The NS-series Sensors are purpose-built hardware appliances designed to offer Next Generation IPS (NGIPS) capability and provide high inspection throughput across various Sensor models. The NS7600 Sensor is a 1RU unit providing an aggregate throughput of 5Gbps, 10Gbps, 15Gbps, and 20Gbps.
The primary function of a Sensor is to analyze traffic on selected network segments and to respond when an attack is detected. The Sensor performs deep packet inspection, looking for patterns and behavior in the network traffic that indicate malicious activity. The Sensor examines packets according to user-configured policies, or rule sets, which determine what attacks to watch for, and how to respond with countermeasures if an attack is detected.
If an attack is detected, a Sensor responds according to its configured policy. Sensor can perform many types of attack responses, including generating alerts and packet logs, resetting TCP connections, "scrubbing" malicious packets, and even blocking attack packets entirely before they reach the intended target.