Intrusion prevention systems provide an advantage over IDSs and anti-virus programs for what type of attack?

Intrusion prevention systems (IPS) are designed to actively monitor network traffic and intercept potential threats in real-time, making them particularly effective against exploitation attempts related to vulnerabilities that have not yet been publicly documented or patched—commonly referred to as zero-day attacks. These attacks exploit vulnerabilities that are unknown to the software vendor and for which no fix is available.

When a zero-day attack occurs, the IPS can recognize abnormal traffic patterns or signatures indicative of an attack attempt and respond before the attack can succeed. This ability to take immediate action distinguishes intrusion prevention systems from intrusion detection systems (IDS), which only alert on threats but do not block them, and from traditional anti-virus programs, which rely on known signatures and may not recognize new, unknown malware variants.

In this context, the effectiveness of IPS in mitigating zero-day attacks highlights their proactive nature, allowing organizations to defend against threats that exploit newly discovered vulnerabilities, thereby enhancing overall security posture.