Table of Contents
An intrusion prevention system (IPS) is a security tool that continuously monitors a network for malicious activity.
The best thing about IPS is that it takes action to prevent malicious activity by either reporting, blocking, or dropping it when it occurs.
Let’s discuss the Intrusion Prevention System and its effectiveness against cyber threats.
About Intrusion Prevention System
Numerous reasons make an intrusion prevention system the need of the hour today. Nowadays, there are multiple access points to multi-cloud networks, and monitoring these points manually is not possible.
Dealing with the high volume of traffic manually has become a distant dream. In addition, cybersecurity threats are continuously evolving and taking even more sophisticated shapes.
In such a scenario, only an automated IPS can come in handy. With the help of an intrusion prevention system, companies can respond to threats quickly and effectively.
Types of Intrusion Prevention System
There are numerous types of Intrusion Prevention Systems in the IT world today. Each of these comes with a unique set of features. You can choose them according to your security preferences.
Host-Based Intrusion Prevention System
This type of intrusion prevention system takes care of a single host. It doesn’t operate on the whole network; instead, its main focus is the particular host on which it is deployed.
The main task of this type of IPS is to ensure that no malicious or harmful activity is happening within the internal network. Whenever a sign of any malicious activity, it scans the network thoroughly. It takes adequate action to prevent it from spreading in the host it is operating.
Network-Based Intrusion Prevention System
Next up is the network-based intrusion prevention system, which, as the name suggests, prevents any anomaly from haunting the network on which it is deployed.
Unlike the host-based IPS, this one takes care of the entire network and controls the threats from harming the network.
You can even connect it to the threat scanning tools. If the network scanning tools detect any malicious activity, the network-based IPS takes immediate action to prevent damage.
Network Behavior Analysis
As the name suggests, this type of intrusion prevention system keeps a check on the overall behavior of the network.
If anything goes unusual, it starts taking action against it. In simple words, network behavior analysis involves continuously checking the incoming traffic.
Suppose anything suspicious is present in the traffic or any odd and unwanted movement involvement like the DDoS attacks. In that case, it starts the due procedure to prevent it from harming your network or system.
Wireless Intrusion Prevention System
A wireless intrusion prevention system has the sole purpose of monitoring the WiFi network. If there’s any unauthorized or suspicious device that’s trying to get itself connected to your network, this system prevents it from doing so.
It acts like a gatekeeper or a watchman whose job is to ensure no one gets inside the building.
How Does the Network Intrusion Prevention System Work?
As the main task of the IPS is to prevent cyber attacks from infiltrating your network, it is mainly deployed in a place where it comes in between the source and the destination.
Such a place is ideal for it to monitor the real-time traffic that’s coming your way. Although there’s yet to be a specific place allotted to the IPS where it should be allowed in your network, there are two main preferences.
- Enterprise Edge, Perimeter
- Enterprise Data Center
You can use an intrusion prevention system as a stand-alone, as deploying it like this won’t be a problem. However, there’s another way to run it, and you can do so by turning on the consolidated IPS function within the next-generation firewall.
When it comes to detecting a malicious threat that’s coming towards your system, the IPS mainly uses two ways to see it.
- Signature-Based Detection
Since the evolution of the cyber world, many known threats have been put on the record. It’s to identify these threats whenever they try to harm any system in the future.
All the known cyber attacks come with specific signatures or codes. The intrusion prevention system monitors your network traffic, and the moment it identifies a known signature, the action begins.
This method helps in identifying the already known threats quite quickly and without any significant damage. However, this method only works on new or more evolved threats, as the system needs its codes or signatures saved in the record.
- Statistical Anomaly Based Detection
In this type of detection, the IPS looks for any out-of-the-ordinary behavior in the network traffic. The system prepares the samples of the incoming traffic randomly and then compares it to the pre-calculated performance level.
Suppose there’s something weird about the traffic that doesn’t coordinate with the standard baseline performance. In that case, the system immediately prevents it from harming or entering your network.
Both these detection methods have pros and cons, but anomaly-based detection is considered much better than signature-based one. The signature-based detection method only works well with already-known threats and cannot highlight new ones.
What Are the Perks of Using an Intrusion Prevention System?
Anything that prevents cyber security threats from attacking your system is worth a shot. An intrusion prevention system is a blessing in disguise for those who have to deal with online tasks daily.
Advanced Security
The primary purpose of an intrusion prevention system is to provide your network with the ultimate security, and IPS indeed serves this purpose to its fullest.
There are numerous threats that other security solutions are still looking for, and they even find it hard to fight against them.
However, an intrusion prevention system is quite impressive compared to them and can quickly identify those threats that other solutions cannot see.
The anomaly-based detection method used by IPS is especially effective in this regard. Because of its continuous network monitoring regarding any out-of-the-ordinary movement, IPS can identify even the most hidden threats.
Savior for Security Controls
Once a cyber threat infiltrates your system, all your security controls get in line to deal with that particular threat, which takes a toll on them. However, if you’ve IPS by your side, your security controls won’t have to go through this hassle.
The main task of an IPS is to identify the threat and keep it from entering the system. Since it tackles most of the attacks before they manage to hurt your network, this reduces the overall burden on your security controls.
This, in turn, improves the overall efficiency of the controls since they won’t have to divert from their regular security check ups only to deal with the threat that has entered your system.
Saves Time
Once you deploy an intrusion prevention system into your network, you won’t need to manage it repeatedly. Most of the tasks performed by IPS are automated, which makes it time-savvy. Your IT teams can deal with other issues, while IPS can take on the cyber threats independently.
Customization
Since every enterprise comes with its security requirements, that’s why there should be a system that they can customize according to their needs.
The intrusion prevention system allows enterprises to customize their settings according to their preferences. This makes it even more effective and desirable for multinational companies.
Minimum Financial Loss
Another plus point of using an intrusion prevention system is that it saves you from going broke. Most cyber-attacks are done to steal your financial information and loot your treasure box.
You can lose a lot of money if the threat enters your network. However, when you have IPS by your side, you won’t have to worry about this issue. Since it identifies and takes immediate action against the attack on time, there’s a minimum chance of financial loss.
Even if there’s any loss, it won’t be too much. Instead of dealing with the loss without having an IPS by losing your data to attackers and hiring security teams that charge a lot, you can install an IPS in your system and save yourself from this hassle.
Privacy Intact
An intrusion prevention system doesn’t let the hacker steal the critical data you’ve been guarding for so long. Your private data stays private when an IPS is deployed in your system.
No attacker can touch it as the IPS won’t let it. Nowadays, intrusion prevention systems are up-to-date and know how to deal with skillful attackers. To protect your and your customers’ data, you must invest in this system at all costs.
Countermeasures Used by Intrusion Prevention System
An intrusion prevention system uses various techniques to deal with the incoming threats.
Change of Security Environment
An IPS is relatively quick in taking action against cybersecurity vulnerabilities. One way of dealing with these threats is to change the security environment according to the danger that’s been looming around.
For example, it can configure the firewall to increase its security against new vulnerabilities.
Automated Alarms
Another reason for dealing with the problems effectively is that when the threat steps into the system, the IPS sends a quick warning to the system administrators.
This helps in the early notification of a security breach that’s about to happen but is in the early phase. This way, the security teams can tackle the issue before it creates excessive damage.
Reset
Another countermeasure the IPS takes when a malicious activity is spotted is reconnecting the network. This helps shut down the system altogether, and the attacker doesn’t get a chance to get inside the system.
Blocking Traffic
Since one of the main tasks of the IPS is to monitor the network traffic to identify any malicious threats, it also has the power to block it.
When the intrusion prevention system spots anything suspicious in the network traffic from a particular IP address, it can block it immediately.
What is the Difference Between IPS and IDS?
People often confuse IPS and IDS with each other, although the difference between the two is quite significant.
An intrusion detection system provides an alert about a threat or an attack that has entered the system. It must take action. IDS notifies the system about the danger, which enables the security analysts to investigate the problem and solve it.
On the other hand, an intrusion prevention system is designed to act against the threat trying to harm the network. It not only notifies the administrators about the issue but also takes quick action to prevent it from wreaking havoc.
Alternatives to Intrusion Prevention System
- Firewalls – It’s known that Network firewalls filter and monitor traffic based on pre-established security rules, which helps prevent unauthorized access.
- Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) – SIEM solutions collect and analyze log data from different devices across an organization to provide a broader view of security events.
- User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) – This analyzes patterns of user behavior to identify unusual activities that could indicate a security threat.
- Honeypots are simulated systems or networks that lure attackers to provide information about their methods without exposing natural systems.
- Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) – These systems detect and actively prevent or block identified threats.
- Deception Technology involves planting traps in the form of decoy systems or data to deceive the attackers and detect their presence in your system.
- Application-layer firewalls – With the help of these, you can have granular control over traffic regarding a specific application.
- VPNs – A reliable VPN like PureVPN provides highly reliable and secretive encryption and secure communication channels to protect the data being transferred from one network to the other. It makes it more challenging for attackers to figure out what’s happening inside a system.
Intrusion Prevention System – A Defense Against Cyber Threats
An Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) is paramount in the digital landscape. With the constant evolution of cyber threats, an IPS is a proactive defense mechanism that identifies and thwarts malicious activities such as malware, ransomware, and advanced persistent threats.
It safeguards sensitive data and prevents unauthorized access and data breaches. IPS systems are essential for business continuity, as they minimize downtime and financial losses in the event of a cyberattack.
In a world where cybersecurity is paramount, an IPS is a critical component of an organization’s defense against an ever-expanding array of threats.
Marrium Akhtar
November 7, 2023
6 months ago
