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Non-Profit After reviewing your latest submission, the CIO h
Non-Profit After reviewing your latest submission, the CIO has found some areas of concern and would like you to provide a little clarity on one subject. He is meeting with upper management to persuade them to purchase a new suite of intrusion detection software for the network. Currently, the organization has antivirus software and uses firewalls. Provide justification for adding intrusion detection software (IDS), as well. Research various IDS that would benefit the company. Create a 2-page table for the CIO to share with upper management. Include the following: Reasons why IDS would benefit the company and the larger cyber domain Descriptions of the categories and models of intrusion detection and prevention systems A description of the function of antivirus software, firewalls, and IDS Examples of commercial software that could provide the solution Include citations as necessary in APA format.
Paper For Above Instructions
Executive Summary and Justification
Antivirus (AV) and firewalls are essential baseline defenses, but they address different phases and facets of cyber risk. Antivirus focuses on known-malware detection on endpoints and file stores, while firewalls control permitted network flows. Neither reliably detects sophisticated attacks that bypass signatures, exploit zero-days, carry out lateral movement, or exfiltrate data over allowed channels. An intrusion detection system (IDS) provides additional visibility, detection, and context — monitoring network traffic and/or host behavior to identify suspicious activity and policy violations that AV and firewalls alone can miss (Scarfone & Mell, 2007). Deploying IDS improves incident detection times, supports incident response, and reduces business risk by identifying active intrusions before major damage or data loss occurs (Debar, Dacier, & Wespi, 1999).
Key Reasons to Add IDS
- Enhanced visibility: IDS inspects traffic payloads and behavioral patterns beyond firewall rules and AV signatures, revealing covert channels, lateral movement, and command-and-control traffic (Scarfone & Mell, 2007).
- Detection of unknown threats: Anomaly-based and behavior-based IDS can detect deviations from normal baselines, surfacing zero-day or polymorphic attacks that signature-only AV misses (Debar et al., 1999).
- Complementary defense-in-depth: IDS augments firewalls and AV to create layered detection and validation checkpoints, improving overall security posture (Cisco, 2021).
- Faster incident response: IDS alerts combined with contextual logs accelerate triage and containment, reducing dwell time of threats in the environment (Palo Alto Networks, 2020).
- Regulatory and audit support: IDS logs and alerts provide evidence for compliance frameworks and forensic investigations (Scarfone & Mell, 2007).
Overview: AV, Firewalls, IDS — Roles and Functions
Antivirus: Endpoint AV primarily detects and remediates malicious files and known malware through signature matching, heuristic analysis, and reputation services. Modern AV often includes endpoint detection and response (EDR) features for process and behavioral monitoring (Microsoft, 2020).
Firewalls: Firewalls control traffic flows by enforcing network- and application-layer policies. They limit attack surface by blocking unauthorized access and segmenting networks. Next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) add application awareness and some threat prevention capabilities (Palo Alto Networks, 2020).
Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS): IDS tools monitor network traffic (NIDS) and/or host activities (HIDS) to detect suspicious patterns, signatures, and anomalies. IDS can be passive (alerting) or active when paired with prevention capabilities (IPS) that block or quarantine traffic inline (Scarfone & Mell, 2007).
Categories and Models of IDS/IPS
- Network-based IDS (NIDS): Monitors network segments for malicious traffic using signatures, protocol analysis, and anomaly detection (Roesch, 1999).
- Host-based IDS (HIDS): Runs on endpoints/servers to analyze logs, file integrity, process behavior, and system calls (Debar et al., 1999).
- Signature-based detection: Compares traffic to known malicious patterns (fast and precise for known threats but blind to zero-days) (Roesch, 1999).
- Anomaly-based detection: Builds baselines of “normal” behavior and flags deviations (effective for unknown threats but requires tuning to reduce false positives) (Debar et al., 1999).
- Stateful/protocol-aware IDS: Understands application protocols to identify evasions and misuse (Scarfone & Mell, 2007).
- Inline IPS vs. passive IDS: IPS may automatically block malicious traffic inline; IDS typically generates alerts for security teams to act (Scarfone & Mell, 2007).
- Hybrid and distributed models: Combine NIDS, HIDS, SIEM, and behavior analytics for comprehensive detection and orchestration (Splunk Inc., 2020).
Recommended IDS Solutions and Use Cases
For a non-profit with constrained budgets but a need for strong detection, consider a mix of open-source and commercial or managed offerings:
- Open-source network IDS: Snort and Suricata provide high-performance signature-based detection and are cost-effective (Roesch, 1999; OISF, 2015).
- Protocol and traffic analysis: Zeek (Bro) excels at deep network traffic analysis and extracting logs for detection and forensics (Paxson, 1999).
- Commercial integrated options: Cisco Secure IPS/Firepower and Palo Alto Networks NGFW with Threat Prevention offer bundled detection and prevention with vendor support and threat intelligence (Cisco, 2021; Palo Alto Networks, 2020).
- SIEM and analytics: Splunk Enterprise Security or managed SIEM services correlate IDS alerts with logs to reduce false positives and speed response (Splunk Inc., 2020).
- Managed Detection and Response (MDR): For organizations without a 24/7 SOC, MDR providers combine IDS telemetry, analytics, and expert response to deliver practical protection (Gartner, 2020).
Two-Page Table: IDS Justification, Categories, Functions, and Product Examples
| Area | Why it matters / Benefit | IDS Category / Model | How it complements AV & Firewall | Example Products (commercial & open) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detect unknown threats | Finds zero-day, fileless, and behavior-based attacks that signatures miss | Anomaly-based NIDS / HIDS | AV detects known malware; IDS flags anomalous process/network behavior before AV signatures appear | Suricata (OISF), Zeek (Paxson, 1999), commercial: Cisco Secure IPS |
| Visibility & forensics | Detailed traffic logs support investigations and compliance | Protocol-aware NIDS / Flow monitoring | Firewalls log allowed/blocked flows; IDS provides payload-level and session context for deeper analysis | Snort (Roesch, 1999), Zeek, Splunk ES for correlation |
| Real-time alerting | Shortens dwell time; enables rapid containment | Signature-based NIDS with real-time rules | AV often detects later on endpoints; IDS can provide network-level early warning | Palo Alto Threat Prevention, Check Point IPS |
| Prevention options | Inline IPS can block malicious traffic automatically | Inline IPS (prevention mode) | Adds active blocking beyond passive logging in firewalls | Fortinet FortiGate, Cisco Firepower |
| Host-level detection | Detects file integrity changes, unusual system calls, lateral movement | HIDS / EDR | AV provides signature clean-up; HIDS/EDR provides behavior telemetry and rollback capabilities | CrowdStrike Falcon (EDR), OSSEC (open-source) |
| Managed / resource-light option | Delivers detection without large internal SOC | MDR / Managed IDS | Augments existing AV and firewall capabilities with expert monitoring | MDR providers, Splunk Cloud + MSS, Managed Cisco services |
Implementation Recommendations
1) Start with a hybrid approach: deploy a NIDS (Suricata or Snort) at key network choke points and Zeek for deep logging. Pair with a HIDS/EDR on critical servers and endpoints (CrowdStrike, OSSEC) and forward events into a SIEM (Splunk) for correlation (Roesch, 1999; Paxson, 1999; Splunk Inc., 2020).
2) Tune signatures and anomaly baselines to reduce false positives; use threat intelligence updates from vendors (Cisco, Palo Alto) and maintain signature updates (Scarfone & Mell, 2007).
3) If budget allows, consider commercial integrated appliances (Palo Alto, Cisco) for simplified management, or an MDR provider for 24/7 monitoring (Gartner, 2020).
4) Train staff on triage and response playbooks using IDS alerts; use IDS logs for continuous improvement and compliance reporting (Scarfone & Mell, 2007).
Conclusion
Adding IDS is a cost-justified step to reduce organizational risk and improve detection capabilities that AV and firewalls alone cannot deliver. A pragmatic deployment blends open-source network sensors with host-based monitoring and a central analytics platform or managed service, providing detection, context, and response capabilities aligned with non-profit resource constraints (Debar et al., 1999; Splunk Inc., 2020). Recommended first steps are a pilot NIDS (Suricata or Snort) plus Zeek for logging and a lightweight HIDS/EDR on critical systems; forward alerts to a SIEM or MDR partner for triage and escalation (Roesch, 1999; Paxson, 1999).
References
- Debar, H., Dacier, M., & Wespi, A. (1999). A revised taxonomy for intrusion-detection systems. Annales des Telecommunications, 54(7-8), 361–378.
- Gartner, Inc. (2020). Market Guide for Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems. Gartner Research.
- Microsoft. (2020). What is antivirus? Microsoft Documentation. Retrieved from https://docs.microsoft.com/
- OISF (Open Information Security Foundation). (2015). Suricata: IDS/IPS/NSM Engine. https://suricata.io/
- Palo Alto Networks. (2020). Next-Generation Firewall and Threat Prevention Overview. Palo Alto Networks Whitepaper.
- Paxson, V. (1999). Bro: A system for detecting network intruders in real-time. In Proceedings of the 7th USENIX Security Symposium.
- Roesch, M. (1999). Snort - Lightweight Intrusion Detection for Networks. In Proceedings of the 13th USENIX Conference on System Administration.
- Scarfone, K., & Mell, P. (2007). Guide to Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS). NIST Special Publication 800-94. National Institute of Standards and Technology.
- Splunk Inc. (2020). Splunk Enterprise Security: Security Information and Event Management. Splunk Documentation.
- Cisco Systems. (2021). Cisco Secure IPS and Firepower Threat Defense: Product Overview. Cisco Systems Whitepaper.