What is the primary function of an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)?

The primary function of an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) is to detect and prevent identified threats in real-time. IPS is designed to actively monitor network traffic and to take immediate actions against potential threats as they occur. This includes recognizing signatures of known threats and generating alerts or blocking the traffic that matches those patterns, thus providing a protective mechanism against attacks.

By actively preventing threats, an IPS goes beyond merely identifying potential vulnerabilities in a network. It engages in proactive measures to thwart attacks before they can exploit vulnerabilities, providing a critical layer of security. This capability allows organizations to maintain the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of their data amidst evolving cyber threats.

The other options, while related to network management and security, do not capture the core intent and operational functionality of an IPS. Monitoring network traffic for performance does not involve threat detection, optimizing speed and bandwidth focuses on improving network efficiency rather than security, and enabling access control lists pertains to access management, not real-time threat prevention.