The IPS must protect against or limit the effects of known types of denial-of-service (DoS) attacks by employing signatures.

If the network does not provide safeguards against DoS attacks, network resources will be unavailable to users. Installation of IPS detection and prevention components (i.e., sensors) at key boundaries in the architecture mitigates the risk of DoS attacks. These attacks can be detected by matching observed communications traffic with patterns of known attacks and monitoring for anomalies in traffic volume, type, or protocol usage. Detection components that use signatures can detect known attacks by using known attack signatures. Signatures are usually obtained from and updated by the IPS component vendor. These attacks include SYN-flood, ICMP-flood, and Land Attacks. This requirement applies to the communications traffic functionality of the IPS as it pertains to handling communications traffic, rather than to the IPS device itself.

If the device being reviewed is an IDS, this is not applicable. Verify the IPS protects against or limits the effects of known types of DoS attacks by employing signatures. If the device does not protect against or limit the effects of known types of DoS attacks by employing signatures, this is a finding.

Configure the IPS to protect against or limit the effects of known types of DoS attacks by employing signatures.