Where is an IDS commonly deployed in a corporate network?

Where is an IDS commonly deployed in a corporate network?

• A. Out-of-band or monitoring network
• B. Inline in the data path
• C. On every endpoint
• D. In the DMZ only

Answer: (A)

An IDS is designed to observe network traffic and detect suspicious activity without blocking it. To do this effectively in a corporate environment, it’s typically placed out-of-band on a dedicated monitoring network or connected to a span/mirror port so it can see a copy of traffic from multiple segments. This passive setup avoids adding latency or creating a single point of failure in the main data path, and it provides visibility across the network. If the sensor were inline in the data path, it would have to process and forward every packet in real time, which is more characteristic of an intrusion prevention system that can block threats. Limiting visibility to only the DMZ would miss internal traffic and other critical segments, reducing usefulness. Deploying software on every endpoint moves toward a host-based approach, which isn’t the same as a centralized network IDS used for broad network surveillance.

An IDS is designed to observe network traffic and detect suspicious activity without blocking it. To do this effectively in a corporate environment, it’s typically placed out-of-band on a dedicated monitoring network or connected to a span/mirror port so it can see a copy of traffic from multiple segments. This passive setup avoids adding latency or creating a single point of failure in the main data path, and it provides visibility across the network. If the sensor were inline in the data path, it would have to process and forward every packet in real time, which is more characteristic of an intrusion prevention system that can block threats. Limiting visibility to only the DMZ would miss internal traffic and other critical segments, reducing usefulness. Deploying software on every endpoint moves toward a host-based approach, which isn’t the same as a centralized network IDS used for broad network surveillance.