Which solution allows real-time alerts from an Intrusion Detection System (IDS)?

Webhooks are a solution that enables real-time alerts from an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) by allowing the system to send automated messages or data to another application whenever a specific event occurs. This mechanism provides instant notifications as soon as an anomaly or potential threat is detected by the IDS, allowing security teams to respond more swiftly.

When an event of interest occurs, the IDS can trigger a webhook that transmits relevant data to a predefined URL, which could be a monitoring system, incident response platform, or any application capable of handling the incoming information. This immediate push mechanism is particularly useful for facilitating faster incident response and improving overall security posture.

While APIs provide a way for different software systems to communicate, they typically require polling or active requests to retrieve information, which may not deliver the immediacy that webhooks provide. Security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) platforms can also utilize webhooks to streamline processes, but they themselves do not generate real-time alerts; rather, they may act as tools for processing alerts generated by other systems. Plugins could enhance the capabilities of existing systems, but they do not inherently provide the real-time alerting feature that webhooks offer.