Evaluating Open-Source Intrusion Detection Systems for Small and Medium Enterprises: A Metric-Based Performance Study

Radder, Sachin (2025) Evaluating Open-Source Intrusion Detection Systems for Small and Medium Enterprises: A Metric-Based Performance Study. Masters thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises are under increasing risk of cyberattacks with their dependency on digital technologies and underprivileged security facilities. Affordable and effective defences can be implemented based on Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) for monitoring network traffic and to detect malicious activities. Two most popular open-source IDS tools have been evaluated in a virtualized testbed, that was specially setup to replicate real-world SME network scenarios: Snort and Suricata. Without the use of static datasets, we manually built a Kali Linux machine, painting realistic attack traffic including port scanning, brute-force and denial-of-service simulations. Both IDS systems were installed on Ubuntu virtual machines and their output was fed into Elasticsearch and Kibana for centralized log storage and visualization. Results were compared based on major factors like detection rate, false positives, resources required and ease of integration. The results indicate that the Suricata has better scale and more protocol inspection; however the Snort has lightweight detection based on signature. This research presents useful perspectives for practitioners to help SMEs in the selection of IDS tools for their resource constraints and operating conditions.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Supervisors:	Name Email Mahajan, Kamil UNSPECIFIED
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics > Computer software > Computer Security T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Computer software > Computer Security H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > New Business Enterprises H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > Small Business Sector
Divisions:	School of Computing > Master of Science in Cyber Security
Depositing User:	Ciara O'Brien
Date Deposited:	24 Aug 2026 11:46
Last Modified:	24 Aug 2026 11:46
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/9598

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