Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDS/IPS) provide real-time monitoring and automated response capabilities to identify and block malicious network activities, attack attempts, and policy violations. These systems analyze network traffic using signature-based detection, anomaly detection, and behavioral analysis to identify threats ranging from known exploit attempts to sophisticated zero-day attacks and advanced persistent threats.

Modern IDS/IPS platforms integrate machine learning algorithms, threat intelligence feeds, and contextual analysis to reduce false positives while improving detection accuracy for sophisticated attacks. The systems can operate in passive monitoring mode (IDS) for forensic analysis and compliance reporting, or active blocking mode (IPS) for real-time threat prevention, with deployment options including network-based, host-based, and cloud-native implementations.

Organizations deploy IDS/IPS solutions to establish comprehensive threat detection capabilities, automate incident response, and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements for continuous monitoring. The layered approach provides critical security intelligence for SOC operations, enables rapid threat containment, and supports forensic investigation while ensuring network security teams can respond effectively to evolving threat landscapes and sophisticated attack techniques.