Chapter 1 Overview; About Intrushield Sensors; Sensor Functionality; Network Topology Considerations - McAfee IIP-M80K-ISAA - Network Security Platform M-8000 Product Manual

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H A P T E R
Overview
This chapter provides an introduction to IntruShield sensors.

About IntruShield sensors

IntruShield sensors are high-performance, scalable, and flexible content processing
appliances built for the accurate detection and prevention of intrusions, misuse, and
distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
IntruShield sensors are specifically designed to handle traffic at wire speed, efficiently
inspect and detect intrusions with a high degree of accuracy, and flexible enough to
adapt to the security needs of any enterprise environment. When deployed at key
network access points, an IntruShield sensor provides real-time traffic monitoring to
detect malicious activity and respond to the malicious activity as configured by the
administrator.
Once deployed and once communication is established, sensors are configured and
managed using the central IntruShield ISM server.
The process of configuring a sensor and establishing communication with the ISM is
described in later chapters of this guide. The IntruShield ISM server is described in
detail in the

Sensor functionality

The primary function of an IntruShield sensor is to analyze traffic on selected network
segments and to respond when an attack is detected. The sensor examines the
header and data portion of every network packet, looking for patterns and behavior in
the network traffic that indicate malicious activity. The sensor examines packets
according to user-configured policies, or rule sets, which determine what attacks to
watch for, and how to respond with countermeasures if an attack is detected.
If an attack is detected, a sensor responds according to its configured policy. Sensors
can perform many types of attack responses, including generating alerts and packet
logs, resetting TCP connections, "scrubbing" malicious packets, and even blocking
attack packets entirely before they reach the intended target.

Network topology considerations

Deployment of an IntruShield IPS requires knowledge of your network to help
determine the level of configuration and amount of installed sensors and ISMs
required to protect your system.
Getting Started Guide .
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