An IDS is only as useful as the traffic it actually sees and the alerts people can investigate. Before comparing Snort with other sensors, verify capture placement, packet loss, rule versions, and encrypted-traffic limits.
Replay a sanitized traffic sample with a known benign trigger and a safe test signature. Confirm the expected alert, then review ordinary traffic for false positives. The Snort 3 rule guide explains how rule actions and match criteria work. If considering inline blocking, test latency and what happens when the sensor fails; keep it separate from passive detection.
Record alert volume per day, triage time, and who updates rules. Compare alternatives on the same network feed and criteria. “No alerts” is not evidence of safety if the sensor is blind or silently dropping packets.
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