Intrusion and Threat Detection in Cybersecurity

Cyber Threat Detection: Be the Guard Dog of Your Network

Hackers are always on the hunt to find access points to systems. The goal of intrusion and threat detection systems is to identify malicious activities that could compromise networks and then respond before they can do any harm.¹

From causing confusion to theft of data and finances, malicious actors can negatively impact organizations, making cyber threat detection and protection a critical part of cybersecurity.

• Corruption of Data: There’s no end to how corrupt data can impact an organization. Think of all the data a company holds just for a single client. A mix-up of names, billing addresses, payment histories, and order information would ensure chaos across almost every department within the company. Then there’s the issue of reconciling data for audits to ensure nothing is amiss and it doesn’t lead to business issues.
• Theft of Data: In 2023, attaining personally identifiable information (PII) is the number one goal of phishing attempts.2 Hackers can then employ social engineering techniques to connect your name, email address, home address, and passwords together, resulting in stolen accounts and identities.
• Operational Disruption: Workflow disruptions could be felt throughout all departments as employees need the correct information for continued operations, but the organization may need to shut down entirely until system health can be assured.
• Financial Loss: The financial loss from a single data breach is at an all-time high of $4.5 million.2 Loss doesn’t only refer to financial theft, it also includes the costs involved in managing the breach. There’s the cost of attack mitigation, which often happens with a third-party organization, repairing damaged property, possible compliance fines, lost orders due to corrupt data, and incentives provided to consumers and stakeholders to re-establish trust. If the organization needs to shut down until they can be sure the threat has been contained, there’s a loss of revenue as well.
• Loss of Reputation: A data breach can be hard to bounce back from. Two out of three consumers say they would avoid an organization that had experienced a cyber-attack in the last year.3 This gives an opening to rivals to develop customer loyalty with a new consumer base, meaning the loss may be permanent. There is also the possible loss of market shares, making it that much more difficult to recover.

Best practices in threat monitoring include people, processes, and technologies working together to recognize signs known as indicators of compromise (IoC’s) of a breach as soon as possible to take the appropriate action. As one of the last lines of defense between bad actors and the networks of governments and organizations, these are crucial to avoiding critical and costly consequences.

Top 5 Cyber Intrusions and Threats Detected

• Phishing: Phishing is a form of social engineering, it appears as an email or text from a trustworthy source trying to help you avoid an inconvenience that could cost you time or money. In reality, the PII you enter into the fake link goes directly to the cyber-criminal.
• Malware: Known as malicious code or software, malware works by compromising the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of data and can also affect applications and operating systems.
• Ransomware: Cybercriminals use encryption methods to hold data hostage until their (costly) demands are met.
• Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks: During a DDoS attack, online services are overwhelmed by excessive traffic from many locations and sources, making the site or services slow down and become unavailable. Often, this technique is used as a distraction while other crimes such as fraud and intrusion are being carried out.
• Corporate Account Takeover (CATO): Using malware to infect a computer through e-mail, websites, or malware disguised as software, cybercriminals gain access to corporate accounts so they can impersonate the business and send unauthorized financial transactions.

5 Types of Intrusion Detection Systems

Intrusion detection systems (IDS) are the technologies used by cyber professionals to identify unusual activity. Consider them to be dedicated guard dogs who are on alert 24/7. IDS allows for automated detection of attacks in real-time, which can prevent or reduce harm to an organization. As cybersecurity advances, so does the number of systems and their abilities. These are the five systems being used now.

Host Intrusion Detection Systems (HIDS)

HIDS can operate on any individual device that produces logs, metrics, and data that can be monitored for security purposes, such as a server or a PC. While they analyze security-based data, they also look at data like application and operating system logs for unusual activity that could be a sign of a cyber threat. When HIDS detects an intrusion, it will alert security personnel allowing them to respond to an incident quicker than manual processes.

Protocol-Based Intrusion Detection System (PIDS)

PIDS work on a web server, monitoring all the exchanges between devices on a network and online services. It looks carefully at the network protocols used in infrastructure for irregularities and signs that bad actors have paid a visit. When it’s programmed to understand each protocol’s normal behavior, PIDS is extremely effective at detecting attacks that exploit vulnerabilities and an attackers form of reconnaissance

Application Protocol-Based Intrusion Detection System (APIDS)

APIDS keeps an eye on communications between users and applications. It monitors traffic across a group of servers and understands what the software should be doing. Designed to identify unusual actions, it helps administrators segment and classify activities. While APIDS can be resource-intensive, it can detect attacks other systems are likely to miss.

Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) / Network Node Intrusion Detection System (NNIDS)

A Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) is a security tool that monitors network traffic to detect suspicious or malicious activity. Think of it like a security camera for your network—its constantly watching data move between computers, servers, and other devices to spot anything that looks out of the ordinary. NIDS uses sensors, which can be either hardware or software, placed at key points in the network to capture and analyze traffic. However, NIDS doesn’t cover every part of the network. It’s important to install it where the most critical devices and network connections are located, such as servers or routers, because these are often the most likely targets for attackers.

Hybrid IDS (HIDS)

Within complex systems, a strategic combination of HIDS and NIDS allows for data packet inspection as well as system behavior analysis. While it requires more resources and careful configuration, it provides comprehensive protection against a wide range of cyber threats.

While selecting the right intrusion detection system (IDS) for your organization is crucial, it’s equally important to have qualified staff to properly configure it and respond to threats. IDSs are designed to alert trained professionals, not to automatically take action during an incident. This means they require ongoing maintenance and skilled personnel to analyze alerts and respond effectively to potential security breaches. Our program equips students with the expertise to configure, maintain, and respond to intrusion detection systems, ensuring they are prepared to manage these critical security tools in real-world environments.

Why is Intrusion and Threat Detection Important?

Where there is important data, there will always be malicious actors trying to compromise it. Professionals who are trained in the field of intrusion and threat detection can help protect this data by monitoring it and recognizing when a breach happens.

Course Spotlights

Through our program, you’ll gain advanced training in coursework like:

Careers in Intrusion Detection

• Cyber Defense Infrastructure Support Specialist – $71,704/Year: As an entry-level security engineer, the cyber defense infrastructure support specialist tests, implements, deploys, maintains, and administers cybersecurity infrastructure hardware and software. They’ll identify potential conflicts with the implementation of any cyber defense tools and coordinate with analysts to manage and administer updating rules for applications.⁵
• Cyber Defense Incident Responder – $79,103/Year: A cyber defense incident responder investigates, analyzes, and provides expert technical support to resolve cyber threats. They’ll routinely monitor log files to identify potential threats and determine the scope, urgency, and potential impact of them with recommendations on mediation.⁶
• Information Security Analyst – $120,360/Year: Information security analysts detect possible threats and intrusions and distinguish them from benign activities. They’ll use cyber defense tools for continuing monitoring and analysis of network traffic and coordinate with enterprise-wide cyber defense staff to validate network alerts. Analysts identify and report on trends and provide input on the cyber response plan.⁷

Sources

1. Rapid 7. “Threat Detection and Response.” Retrieved July 5, 2024, from https://www.rapid7.com/fundamentals/threat-detection/.
2. IBM Security. “Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023.” Retrieved July 7, 2024, from https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach?mhsrc=ibmsearch_a&mhq=cost%20of%20data%20breach%20.
3. Cybsafe. “Security Awareness: 7 reasons why security awareness training is important in 2023.” Retrieved July 5, 2024, from https://www.cybsafe.com/blog/7-reasons-why-security-awareness-training-is-important/.
4. Cyberseek. “Career Pathway.” Retrieved July 5, 2024, from https://www.cyberseek.org/pathway.html.
5. Salary.com. “Entry Level Security Engineer Salary in the United States.” Retrieved July 5, 2024, from https://www.salary.com/research/salary/posting/entry-level-security-engineer-salary.
6. Payscale. “Average Security Incident Response Salary.” Retrieved July 5, 2024, from https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Security_Incident_Response/Salary.
7. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook. “Information Security Analysts.” Retrieved July 7, 2024, from https://bls.gov/.

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