Understanding Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS)

Cyber attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex, so protecting your network from unauthorized access and malicious activities is crucial for businesses.

One of the essential tools in the cybersecurity arsenal is the intrusion prevention system (IPS). Let’s take a look at what IPS is, how it works and its importance in safeguarding your network.

What is an Intrusion Prevention System?

Unlike reactive network security efforts that wait until a threat occurs before stopping it, IPS is a security solution designed to continuously monitor network and system activities for malicious or unwanted behavior. It then takes action to block or prevent these activities in real-time, including blocking the malicious IP address, terminating the connection or reconfiguring firewall rules, as well as alerting the security team of the suspicious behavior.

IPS operates as an advanced layer of defense, capable of detecting and thwarting various cyber threats before they exploit vulnerabilities or cause damage, including malware, zero-day attacks, denial-of-service attacks and more. In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, staying ahead of cyber threats requires a multi-layered approach; this means implementing IPS along with firewalls, antivirus and antimalware software and more.

The Four Types of Intrusion Prevention Systems

1. Network-based intrusion prevention system (NIPS): NIPS is installed at strategic points to monitor the entire network’s traffic for suspicious activity and threats.
2. Host-based intrusion prevention system (HIPS): In contrast to NIPS, HIPS is installed on an endpoint and monitors inbound and outbound traffic only on that device. HIPS and NIPS work best together, as HIPS serves as the last line of defense against threats that slip past NIPS.
3. Wireless intrusion prevention system (WIPS): WIPS monitors Wi-Fi networks and acts as a gatekeeper by removing unauthorized devices.
4. Network behavior analysis (NBA): NBA analyzes network traffic to detect threats that create unusual traffic flows.

The Three Intrusion Prevention Systems Detection Types

An IPS is usually placed inline – in the flow of network traffic between the source and its destination. From there, it can identify and mitigate threats using one of these three detection types:

1. Signature-based detection: This detection method compares network traffic against a database of identifiable signatures, patterns and behaviors of well-known threats. These signatures can be either vulnerability or exploit-specific to identify the malicious activity. However, this means it can’t identify any new attacks; although the database is regularly updated with new threat intelligence, brand-new attacks that haven’t been analyzed yet aren’t put in the database.
2. Statistical anomaly-based detection: IPS can also use statistical anomaly-based detection to identify deviations from normal network behavior. It can use machine learning to randomly sample network traffic and compare it against performance levels to flag abnormal or suspicious activities. However, if the performance level is not configured correctly, it can give a false alert.
3. Policy-based detection: This method requires a system administrator to set up and configure security policies. It then uses these policies to block activity. However, this means the administrator must create a comprehensive set of policies, which can take a lot of time, money and resources.

Benefits of Intrusion Prevention Systems

• Enhanced security: IPS provides proactive protection against a wide range of cyber threats, reducing the risk of data breaches, network downtime and other security incidents.
• Real-time threat prevention: By monitoring network traffic in real-time, IPS can swiftly identify and mitigate potential threats before they can cause harm to the network or its assets.
• Regulatory compliance: Implementing IPS can help companies meet regulatory compliance requirements by ensuring the security and integrity of the network infrastructure.
• Minimized false positives: Advanced IPS solutions leverage sophisticated algorithms and machine learning techniques to minimize false positives, reducing the likelihood of blocking legitimate traffic.
• Protect sensitive data: By preventing unauthorized access and malicious activities, IPS plays a crucial role in safeguarding sensitive data, including customer information, intellectual property and business data.
• Less effort: With a robust IPS, your security teams don’t have to do as much work protecting your network, devices and data. This allows them to focus on more complex threats or tasks.

How Thriveon Can Help Protect Your Company

Remember, IPS is only one part of a robust security plan. Implementing it can take time and resources, which is why your business should consider working with Thriveon.

We offer proactive managed IT and cybersecurity services by aligning our clients with 500 IT best practices to ensure they are safe against evolving cyber threats.

Schedule a meeting with us today to see how we can help protect your business.