HIDs, NIDs, WIDs: Know Your Intrusion Detection Systems

There are a lot of acronyms and abbreviations in the cyber security world – too many, it seems. Whether you’re new to the industry or a seasoned veteran, it’s always good to be aware of the major players in this acronym game, especially since they are vital to keeping your information safe from internal and external attacks. Intrusion Detection Systems, or IDS, spawn off into a number of different options depending on your network needs and focuses on reporting a malicious event as it is occurring. It’s important to note that, though an Intrusion Detection System and Intrusion Prevention System are one word away from one another, the former detects and the latter prevents.

HIDs: Host Intrusion Detection Systems are a type of security management for your computers and networks. Utilizing firewalls, antivirus software, and spyware-detection programs, these anti-threat applications are installed on the network computers with two way access – for example, the Internet.

NIDs: Network Intrusion Detection Systems are a type of security management for your computers and networks. However, the firewalls, antivirus software, and spyware-detection programs that make up NIDs are installed at specific points – like servers – that work between the outside environment (think the Internet) and the network segment to be protected (the servers).

WIDs: Wireless Intrusion Detection Systems are interesting in that they detect attacks from harming networks by scanning the radio spectrum for unauthorized access points and taking action.

A major component of Intrusion Detection Systems is that they are passive – in other words, the device will detect the potential breach, log the event, and alert the system. Basically, if an enterprise is handling these alerts on their own, it can be time consuming and tiresome, with minutiae that gets in the way of their daily business agenda. That’s when a cyber security managed services provider, like Neovera, steps in and monitors your networks and devices, and manages the events so that they don’t affect the business at large. Your HIDs, NIDs and WIDs are in safe hands with 24×4 monitoring and management by Neovera.