An “IDS” instead of an antivirus. An “IPS” instead of a firewall.
Not only the current analog wars show us the growing dangers of increasing cyber threats. The Ukraine war shows it clearly: used as a military weapon, cyber attacks disrupt or manipulate critical infrastructures. They are part of hybrid warfare. At best, the manipulation of digital structures leads to short-term irritations. In the worst case, to blackouts of entire infrastructures.
In any case, the strategic goal is the disruption or destruction of socially important functions with serious consequences for health, security, or economic and social well-being.
Classic protection by firewalls and ransomware is often no longer sufficient.
Those who want to permanently withstand attacks from the web must always be technically up to date and regularly sensitize employees to dangers.
An intrusion detection system, abbreviated IDS, is able to detect and inform about attacks directed at computers, servers, or networks.
Based on certain patterns, an intrusion detection system independently detects attacks on computer systems or networks and informs users or administrations.
More sophisticated IDS systems are installed as standalone hardware on a network.
Both IDS and IPS read network packets and compare their contents with a database of known threats.
Compared to a so-called Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), IDS is clearly differentiated because it only detects attacks but does not actively prevent and defend against them.
The effectiveness of IDS/IPS depends on the quality of the cyber attack database. Therefore, the database must always be kept up to date. Modern IDS/IPS systems draw on large sources or have AI-supported learning mechanisms.
Thus, in addition to bad-IP databases, AI, and signature-based ransomware detection, modern systems include the ability to recognize the behavior of a ransomware attack – such as the modification of numerous files within a short period of time – and react immediately.
The Bridgetoeurope Security Team has been professionalizing in the IT security field for years and is pleased to advise on individual solutions.