Fences, barbed wire, and other barriers strongly deter would-be thieves. However, they are not infallible and will fail if not enhanced with a range of security technologies.
One such technology is perimeter intrusion detection. Using a curated dataset, this innovative technology helps to reduce nuisance alarms and alerts while delivering more reliable information to the SOC.
Early Warning
Whether a perimeter is the physical boundary of a facility or the virtual edge of an organization’s network, early warning can help reduce the risk of security incidents. But a good early warning system requires the right combination of technologies to work together.
Perimeter intrusion detection systems (PIDS) are one of the key tools that can help protect facilities. However, there are a number of different types of PIDS, and each has its own advantages.
Some PIDS use signature-based monitoring that compares activity to known threat patterns. This can be effective but can also lead to false positives. Others use anomaly-based monitoring that compares random samples of activity to a baseline standard. This can be more robust, but it’s important to make sure that any anomalies are not simply due to environmental noise.
The best PIDS solutions use multiple technologies to detect and respond to potential threats, including infrared or microwave barriers, vibration, acoustic, magnetic, seismic, and ground radar sensors. In addition, cameras equipped with intelligent video analytics can detect activity or movement and trigger alarms.
An end-to-end solution combines these technologies to expand the coverage of a surveillance system. This improves response times by alerting operators before the intrusion is even visible to the sensor. It also minimizes false alarms by only triggering a higher priority alarm when the behavior meets predefined criteria. For example, an acoustic sensor that can distinguish between human motion and background noise may only trigger an alarm when it detects a person trying to break into the site.
Another way to improve early warning is by integrating a PIDS with surveillance systems to automate actions upon detecting a violation. This can include sending a live pop-up or PTZ camera control to the screen of the monitoring room. It can also include dispatching a security guard to the site or calling the owner and/or police to request assistance.
Ultimately, the effectiveness of any perimeter security solution is measured by its ability to deter and respond to intrusions. For this reason, it’s crucial to understand how a PIDS can enhance an overall security strategy by providing the earliest possible warning of potential threats and enabling quick, effective responses.
Coverage
In order to effectively protect a business, site, or facility from unwanted activity, you need to be aware of what’s happening around your perimeter. This is where a good perimeter intrusion detection system (PIDs) comes in. PIDs detect unauthorized physical entry along the boundaries of a property and can send alerts to the appropriate personnel. If a potential threat is detected, the operator can then take an active response to deny that breach, which can include dispatching security guards to the scene, calling the police/owner, or simply sending a live alarm to their monitoring room screen.
PIDs come in a wide variety of forms, depending on the customer’s specific needs and their site or business. For example, fence-mounted sensors can be used to detect attempts to climb over or cut through a fence and may include vibration or taut wire systems as well as buried cable sensor technologies. A more advanced solution is a direct-buried optical fiber sensor that can be installed in the ground to detect pressure and movement across its surface. This system is ideal for large, expansive sites where it’s difficult to cover every area with security staff onsite.
Another popular solution is an IT-based IDS, which monitors incoming data at the network level and can use various methodologies to detect potential threats. These include signature-based IDS, which looks for common attack patterns, and anomaly-based IDS, which focuses on your network’s “normal” behavior and recognizes any deviation from that norm as suspicious.
Unlike an IDS, an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) actively defends against any threat it detects by intervening to neutralize the attack before it can cause any damage. This is because an IPS, like an IDS, watches for malicious patterns in data packets but then stops the threat before it can cause any harm by cutting off its access to your system or networks. This allows you to continuously monitor your perimeter for potential threats and is much more effective than relying on IDS alone.
Detection
Detecting intrusion is essential to protecting perimeters. For large sites where the physical security team is unable to patrol every corner of the site, detection offers early warning of any unwanted activity. This allows the onsite security team to take swift action to prevent unauthorized entry.
For example, if someone is trying to scale a fence or testing the strength of a wall, a perimeter alarm will instantly notify the security team that they are attempting to breach the site. The alarm will also pinpoint the location of the disturbance enabling them to react and call in the appropriate security response quickly. Optical fiber sensor technology enables the system to deliver fast, real-time alerts. This ensures that the site and valuable storage are protected round the clock if an intruder is detected.
An intrusion prevention system (IPS) can also help to reduce unauthorized entry by detecting anomalous activity. This is because an IPS solution is able to watch packets of data as they travel across an organization’s network and filter out any malicious traffic before it can reach applications or devices.
Additionally, an IPS solution can identify attacks that other security solutions, such as a PIDS or firewall, may miss. It does this by analyzing patterns of behavior and correlating them to known threats. This intelligence enables organizations to bolster their existing security measures, address vulnerabilities in their current infrastructure, and rectify any anomalies within their network devices.
The sensitivity and reliability of detection systems have increased significantly over the years. In addition, the advancements in AI technology can further improve the information on which human operators base their decision-making. The goal is to strike a balance between automation, artificial intelligence, and human intervention. This is the key to providing effective, secure, and affordable protection for an organization’s premises. A complete solution from a single supplier can help to deliver this.
Response
While bollards, barriers, and barbed wire remain key components of a perimeter protection strategy, today’s security equipment can also alert operators to activity at the boundary through automated monitoring systems. The combination of sensor data and cameras can trigger a range of responses, ranging from sending a suspicious person alert to guards onsite to triggering the local alarm system to evacuate an area. For organizations that need to oversee miles of perimeter at multiple locations, automated technology can free up resources to enable a larger team to monitor sites from one location without sacrificing expertise.
Perimeter intrusion detection systems can be divided into two main categories: IDS and IPS. IDS solutions are designed to detect intrusions as they occur, while IPS takes a proactive approach by preventing them before they can cause harm.
A typical IDS uses signature-based monitoring, comparing observed activity to a library of known attack patterns or signatures. While this method is effective, it can be triggered by false positives. It’s not as effective as an anomaly-based IDS, which is a proactive approach to monitoring and can prevent new attacks by monitoring for deviations from normal behavior.
An IPS can reduce the load on other security devices and controls by filtering out malicious traffic. This can significantly cut down on the number of alerts received by other security controls and increase efficiency. IPS can also provide superior application security by identifying threats that traditional IDS doesn’t have the capability to recognize.
While it’s important to differentiate between IDS and IPS, both are essential components of any complete perimeter security solution. An IDS’ primary focus is on detecting and alerting to threats, while an IPS takes a proactive stance by preventing them from impacting applications, operating systems and other sensitive areas of a network. A heuristic-based IDS can analyze and learn from network traffic to predict patterns that aren’t detected by signature-based methods, protecting against both existing and evolving threats. An IPS can also help meet compliance requirements like PCI DSS and HIPAA by proactively recognizing threats that other IDS solutions may not be capable of detecting.
