08-06-2025 05:29 AM
Hello!
I've been trying to figure out the best approach for applying IPS inspection.
Suppose I don't have any internal services or servers exposed to the internet — meaning no port forwarding from Outside to DMZ or Outside to Inside. In that case, does it still make sense to enable IPS on zones like Any/Any, or should I stick with Inside-to-Outside inspection only?
The only exception would be the VPN service, which would still be reachable from the internet.
Thank you,
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08-06-2025 06:32 AM
@Otvforte it is recommended by cisco to disable rules written for vulnerabilities not found on hosts in your network, so if you are not using Apache, SQL Server, Oracle etc you'd not have a vulnerabilities and can disable those rules. You can use the cisco recommendations to tune the Snort rule set based on host data collected through passive discovery. The Recommendations feature uses this host database to determine which Snort rules apply to your environment.
https://secure.cisco.com/secure-firewall/v7.4/docs/intrusion-policy-73
08-06-2025 08:16 AM - edited 08-06-2025 08:26 AM
Dont change anything here
this cisco recommend action and you can not control what user use, so you dont know if user use SQL or not.
you can instead change the no. of rules by change the security level
MHM
08-06-2025 06:05 AM
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/security/secure-firewall-threat-defense/222704-configure-fdm-interfaces-in-inline-pair.html <<- check this maybe it answer your Q
MHM
08-06-2025 06:06 AM
Just answering my own question.
If I don't have internal services or servers published on the internet, then I don't have any rules in the Outside-to-Inside or Outside-to-DMZ direction. So the question doesn't really make sense — there's not even a rule where IPS could be enabled.
08-06-2025 06:09 AM
IPS can apply with ACP
or can apply as inline <<- here FTD is work as IPS only
MHM
08-06-2025 06:13 AM
Thank you! Can you help clarify another related question?
There are some IPS rules for services I don't have, for example, Apache, SQL Server, Oracle, and so on. Should I disable those rules?
08-06-2025 07:04 AM
Can i know where you see these options
Screenshots is perfect
MHM
08-06-2025 07:53 AM
08-06-2025 08:16 AM - edited 08-06-2025 08:26 AM
Dont change anything here
this cisco recommend action and you can not control what user use, so you dont know if user use SQL or not.
you can instead change the no. of rules by change the security level
MHM
08-06-2025 06:32 AM
@Otvforte it is recommended by cisco to disable rules written for vulnerabilities not found on hosts in your network, so if you are not using Apache, SQL Server, Oracle etc you'd not have a vulnerabilities and can disable those rules. You can use the cisco recommendations to tune the Snort rule set based on host data collected through passive discovery. The Recommendations feature uses this host database to determine which Snort rules apply to your environment.
https://secure.cisco.com/secure-firewall/v7.4/docs/intrusion-policy-73
08-06-2025 06:39 AM
I'm currently using FDM, so Network Discovery isn't available at the moment. However, I'll look into it if I get the opportunity in the future.
Thank you,
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