Network monitoring sensor (IDS): what it is and how it is attacked
Something watching the traffic on a segment and recording or alerting on what it sees.
Also known as
- IDS
- IPS
- NDR
- intrusion detection
- intrusion prevention
- packet capture
- network detection
- SPAN
- TAP
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
The commonest finding in any intrusion report is that nobody could see what happened on a given segment. This is the object that answers whether anyone was looking, and where.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- Segments with no sensor at all, which is most estates and is invisible until it matters
- Encrypted traffic it cannot read, so it sees that a connection happened and not what crossed it
- Alerts generated and never read, which is the same as no sensor with a larger invoice
What reduces it
- Draw where the sensors actually are before claiming coverage, because the gaps are the finding
- Keep flow records even where you cannot inspect contents: who talked to whom and for how long answers most incident questions
- Route alerts somewhere with a named owner and a response time, since an unread alert is not a control
Where it sits
- Group
- Security and edge · The things that sit in front of something else and check what is trying to reach it.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- network-sensor
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in security and edge
- FirewallNGFW · packet filterDecides which connections are allowed between two networks.
- Web app shieldWAF · web application firewallChecks visits to your website and blocks the ones that look like an attack.
- Outbound web filterforward proxy · secure web gateway · SWG · web filter · web proxyChecks and records everything staff and servers send out to the internet.
- Traffic splitterload balancer · LB · ADCSpreads incoming requests across several servers.
- Global content cacheCDN · content delivery network · edge cacheCopies your content to servers worldwide so pages load faster.
- API front doorAPI gatewayOne controlled entrance for the automatic requests other software makes of yours, without a person involved.
- Endpoint protectionEDR · antivirus · AV · XDRSoftware on each computer watching for hostile behaviour.
- Log collectorSIEM · log server · syslogCollects the records of what happened, from every computer and system, into one place.
- Secrets storevault · secrets manager · credential store · password safeThe safe where passwords, keys and certificates are kept.
- Encryption key serviceKMS · key management service · key vault · HSM · customer-managed keyThe service that holds the keys used to scramble stored data, and decides who may use them.
- Cloud activity recordCloudTrail · activity log · control plane log · audit trailThe provider's own record of every change made to the cloud, and of who made it.
- Remote support toolRMM · remote monitoring and management · ScreenConnect · ConnectWise · AnyDesk · TeamViewer · Splashtop · remote support · screen sharing toolSoftware that lets somebody else take control of a machine over the internet, usually a support company.
- Inbound mail filteremail gateway · secure email gateway · SEG · Mimecast · Proofpoint · spam filter · mail securityThe thing that inspects email on the way in and decides what reaches somebody's inbox.
The security and edge group lists all 14 of them side by side.
Network monitoring sensor on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type IDS. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker