Which system is capable of automatically blocking malicious activities?

An Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) is designed to automatically block malicious activities. Unlike an Intrusion Detection System (IDS), which primarily monitors and alerts on suspicious activities, an IPS actively intervenes by dropping malicious traffic and blocking harmful actions in real-time. This proactive approach helps prevent potential breaches and mitigates threats as they occur, ensuring that the network remains protected against intrusions.

The IPS accomplishes this through a combination of rule-based detection techniques and the analysis of traffic patterns to identify and neutralize threats. By doing so, it provides a critical layer of security that can respond faster than human intervention might allow.

In contrast, anti-virus software primarily focuses on detecting and removing malware rather than monitoring network traffic for intrusion attempts. Biometrics is a type of authentication technology that verifies individual identities, but it does not have capabilities related to network security monitoring or blocking malicious activities.