Snort: Overview Chris Copeland
What is an Intrusion Detection System (IDS)? An intrusion detection system is any system which can identify a network intrusion or network penetration. The primary objective of an IDS is to alert when intrusion takes place. IDS come in two methodologies: – Host (HIDS) – Network (NIDS)
What is Snort? Snort is a network intrusion detection system – NIDS Developed from older UNIX tools – Written By Marty Roesch – TCPDump Runs on multiple platforms Open source
How Snort Functions as an IDS Sniffer Mode: reads packets only Packet Logger Mode: Logs packet information to local disk NIDS Mode: Packet capture and analysis
Snort Rules A rule is any “guideline” which Snort looks for in the NIDS mode. Example: rule for any attempt at ToolTalk alert tcp $EXTERNAL_NET any -> $HOME_NET any \ (msg:"RPC tooltalk TCP overflow attempt"; \ flow:to_server,established; \ content:"| |"; depth:4; offset:12;\ content:"| F3|"; depth:4; offset:16; \ content:"| |"; within:4; distance:4; \ byte_jump:4,4,relative,align; \ byte_test:4,>,128,0,relative; \ content:"| |"; depth:4; offset:8; \ reference:bugtraq,122; \ reference:cve, ; \ classtype:misc-attack; sid:1965; rev:8;)
Known Issues: Massive Amounts of Data False Alarms due to outdated rules Missed Alerts 10/29-11:08: > ICMP TTL:128 TOS:0x0 ID:17878 IpLen:20 DgmLen:40 Type:14 Code:0 ID: Seq: 0 TIMESTAMP REPLY: Orig: Rtime: Ttime: E3 FD 2A E A E b$...c..*.c.*.c. Sample Snort Log Entry
Snort Tools and Add-Ons ACID (Analysis Console for Intrusion Database) PHP based, Database driven, and Web Delivered
Conclusion Host or Network IDS Rule versus Signature Detection Multi-Platform Open Source Supported Low TCO for Security/Network Admins