1. Intrusion detection systems?
By Jacob Knight

2. What is it?
A system or program that monitors networks and computers for any unusual activities or security breaches, monitoring traffic on that network and monitoring for something that is unusual, such as an attempt to breach a system, or someone attempting to change a file on a computer that they do not have permission on.

3. What does it do?
Depending on the level of awareness, starting from minor, it could be blocking a application from downloading, or a program from running, even a computer from logging in.
In the case of a breach, such things as a computer network or Wi-Fi, the intrusion detection system can ever alert the user that there has been a breach or it will electronically shut down that machine that has been breached.
Most intrusion detection systems are inbuilt with firewalls, so they work together to increase their security for that machine or computer.

4. Why is it used?
Detection systems are used as a security measure to stop harmful programs or malicious software making changes to a computer, server or data, people and machines can attempt this and an intrusion detection system can and almost all of the time will stop this from happening.

5. What are the benefits?
Saves a system or data from being damaged, adds another level of security to a computer or a server, data or a business.
Harder to steal information – easier to be detected.

6. What are the disadvantages?
Depending on the type of detection system, some can fail due to not updating, old software that cannot run with some computers and the applications.

7. An example?
A host based intrusion detection system named “Tripwire” used to monitor and alert the user to any file changes on a system or a network – such as a server, made and realised in 2011, Tripwire has been rated one of the best intrusion systems for monitoring a computer or network.