Feb 14, 2017 07:18 AM EST By Emily Marks, UniversityHerald Reporter

Universities and colleges should be maximizing their campus Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS). .After all, they are investing money on it and it is a powerful security solution when taken full advantage of. Life Wire defined an Intrusion Detection System as a tool for network administrators to monitor network traffic and suspicious activity. The system responds to anomalous traffic in various ways including blocking the user or source IP address from connecting to the network.

UC Berkeley's Information Security and Policy department operates several IDS to "detect and respond to information security incidents" that involve computers which are connected to the campus network. The automated systems keep watch as well as evaluate network traffic and subsequently generate alerts in response to suspicious activity matches known signatures for anomaly.

Campus Safety Magazine shared three tips on how universities and colleges can maximize their Intrusion Detection Systems. The publication noted that intrusion technology continues to advance and higher education institutions should keep up by integrating upgrades to their security control panel.

A school's IDS can integrate the latest devices such as motion detectors, surveillance cameras and access readers, among others. Combining new technology with the latest detection technology can result to more effective security solutions.

Motion Detection

Motion detectors are tools used to analyze signals produced by motion. With this, the system can make a quick and accurate alarm decision.

This device can provide universities and colleges with an instant response to intruders while, at the same time, ignoring signals created by small animals and other non-alarming movements.

IP Video Cameras

If an institution's IDS is integrated with an IP video camera, alarm from a motion detector point can automatically trigger camera actions. This would include transmitting video snapshots of the area of focus in real-time.

The end user can immediately be notified of the security risk. Moreover, the user can also stream a live video of the cameras through a smartphone or tablet.

Access Control

Access control capabilities can amp up a university or college's security system. By combining motion detection, video cameras and access control, an alarm panel will notify the administrator if an unauthorized person attempts to enter a restricted area and send snapshots of the suspicious individual.

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