Introduction

The IDS is part of the Cisco IOS Firewall suite that integrates robust firewall functions and intrusion detection for every network segment. The Cisco IDS solution provides protection to your network beyond the firewall. The IDS implementation protects the network from internal and external security attacks and threats. These threats and attacks are classified into different signature types, and Cisco IOS routers use this information to send alarms to syslog servers, drop the packet, and reset the incoming TCP connection.

The Cisco IDS solution is flexible and can be customized to fit different network profiles. This chapter focuses on Cisco IOS Firewall's IDS solution and how you can use this feature to provide an extra level of security on your network.