Threats against networks are on the rise. In addition, the damage inflicted by attackers, whether an exploit designed to gain access or a self-contained worm such as SQL Slammer or Blaster, has increased dramatically with each attack. The difficulty in providing a complete network security solution with traditional tools such as firewalls and routers is that applications are becoming more decentralized. Today's total network security solution requires the ability to detect and prevent both known and unknown attacks. Network defense must change from a traditional reactive stance to a proactive stance, where the response to an attack can be initiated in a minimal amount of time.The Code Red, Nimda, SQL Slammer, and Blaster worms had a dramatic impact on the Internet and on corporate LANs. Each found their way into the network and resulted in significant time lost while IT staff cleaned up and tried to mitigate the effects of these worms. And the next worm is just around the corner.While enterprise networks dramatically felt the impact of these worms, small and medium-sized networks were hit equally hard and the time lost cleaning up was felt even more dramatically. Today, the technology to effectively mitigate these threats is mature and readily available to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) through the Cisco SystemsBundle of network intrusion detection system (NIDS) and host intrusion protection system (HIPS) software. Network Intrusion Detection One of the first lines of defense against worms is the network intrusion detection system (NIDS). This device can identify the presence of worms in network traffic and stop these intruders before they reach their endpoint targets. Using signature-based analysis of network data flows, the Cisco NIDS can alert system administrators of the presence of worms within the network and terminate the communication between the worm and the infecting system. The Cisco NIDS database contains the signature of the exploits that many worms, such as SQL Slammer and Blaster, use. Monitoring the corporate LAN or DMZ, the Cisco NIDS sensor can identify an attacking worm and prevent it from successfully infecting a target host, through several response actions.Cisco Threat Defense bundles offer flexible deployment options through the delivery of both an appliance sensor and a network module for the router.This product includes:One Cisco IDS network module for Cisco access routers;One Cisco Security Agent server;10 Cisco Security Agent desktop agents;Cisco Threat Response;Cisco VMS-Basic.