Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Tue, 13 Feb 2001 11:04:01 -0800 (PST)
From:      Jon <cykyc@yahoo.com>
To:        Nick Rogness <nick@rogness.net>, "H. Wade Minter" <minter@lunenburg.org>
Cc:        freebsd-security@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Getting more information from ipfw logs
Message-ID:  <20010213190401.12121.qmail@web4502.mail.yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0102131303490.92630-100000@cody.jharris.com>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help

--- Nick Rogness <nick@rogness.net> wrote:
> On Tue, 13 Feb 2001, H. Wade Minter wrote:
> 
> > Does snort work well with ipfw.  Maybe I'm
> thinking of it wrong, but
> > wouldn't I have to let the traffic into the
> firewall so snort could deal
> > with it?
> 
> 	yes and no, only let valid ports through for
> programs you are
> 	running, then let snort look at the valid packets
> for futher
> 	inspection.  See what I mean? Why waste time
> looking at traffic
> 	for invalid ports?  Run the firewall in front of
> snort, so the
> 	firewall removes useless crap, then let snort look
> at valid
> 	traffic, ex port 80 webserver stuff, and decide if
> it is a valid
> 	GET / or invalid exploit attempt.
> 
> 	This way you get the best of both worlds.
> 

Two concerns with that logic:

1. Snort is detective (the 'D' in IDS :); a firewall
is usually preventative (maybe w/ some detection).  If
one is preventing the 'attacks', but not knowing that
they're occuring, he might not pick up on patterns of
attacks, depending on the capabilities of the
firewall's logging.  That might not be a big deal, but
I'd rather know that someone's knocking on my door
instead of burying my head in the sand...

2. Snort by itself is purely detective.  Scripts or
shims need to be put in to it to have it actually
prevent something.  Your firewall will allow the
"GET", and snort might not like it, and log it, but
that particular "GET" is going to still happen.  With
the proper scripts, this might not be a concern, but
out-of-the-box, it is.

Jon



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 
a year!  http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/


To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-security" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20010213190401.12121.qmail>