Gear Prevents Network Break-Ins; More Than Detecting; Computer security firms eager to show expertise in these new products.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)

Byline: DONNA HOWELL

Software that detects or prevents network intrusion sounds like a good thing -- until false alarms swamp your IT staff, or legitimate network traffic gets blocked.

Intrusion detection systems have earned a bad reputation for being touchy and high maintenance. Some would cry wolf about attempted cyber break-ins that really weren't. That would happen all day, all week, annoyed users said.

Wouldn't it be better, many security specialists reasoned, if there were systems that not only knew about various kinds of computer attacks, but also prevented them?

So was born a panoply of intrusion prevention products. They ratchet up a corporate network's immune system beyond what a basic firewall can do.

Computer security companies see promise in intrusion prevention. Some large firms are trotting out new product lines, even changing their marketing campaigns, to reflect expertise in the niche.

Emerging intrusion protection technology could change what firms look for in basic security products, analysts say. But they also warn that intrusion prevention developers must build products carefully, to keep them from causing more problems than they solve.