Intrusion Detection System (IDS)

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Contents:
Introduction to IDS How does an IDS works? Types of IDS Topics comes under IDS SNORT Practical implementation of SNORT

Introduction to IDS

A system that tries to identify attempts to hack or break into a computer system or to misuse it. IDSs may monitor packets passing over the network, monitor system files, monitor log files, or set up deception systems that attempt to trap hackers. Computer systems have become more vulnerable to intrusions than ever. Intrusion Detection is a security technology that allows not only the detection of attacks, but also attempts to provide notification of new attacks unforeseen by other components. Intrusion detection is an important component of a security system, and it complements other security technologies.

How does an IDS works?

While there are several types of IDSs, the most common types work the same. They analyze network traffic and log files for certain patterns. What kind of patterns you may ask? While a firewall will continually block a hacker from connecting to a network, most firewalls never alert an administrator. The administrator may notice if he/she checks the access log of the firewall, but that could be weeks or even months after the attack. This is where an IDS comes into play.

 The attempts to pass through the firewall are logged, and IDS will analyze its log.
At some point in the log there will be a large number of request-reject entries. An IDS will flag the events and alert an administrator. The administrator can then see what is happening right after or even while the attacks are still taking place. This gives an administrator the advantage of being able to analyze the techniques being used, source of attacks, and methods used by the hacker.

Types of intrusion detection systems

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Host-Based Intrusion Detection System (HIDS):

Host-based intrusion detection systems or HIDS are installed as agents on a host.

These intrusion detection systems can look into system and application log files to detect any intruder activity.

2) Network-Based Intrusion Detection System (NIDS)

These IDSs detect attacks by capturing and analyzing network packets. Listening on a network segment or switch, one network-based IDS can monitor the network traffic affecting multiple hosts that are connected to the network segment, thereby protecting those hosts. Network-based IDSs often consist of a set of singlepurpose sensors or hosts placed at various points in a network. These units monitor network traffic, performing local analysis of that traffic and reporting attacks to a central management console.

Topics comes under IDS

Signatures Alerts Logs False Alarms Sensors

SNORT

Snort is a very flexible network intrusion detection system that has a large set of preconfigured rules. Snort also allows you to write your own rule set. There are several mailing lists on the internet where people share new snort rules that can counter the latest attacks. Snort is a modern security application that can perform the following three functions : It can serve as a packet sniffer. It can work as a packet logger. It can work as a Network-Based Intrusion Detection System (NIDS).

Practical Implementation

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Here I am presenting you a practical implementation of SNORT. I am going to set up SNORT in WINDOWS-7. For this, first we need some software as I listed below : SNORT (http://dl.snort.org) Oink master (http://sourceforge.net/projects/oinkmaster/fil es/oinkmaster/2.0/oinkmaster2.0.tar.gz/download)

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3) Kiwi Syslog Server 9.0.3 (http://kiwisyslog.com/kiwi-syslog-serverdownload/) 4) Notepad++ (http://sourceforge.net/projects/notepad-plus) So these are the basic software which we need to need to install our system before setup SNORT.

STEP-1 (Acquiring updated Rules and an Oinkcode)

First you have to signup on link https://www.snort.org/signup

Why we signup?????????

You will need to become a Registered member on the Snort website. This is needed in order to download and use the Source fire VRT Certified Rules. Snort will not be operating up to date without them (and Oink master will not work).

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After you have created an account, log in to the Snort website and copy your personalized Oink code (to be used by Oink master). Also, download the Source fire VRT Certified Rules (registered-user release) Be sure to grab the snapshot version, as shown next slide.

Step-2(Applying our updated Rules)

**BEFORE APPLYING THESE UPDATED RULES, COPY THE FILE C:\SNORT\ETC\SNORT.CONF TO YOUR DESKTOP** Right-click on the snortrules-snapshot2.8.tar.gz file that we downloaded and choose Extract Here Right-click on the newly extracted file (snortrules-snapshot-2.8_s.tar) and choose Extract files.... Change the Path to C:\Snort and check

Step-3(Configuring the snort.conf File)

Edit the file you copied to your Desktop (snort.conf) with Notepad++ and perform the following: Now edit these lines:

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Now save and close this file. Copy this file to c:\snort\etc and overwrite the existing one. Keep in mind that you will need to tailor this file (especially the rule set section) and any other configuration files to further suit your IDS/IPS needs.

Step-4(Verifying Snort Operation)

Open a Command Prompt and run c:\snort\bin\snort W (be sure to use a capital W) Now run c:\snort\bin\snort -v -iX (replace X with your Device Interface number found from running the previous line) After a couple of seconds you will see Not Using PCAP_FRAMES. Snort is now running and will alert you if a Rule is triggered. If you have suspicious network traffic going across your interface, the command prompt window

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While still leaving the Snort command prompt window open, launch a second command prompt window.
From the new window, run the command ping google.com If it hasn't occurred already, this ping command will trigger a Snort alert!

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You can now close both command prompt windows, as we have verified that Snort is installed and alerting correctly in verbose mode. To test that our configuration file is correct, open a new command prompt window and type: c:\snort\bin\snort -iX -s -l c:\snort\log\ -c c:\snort\etc\snort.conf (replace X with your Device Interface number)

If you have correctly entered all information, you should receive a graceful exit such as the screen shot below. If you receive a fatal error, you should first verify that you have typed all modifications correctly into the snort.conf file and then search through the file for entries matching your fatal error message.

Step-5(Verifying Kiwi Operation and Tying it to Snort)

Now open the Kiwi Syslog Server Console and type CTRL-T (you should see a test message appear, which indicates Kiwi is working)

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Using Notepad++, create a file on your Desktop called Snortstart.bat and place the following line of code in it: c:\snort\bin\snort iX -s -l c:\snort\log\ -c c:\snort\etc\snort.conf (replace X with your Device Interface number) Also create a shortcut on your Desktop for the Kiwi Syslog Server Console Open the Kiwi Syslog Server Console (if it isn't already)

Now right-click and run Snortstart.bat as an Administrator. Wait (about thirty seconds) until you see the familiar line Not Using PCAP_FRAMES at the end. Finally, open another command prompt window and run: ping google.com and. At this point you should see the Snort Alert outputting into Kiwi!!!!

 Note that the reason why we have to run our batch file as an Administrator is that,in our current configuration, we need to maintain rights to not only output our alerts to Kiwi, but to write them to a log file.

At this point we have successfully installed Snort and have our Alerts being output to two sources.
Our final step will be to configure Oinkmaster to help us update and manage our Rules.

Step-6(Configuring Oinkmaster and Verifying its Operation)

Right-click on the oinkmaster-2.0.tar.gz file that we downloaded and choose Extract Here Right-click on this new file (oinkmaster-2.0.tar) and choose Extract Here Now we have a new folder called oinkmaster2.0. Move this new folder into c:\snort Go to c:\snort and create a folder named: temp Go to c:\snort\oinkmaster-2.0\contrib and copy the oink-gui file to your Desktop. Rename this file to: Update Snort Rules

Now we have an additional module we need to download and install:

Once the file has been downloaded, open a command prompt window and type the line as shown below (note that your path name might be different.

Once the installation has been complete, you can close the command prompt window .

Now double-click on our Update Snort Rules file we have on the desktop and configure Oinkmaster to match the screen shots shown:

Note that your Editor path may be different than that shown.

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Now go back to the Required files and directories tab and click Edit (to the right of the oinkmaster.conf file entry).

Where <oinkcode> is equal to the personal Oink code you downloaded from Snort.org earlier in this guide. Now save your oinkmaster.conf file and close Notepad++

You are now back at the main Oinkmaster GUI page

Click Save current settings

Click Update rules! After a few minutes of watching the rule update process, it will read: done. Click Exit to close out of the Oinkmaster GUI.

**REMEMBER THAT EVERY TIME YOU UPDATE THE RULES, YOU WILL NEED TO STOP AND THEN RESTART SNORT FOR THE NEW RULES TO TAKE EFFECT**