Google Cloud IDS Generally Available for Network Threat Detection

Google announced that its Cloud IDS for network based threat detection is now generally available.

The service acronym refers to “intrusion detection system,” is designed as a cloud native managed IDS offering Google’s vision of “Invisible Security.” Google Cloud IDS can be deployed by enterprises in just a few clicks in order to protect themselves against malware, spyware, C2C attacks and other network based threats.

The problem Google Cloud IDS is addressing is that as more applications move to the cloud, cloud network security teams struggle to keep them secure against an ever-evolving threat landscape. The ability to shield applications against network threats is also bound by regulatory compliance.

On the regulation side, effective intrusion detection is a requirement of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, known as PCI DSS 3.2.1. Although cloud network teams may build their own complex network threat detection solutions based on open source or third-party IDS components, Google argues that these bespoke solutions can be difficult and costly to operate. They often lack the scalability required to protect dynamic cloud applications.

Cloud IDS is built with threat detection technology from Palo Alto Networks Inc. The service provides high levels of security efficacy that enable customers to detect malicious activity with few false positives.

Features of service include service availability in all regions, including auto scaling. They also include detection signatures automatically updating daily, support for customers’ HIPAA compliance requirements, ISO27001 certification, integration with Google’s security analytics platform Chronicle and managed network threat detection with full traffic visibility.

Cloud IDS is said to empower security teams to focus their resources on high priority issues instead of designing and operating complex network threat detection solutions. Its now available in all regions. Pricing is based on a per-hour charge for the Cloud IDS endpoint and the amount of traffic inspected.