Vol. 9, Issue 8, Part D (2023)

Research was conducted for this study through a review of existing literature pertaining to intrusion detection systems and how they function. The literature also highlighted previous studies conducted on intrusion detection systems, both commercial and open source. In addition to the review of existing literature, the author conducted independent testing on three open-source intrusion detection systems. The open-source programs, Snort, OSSEC, and Prelude, were selected due to being highly rated in professional publications. The author created a secure simulated computer network, to ensure that each of the programs was tested in a controlled and equitable manner. The findings of this study determined that the three open-source intrusion detection systems tested are as capable as commercial programs in securing a computer network.