Security software is often expensive, restricting, burdensome, and noisy. OSSEC-HIDS was designed to avoid getting in your way and to allow you to take control of and extract real value from industry security requirements. OSSEC-HIDS is a comprehensive, robust solution to many common security problems faced in organizations of all sizes. Instant OSSEC-HIDS is a practical guide to take you from beginner to power user through recipes designed based on real- world experiences. Recipes are designed to provide instant impact while containing enough detail to allow the reader to further explore the possibilities. Using real world examples, this book will take you from installing a simple, local OSSEC-HIDS service to commanding a network of servers running OSSEC-HIDS with customized checks, alerts, and automatic responses. You will learn how to maximise the accuracy, effectiveness, and performance of OSSEC-HIDS' analyser, file integrity monitor, and malware detection module. You will flip the table on security software and put OSSEC-HIDS to work validating its own alerts before escalating them. You will also learn how to write your own rules, decoders, and active responses. You will rest easy knowing your servers can protect themselves from most attacks while being intelligent enough to notify you when they need help! You will learn how to use OSSEC-HIDS to save time, meet security requirements, provide insight into your network, and protect your assets.