Cisco® Secure Internet Security Solutions

Overview of Intrusion Detection

Intrusion detection works in a similar manner to virus protection software applications. The virus scanner scans files within a given operating system and tries to match the file against a database of known viruses. If the file is matched against the database, the software application interacts and takes action. This action can be to remove the virus from the file or to delete the file from the file system of the operating system. Intrusion detection works in a similar way. Instead of checking files for viruses, an intrusion detection system monitors the flow of network traffic and compares this flow to the database of security signatures that have been configured on the intrusion detection device. When a match ...