About Network Security Sensors

McAfee Network Security Sensors (Sensors) are high-performance, scalable, and flexible content processing appliances built for the accurate detection and prevention of:

• Network intrusions
• Network misuse
• Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks

Sensors are specifically designed to handle traffic at wire speed, efficiently inspect and detect intrusions with a high degree of accuracy, and flexible enough to adapt to the security needs of any enterprise environment. When deployed at key network access points, the Sensor provides real-time traffic monitoring to detect malicious activity and respond to the malicious activity as configured by the administrator.

After you deploy a Sensor successfully, you configure and manage it using the McAfee® Network Security Manager (Manager). The process of configuring a Sensor and establishing communication with the Manager is described in subsequent chapters of this guide. For the details about the Manager, see the McAfee Network Security Platform Manager Administration Guide.