RE: Intrusion Detection

From: Wright, Steven (SWright@v-one.com)
Date: Wed Apr 15 1998 - 14:22:17 PDT

  • Next message: Marcus J. Ranum: "Re: Intrusion Detection"

    Howdy all,
    
    	What kind of data is necessary to collect for an Intrusion?
    
    	The answer to that should be -- Anything that the defender deems
    	as an unwarranted action!!!   The true problem with IDS is the 
    	inability to set site policy(i.e. some sort of network policy
    auditor).
    	Current IDS allows you to scan for known attacks, and has very
    	limited capability to set site policy, and audit that site
    policy.
    
    	Afterall, aren't we REALLY trying to establish a way to scan the
    	systems and networks for violation of site policy?  Wouldn't it
    be
    	nice to analyze the collected data, and amend site policy based
    	on your findings?  Don't the needs from one site differ from
    that
    	of another?  Policy shouldn't be a rigid set of rules and should
    	be able to be amended at the site's request.
    
    	That brings me back to my original question:  what kind of data
    is
    	necessary to collect for an intrusion?  If the tools I use do
    not allow
    	the amendment of the policy, then there exists a chance for
    attacks
    	to go by unnoticed.   Wouldn't it be possible to circumvent the
    IDS
    	by tunneling a known attack over a known protocol?  What if that
    	protocol is encrypted?  Wouldn't this lead us into the realm of
    	behavioral analysis, and, if so, wouldn't this mean that we now
    have to
    	start doing some sort of "forensics" to help expose this threat?
    What
    	about making that threat known to our site policy?  What if this
    attack
    	only works on my site and not someone else's?   The answer
    should
    	be -- since it is unwarranted we should be able to amend site
    policy,
    	and start capturing data!  IDS tools are extremely useful and
    have
    	their place, but chaos needs order and sites need their
    network/systems
    	to be audit-able!!!
    
    	Now another question comes into play(mainly for
    devils-advocation):
    	"If all the known attacks have been plugged on our
    networks/systems,
    	 then do I need to keep wasting bandwidth scanning for them?"
     
    Well that's my two cents,
    
    Steve Wright
    



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