IPS, or intrusion prevention system, is a network preventive technology that oversees network traffic to find and fight back any vulnerabilities.
IPSs have the capability to answer to threats quicker than other preventing or detection systems.
The network administrator has the ability to pre-set a number of rules that will lead to IPS to act upon a threat automatically.
According to Palo Alto Networks, vulnerability exploits usually come in the form of malicious inputs to a target application or service that attackers use to interrupt and gain control of an application or machine.