Suricata is an open-source network intrusion detection and prevention system (IDS/IPS) that can be used to detect and prevent cyber attacks on a computer network. It uses a variety of techniques, including signature-based detection and protocol analysis, to identify and block malicious traffic.
Installing Suricata on a Linux operating system is a multi-step process that involves the following steps:
1. Verify that your Linux system meets the minimum requirements for running Suricata. This includes checking that you have a supported version of Linux and that you have the necessary dependencies installed.
A supported version of Linux: Suricata is compatible with various Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and CentOS. You can check your Linux version by running the command.
- GCC compiler: Suricata requires a C compiler to build the source code. You can check if GCC is installed on your system by running the command
"gcc --version"- Libpcap library: Suricata uses the libpcap library to capture network traffic. You can check if libpcap is installed on your system by running the command
"ldconfig -p | grep libpcap"- libyaml library: Suricata uses the libyaml library for parsing YAML files. You can check if libyaml is installed on your system by running the command
"ldconfig -p | grep libyaml"- libjansson library: Suricata uses the libjansson library for JSON data handling. You can check if libjansson is installed on your system by running the command
"ldconfig -p | grep libjansson"- libmagic library: Suricata uses the libmagic library to detect file types. You can check if libmagic is installed on your system by running the command
"ldconfig -p | grep libmagic"
Please note that these commands are for checking the dependencies in Ubuntu and Debian based distributions. In other distributions, the package manager commands may be different, for example, in Red Hat-based systems, you should use yum instead of apt-get.
2. Download the latest version of Suricata from the official website (https://suricata-ids.org/download/)
3.Extract the downloaded package using the command
tar -xvzf suricata-version.tar.gz
4. Change directory to the extracted package by running
cd suricata-version
5. Run the command
"./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var"to configure the installation.
6. Run the command to build the source code.
"make"
7. Run the command to install Suricata.
sudo make install-full
8. Configure Suricata by editing the configuration file located at /etc/suricata/suricata.yaml.
9. Start Suricata by running the command
(assuming that the interface you want to listen on is eth0)
"suricata -c /etc/suricata/suricata.yaml -i eth0" 
10. Verify that Suricata is running correctly by checking the output of the command
sudo suricata -i eth0 --list-runmode-helpers
It’s always recommended to check the official documentation of Suricata for the specific version that you are installing and to be aware of the dependencies that your system needs to have installed before proceeding with the installation. It’s always recommended to consult the official documentation of Suricata for the specific version that you are installing and to be aware of the dependencies that your system needs to have installed.