What is the role of an Intrusion Detection System (IDS)?

An Intrusion Detection System (IDS) plays a crucial role in cybersecurity by monitoring network traffic and system activities for signs of suspicious behavior or potential security breaches. This system analyzes communication patterns and compares them against known threats using signature-based detection or heuristic analysis.

Signature-based detection identifies malicious activities by matching them with pre-defined patterns of known threats. Heuristic detection, on the other hand, looks for anomalies or unusual behaviors that deviate from the norm, helping to identify new or evolving threats that may not have been categorized yet.

By providing alerts based on these analyses, an IDS plays a vital part in an organization's threat detection and incident response strategy, enabling timely intervention to protect sensitive information and maintain system integrity.

The other options don't accurately describe the primary function of an IDS. Blocking incoming traffic is typically a role of an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), which actively takes action against detected threats. Regular penetration testing is a proactive measure to assess vulnerabilities, but it is not the function of an IDS. Managing end-user access control pertains to identity and access management, which is not related to the function of monitoring and alerting based on detected intrusions.