An intrusion prevention system (IPS) is a software or hardware cybersecurity tool specializing in network security. It continuously monitors network activity for suspicious and malicious activity, taking proper action to prevent it from causing damage.
Companies use IPS solutions to keep threats at bay in managing their operations on internal or external networks.
See below to learn all about about the current global IPS market:
The IPS market
The global IPS market, as part of the intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS) market, was worth $4.8 billion in 2020. It’s estimated to reach $11.2 billion by 2027, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.5%.
Several countries are driving the category’s growth:
- The U.S. market was estimated at $1.5 billion in 2020
- The Chinese market is expected to grow at 12.1% GACR to reach $2 billion by 2027
- Japan and Canada are forecast to grow at 11% and 10.7% in the years between 2020 and 2027
- Germany is expected to grow by 9.2% CAGR by 2027
- Australia, India, and South Korea are anticipated to drive the Asia-Pacific market to reach $1.3 billion by 2027
Industry-wise, IPS solutions are used by organizations in the private and public sectors alike:
- Aerospace
- Government
- Telecommunications
- Health care
- Life sciences
- Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI)
IPS Features
At their core, IPS solutions monitor networks to detect and prevent threats before the spread of the damage. IPS are classified into four primary types:
Network Behavior Analysis
Network behavior analysis (NBA) watches the network for suspicious behavior and activity. This IPS type is ideal for preventing distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, policy violations, and some types of malware.
Wireless Intrusion Prevention System
A wireless intrusion prevention system (WIPS) monitors the radio spectrum of the network instead of the network itself. This enables it to prevent unauthorized wireless access to the network.
Host-based Intrusion Prevention System
A Host-based intrusion prevention system (HIPS) is a built-in package that monitors and analyzes the internal components of the network’s components and packets. It scans for suspicious events occurring within its host.
Network-based Intrusion Prevention System
A network-based intrusion prevention system (NIPS) monitors and analyzes the protocol activity network-wide. It protects against DoS attacks and unauthorized usage, maintains the network’s confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Benefits of IPS
- Reducing the number of security incidents
- Network privacy protection
- Customized logging
- Multi-threat protection
- Reputation protection
- Effective and dynamic response to threats
- Achieving security and privacy compliance
IPS Use Cases
Säffle Municipality
The Säffle Municipality was founded in 1971, combining 5 towns in west-central Sweden. It’s home for just over 15,000 people, with around 1,800 of them working for the municipal administration itself.
The IT team responsible for managing Säffle Municipality’s network is made of 10 people. But with more local citizens and students connecting to the grid, it needed a more efficient and effective security solution.
The transition to using Cisco network management products, such as Cisco FirePower IPS and Cognitive Threat Analytics (CTA) to monitor network activity and block threats, was game changing.
“Within 30 minutes of integrating it with Cisco WSA and AMP (Advanced Malware Protection), we detected a cryptolocker on a server belonging to a third-party alarm company working for the municipality,” Says Mikael Nilsson, IT technician at Säffle Municipality.
“When you compare the speed of the discovery and resolution of this issue to the five hours it took to confirm a blocked IP address with our previous network management tool, the difference is staggering.”
WNS Global Services
WNS Global Services is a cybersecurity company based in Mumbai, India. With more than 200 clients and 40 delivery centers worldwide, it serves over 30,000 professionals and allows them to connect securely online.
With tens of thousands of users, WNS’ biggest concern was users inadvertently introducing malware to the network while using the internet. Additionally, WNS needed to better protect its consultants and users when not onsite.
“With a hybrid McAfee web gateway solution, we can administer the same security policies across all users all the time, whether or not they are on site,” says Amit Khanna, head of business technology at WNS Global Services.
“Furthermore, the McAfee solution offers incredible granularity in analysis and policy setting and uses only 5% of capacity.”
IPS Providers
Some of the leading IPS solutions providers include:
- Trend Micro
- Cisco
- FireEye
- McAfee
- Alert Logic
- Security Onion
- Hillstone Networks
- Secureworks
- Fidelis
- Red Piranha