What is Snort?

Snort is an open source network intrusion detection system (NIDS) that can audit network traffic in real-time. Snort is a packet sniffer, a packet logger, and a network intrusion detection system.

Snort as I mentioned before is an open source software which means it can be configured and complied on most operating systems. Snort has been ported over to Microsoft Windows operating systems also, but it's bread and butter is back on the UNIX/Linux side of the house. Most Linux distributions now include Snort as part of their install package, and though it may not be enabled by default, normally it is on the installation CD's or DVD's.

Should I run Snort if I have a firewall?

I believe that yes you should run a NDIS even with a firewall. Firewalls help to block packets coming in to your system, however if you are running different servers or services that require the firewall to let them through you are letting a large amount of data go un-audited. Snort has the ability to see trends in incoming data and identify them as a threat and take appropriate action on your system. Snort gives you the ability to see if you are being port scanned, or to see if someone is trying to abuse well known backdoors or problems in well known daemons. Running services and applications that help you to protect your system is always a good idea. Many system administrators run a firewall, snort, and a data file integrity checker (often Tripwire).

How does snort actually work?

Snort generally is running as a background application and it is constantly packet sniffing all the information passing through your network interface card (NIC). The data is then sorted by various preprocessors that basically sort the packet data in to different categories. Once the data has been sorted out it is run through the rules, or the detection phase. As Snort detects trends in the data it applies the rules and actions them appropriately. The final stages are logging the rule infractions and if configured alerting the system administration team in real-time as the infraction occurs.

Is Snort difficult to configure and use?

Snort, as mentioned before now often comes bundled or available through rpm's in most Linux distributions. The hard part of running snort is if you decide to create your own original rules which can get extremely complex. However, luckily for us you can download up to date rule sets for free off the Snort website (you must signup for the free registration).

For extra ease of use there are many different applications and log parsers which have been designed to work with Snort. These applications can create websites based on the data Snort has logged or help you identify trends or possibly security threats on your system.

Ken Dennis
http://KenDennis-RSS.homeip.net/