IDS - Today and Tomorrow

During the course of my research on this topic, I found many disclaimers stating that the author is not predicting the future of Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), but merely pointing out ' ... the emerging tools and trends.'1 This is a wise approach and this paper shall carry a similar disclaimer: This paper is not intended to predict the future but bring to light emerging technologies and trends in the field of IDS that could make the life of the security specialist easier (if there is such a thing). For someone that is new to the field of intrusion detection it should be of interest to know where this technology is heading and which IDS technologies to deploy while keeping in mind future IDS developments. It will also help in formulating questions to ask an IDS vendor on what features their IDS has and where they plan on taking their product in the future.