The majority of intrusion detection system implementations
fail, leaving firms exposed to hackers, analysts claimed last
week.
A combination of design flaws and the failure of organisations to
monitor and tune their intrusion detection systems means that up to
75% do not work, said Gartner. "Intrusion detection systems have
failed. They have failed for years. We are still seeing the same
failures in IDS today that were identified by black hat hackers 10
years ago," said Victor Wheatman, vice-president and research area
director at Gartner.
Gartner predicted that the emphasis will shift away from intrusion
detection systems to intrusion prevention systems.
"Intrusion detection is not a technology you can just turn on and
expect it to protect you from then on. There are a lot of failures,
and this is starting to matter as we move into intrusion
prevention," said Wheatman.
Public key infrastructure may also have had its day, at least as a
standalone technology, said Gartner. For most organisations, the
cost and complexity of implementing PKI means it is "overkill" for
identity authentication. Passwords are adequate for 80% of
applications, the analyst firm said.
However, PKI will increasingly be incorporated into other
technologies, such as smartcards, to provide strong, simple
authentication services, said Wheatman.