If a tree falls in a forest with no-one to hear it, does it make a sound? So goes a typical zen-like philosophical question. While it's thought-provoking, what does it have to do with Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS)? Simple - if you're not there to watch the tree fall, do you need to know whether it fell or not? The same principle applies with IDS.

There's a forest of threats to your network out there. Do you set the IDS to watch every tree, and risk getting lost in the detail? Or do you focus only on the trees you think represent the biggest threats, and risk missing an attack?

By David Beesley at BIOS Magazine.

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