US Patent 7424744 Signature based network intrusion detection system and method

A signature based intrusion detection method and system are disclosed. A method for detecting intrusions on a network generally comprises storing signature profiles identifying patterns associated with network intrusions in a signature database and generating classification rules based on the signature profiles. Data packets transmitted on the network and having corresponding classification rules are classified according to generated classification rules. Classified packets are forwarded to a signature engine for comparison with signature profiles.