Tougher detectives to hunt down intruders

The ability of intrusion detection tools to provide corporate track attacks. threat-management systems has become a serious proposition, as market leaders improve their products.

The purpose of intrusion detection technology is to notify administrators if their network defences have been breached. It is seen as increasingly important, as hacker techniques for penetrating firewalls become more sophisticated.

ISS claims its new version of RealSecure is the first product to combine both network and system-based intrusion detection and response capabilities.

Meanwhile, security vendor Axent Technologies has bought Internet Tools, in a deal worth around $26.5m (#16.6m). Axent intends to integrate Internet Tools' flagship product ID-Trak with its line of intrusion detection products, including Intruder Alert.

ISS' RealSecure 3.0 now confirms an attack's success or failure and tracks the extent of the intrusion across the enterprise - as well as providing risk management from a central location.

Malcolm Skinner, Axent's product marketing manager, said ISS had added host and device-level monitoring to a network packet sniffer. He added that Axent's Intruder Alert has had these features since October, as well as an audit trail reduction and analysis tool. "NT provides Gigabytes of information, there's no way to look through that without an audit-trail reduction tool."

Analysts expect the market to grow to $220m by next year.