber threats and the need for more advanced and adaptive security measures to protect against them.
Overall, IDPSs are invaluable tools for network security and cybersecurity professionals, providing them with the necessary visibility and control to defend against evolving threats and protect critical assets. They help in reducing the likelihood of successful cyberattacks, minimizing potential damage, and ensuring the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of network resources.
Best Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS): What To Look For
When choosing the best Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDPS) for an organization, several factors, features, and capabilities should be considered:
- Detection Methods: Look for IDPS that offer multiple detection methods, such as signature-based, anomaly-based, and behavior-based detection, to effectively identify a wide range of threats.
- Scalability: Ensure that the IDPS can scale to accommodate the organization’s current and future needs, including network size, traffic volume, and number of devices.
- Performance: Choose an IDPS that can handle the organization’s network traffic without causing latency or impacting network performance.
- Integration: Select an IDPS that can integrate with other security tools and technologies, such as SIEM systems, firewalls, and endpoint security solutions, to provide a more comprehensive security posture.
- Ease of Use: Look for an IDPS that is easy to deploy, configure, and manage, with a user-friendly interface and robust reporting capabilities.
- Customization: Choose an IDPS that allows for customization to meet the organization’s specific security requirements and policies.
- Real-time Monitoring: Ensure that the IDPS provides real-time monitoring and alerting capabilities to quickly detect and respond to threats.
- Compliance: Select an IDPS that complies with relevant regulatory requirements and standards, such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR, to ensure data protection and regulatory compliance.
- Vendor Support: Consider the level of support offered by the IDPS vendor, including updates, patches, and technical support, to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of the solution.
- Cost: Evaluate the total cost of ownership, including initial setup costs, licensing fees, and ongoing maintenance costs, to ensure that the IDPS is affordable and provides value for money.
By considering these factors, features, and capabilities, organizations can choose the best IDPS to protect their network from a wide range of cyber threats.
Best Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS) Used By Security Professionals
1. Palo Alto Networks Threat Prevention
Best-in-class IPS. Decrease risk by 45% and get a return on spend in six months versus stand-alone network threat protection.
STATS & SPECIFICATIONS:
- Comprehensive coverage of C2 attacks: The only solution to block unknown C2 attacks and exploit attempts in real time using Advanced Threat Prevention’s industry-first, purpose-built inline deep learning models.
- Protection without compromising performance: Safeguard your network from known threats, such as exploits, malware, spyware, and command and control attacks, with market-leading, researcher-grade signatures that don’t compromise performance.
- Industry-leading prevention with accuracy: Advanced Threat Prevention blocks threats at both the network and application layers, including port scans, buffer overflows and remote code execution, with a low tolerance for false positives.
- Protect against malware with custom signatures: Protect against the most recent and relevant malware with payload signatures, not hash, to block known and future variants of malware, and receive the latest security updates from Advanced WildFire® in seconds.
- Complete visibility of all threats: Leverage User-ID™, App-ID™ and Device-ID™ technology on our ML-Powered NGFWs to add context to all traffic on all ports so you never lose sight of a threat, regardless of the techniques used.
- Snort® and Suricata® signature support: Add to your threat coverage with flexible Snort and Suricata rule conversion for customized protections.
IDEAL FOR:
- Enterprises
- Mid-market organizations
PRODUCT WEBSITE: Palo Alto Networks Threat Prevention
2. Trend Micro TippingPoint
Flexible deployment and investment protection. With flexible deployment options that are easy to set up and manage through a centralized management interface, TippingPoint provides immediate and ongoing threat protection with out-of-the-box recommended settings. Simplify security operations. Reassign licenses across TPS deployments without changing network infrastructure. Easily scale performance and security requirements with pay-as-you-grow licensing model.
STATS & SPECIFICATIONS:
- Go beyond next-gen IPS: Detect and block attacks through preemptive threat prevention, threat insight and prioritization, and real-time enforcement and remediation. Defend the network from the edge, to the data center, and to the cloud, leveraging machine learning to detect and mitigate threats.
- Performance scalability: Unprecedented security and performance for high-capacity networks with a scalable deployment model that includes the industry’s first 100 Gbps Next-Generation Intrusion Prevention System (NGIPS) in a 1U form factor, with the ability to scale up to .5Tbps (500 Gbps) aggregate in a 5U form factor.
- Comprehensive threat insight and prioritization: Gain complete visibility across your network with the insight and context needed to measure and drive vulnerability threat prioritization. Deep inspection of network traffic identifies and blocks threats undetected by traditional security solutions. On-box SSL inspection reduces security blind spots created by encrypted traffic.
IDEAL FOR:
- Mid-market organizations
- Small businesses
PRODUCT WEBSITE: Trend Micro TippingPoint
3. Check Point IPS
Quantum Intrusion Prevention System (IPS). Intrusion Prevention Systems detect or prevent attempts to exploit weaknesses in vulnerable systems or applications, protecting you in the race to exploit the latest breaking threat. Check Point IPS protections in our Next Generation Firewall are updated automatically. Whether the vulnerability was released years ago, or a few minutes ago, your organization is protected.
STATS & SPECIFICATIONS:
- Detects and prevents: Specific known exploits, vulnerabilities, including both known and unknown exploit tools, protocol misuse which may indicate potential threats, tunneling attempts that may indicate data leakage, outbound malware communications.
- 360 degree visibility and reporting: Seamlessly integrates with SmartEvent, enabling SOC (Security Operations Center) staff to respond to the highest priority events first, saving them time.
IDEAL FOR:
- Enterprises
- Mid-market organizations
PRODUCT WEBSITE: Check Point IPS
4. CrowdSec
CrowdSec Security Engine.The Behavioral Solution Against Targeted Attacks. The CrowdSec Security Engine is a powerful, open-source software for detecting and blocking malicious IPs, safeguarding both infrastructure and application security.
STATS & SPECIFICATIONS:
- As an Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (Infrastructure Security): Combine the Security Engine with a Remediation Component to get a powerful IDPS solution that protects your infrastructure from targeted attacks, detects abnormal behaviors, triggers alerts, and integrates with security points like Firewalls.
IDEAL FOR:
- Mid-market organizations
- Small businesses
PRODUCT WEBSITE: CrowdSec Security Engine
5. ExtraHop IDS
ExtraHop IDS is the next evolution of intrusion detection technology. Harnessing network data and tens of thousands of high-fidelity network signatures, ExtraHop IDS provides high-risk CVE exploit identification, contextualized alerts, and full-spectrum investigation workflows. ExtraHop IDS analyzes both east-west and north-south traffic with enhanced decryption capabilities, and can better address compliance requirements set by PCI DSS, HIPAA, NIST, and more.
STATS & SPECIFICATIONS:
- Deeper detection coverage: Real-time detections of known exploits with tens of thousands of curated signatures. High-fidelity detections curated by the ExtraHop Threat Research team. Detect known threats in encrypted network traffic and have east-west visibility.
- Strengthened response: Enhanced response capabilities with integrated Reveal(x) workflows. Advanced triage with integrated risk scoring, correlation, and investigation. Native and turnkey integrations with CrowdStrike, Splunk, and other leading security providers.
- Reduce compliance risk and resources: Deploy and manage physical and virtual IDS sensors from the same Reveal(x) NDR platform. Automated cloud updates including health and rule updates for sensors with restricted access. Stay ahead of security governance and compliance requirements from PCI DSS, NIST, and more.
IDEAL FOR:
- Enterprises
- Mid-market organizations
PRODUCT WEBSITE: ExtraHop IDS
6. FortiGate IPS
Best-in-Class Intrusion Prevention Against Known and Suspicious Threats. The AI/ML-powered FortiGuard IPS Service provides near-real-time intelligence with thousands of intrusion prevention rules to detect and block known and suspicious threats before they ever reach your devices. Natively integrated across the Fortinet Security Fabric, the FortiGuard IPS Service delivers industry-leading IPS performance and efficiency while creating a coordinated network response across your broader Fortinet infrastructure.
STATS & SPECIFICATIONS:
- Advanced network protection: Utilize deep packet inspection of network traffic to detect and block threats.
- Protection for OT: Extend IPS protection to OT devices and applications with specialized signatures.
- Accelerated protection: Deploy new security countermeasures in near-real-time through coordinated network actions.
IDEAL FOR:
- Mid-market organizations
- Enterprises
PRODUCT WEBSITE: FortiGate IPS
7. Corelight IDS
Corelight integrates high-performance signature-based alerts with network context—lowering response times and revealing attack impact.
STATS & SPECIFICATIONS:
- Zero in on true positives: When an IDS alert fires, Corelight packages that alert together with all pertinent network evidence, integrating signal and context.
- Intrusion detection: Signature-based alerts are linked to all the relevant evidence surrounding the attack. This gives your analysts valuable context, as well as correlation that improves further analysis.
- Resolve critical cases with speed and accuracy .
IDEAL FOR:
- Enterprises
- Mid-market organizations
PRODUCT WEBSITE: Corelight IDS
8. USM Anywhere
Start detecting threats on day one and drive operational efficiency with one unified platform for threat detection, incident response, and compliance management.
STATS & SPECIFICATIONS:
USM Anywhere centralizes security monitoring of networks and devices in the cloud, on premises, and in remote locations, helping you to detect threats virtually anywhere.
Discover:
- Network asset discovery
- Software & services discovery
- AWS asset discovery
- Azure asset discovery
- Google Cloud Platform asset discovery
Analyze:
- SIEM event correlation, auto-prioritized alarms
- User activity monitoring
- Up to 90-days of online, searchable events
Detect:
- Cloud intrusion detection (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Network intrusion detection (NIDS)
- Host intrusion detection (HIDS)
- Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
IDEAL FOR:
- Mid-market organizations
- Small businesses
PRODUCT WEBSITE: USM Anywhere
9. Cisco Secure IPS
Visibility
With Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center, you can see more contextual data from your network and fine-tune your security. View applications, signs of compromise, host profiles, file trajectory, sandboxing, vulnerability information, and device-level OS visibility. Use these data inputs to optimize security through policy recommendations or Snort customizations.
STATS & SPECIFICATIONS:
- Efficacy: Secure IPS receives new policy rules and signatures every two hours, so your security is always up to date. Cisco Talos leverages the world’s largest threat detection network to bring security effectiveness to every Cisco security product. This industry-leading threat intelligence works as an early-warning system that constantly updates with new threats.
- Operational cost: Use Secure IPS automation to increase operational efficiency and reduce overhead by separating actionable events from noise. Prioritize threats for your staff and improve your security through policy recommendations based on network vulnerabilities. Stay informed on what rules to activate and deactivate, and filter events pertinent for the devices on your network.
- Integration: Secure IPS plugs into your network without major hardware changes or significant time to implement. Enable and manage several security applications from a single pane with Firewall Management Center. Seamlessly navigate between Secure IPS, Secure Firewall and Secure Endpoint to optimize your security and ingest third-party data through Cisco Threat Intelligence Director.
IDEAL FOR:
- Enterprises
- Mid-market organizations
PRODUCT WEBSITE: Cisco Secure IPS
10. Ossec
Open Source HIDS. OSSEC is fully open source and free. You can tailor OSSEC for your security needs through its extensive configuration options, adding custom alert rules and writing scripts to take action when alerts occur.
STATS & SPECIFICATIONS:
- Multiplatform HIDS: Atomic OSSEC offers comprehensive host-based intrusion detection and protection across multiple platforms including Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, BSD, Windows, Mac and VMware ESX.
- PCI Compliance: Atomic OSSEC helps organizations meet specific compliance requirements such as NIST and PCI DSS. It detects and alerts on unauthorized file system modification and malicious behavior that could make you non-compliant.
IDEAL FOR:
- Small businesses
- Mid-market organizations
PRODUCT WEBSITE: Ossec
11. Blumira Automated Detection & Response
Detect threats 5X faster with Blumira’s advanced threat detection and response. Deploy in minutes. Automatically block threats
STATS & SPECIFICATIONS:
- Automated host isolation: To stop the spread of ransomware or prevent attacker lateral movement, Blumira Agent’s automated host isolation allows you to remotely cut off an endpoint’s access to your network when an associated P1-P3 threat is detected in your environment. That way, you can have the peace of mind that any critical threat is contained immediately, giving you time to investigate safely.
- Automatically block malicious traffic: No need for manual intervention when malicious connections are detected – you can automatically block malicious source IPs or domains with Blumira’s Automated Blocking (for Dynamic Blocklists). Blumira’s platform easily integrates with all major firewall providers to provide this feature, such as Palo Alto Networks, Cisco, Fortinet, Check Point, Sophos, F5 and more.
- Built-in security playbooks: The faster you can respond, the less impact a security incident has on your organization. With Blumira’s automated security platform, now you can – without being a security expert, or staffing a full security team. Blumira provides playbooks for every finding that walks you through timely threat response. Our security team gives you guided next steps to take, informed by contextual information for compliance, auditing or investigation purposes.
IDEAL FOR:
- Mid-market organizations
- Small businesses
PRODUCT WEBSITE: Blumira Automated Detection & Response
12. Snort
Snort is an open-source, free and lightweight network intrusion detection system (NIDS) software for Linux and Windows to detect emerging threats.
STATS & SPECIFICATIONS:
Snort can be deployed inline to stop these packets, as well. Snort has three primary uses: As a packet sniffer like tcpdump, as a packet logger — which is useful for network traffic debugging, or it can be used as a full-blown network intrusion prevention system. Snort can be downloaded and configured for personal and business use alike.
IDEAL FOR:
- Mid-market organizations
- Small businesses
PRODUCT WEBSITE: Snort
In Summary…
Choosing the right Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDPS) is essential for organizations looking to bolster their network security. There are several key factors to consider, such as the system’s detection methods, scalability, performance, integration capabilities, ease of use, customization options, compliance with regulations, vendor support, and cost.
Implementing a robust IDPS can significantly enhance your organization’s ability to detect, prevent, and respond to security incidents, ultimately safeguarding its valuable assets and maintaining operational continuity.
So, we have carefully evaluated these factors and listed the above-mentioned IDPS. From this list, your organization can select the IDPS that best fits your specific security needs, based on their different stats & specifications, your company size, and current and future needs.