What does a Host-Based Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS) primarily do?

A Host-Based Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS) is designed specifically to monitor and analyze events occurring within a single host or endpoint. It focuses on observing the activities and behavior of applications and users to detect suspicious actions that could indicate an intrusion or breach. By examining system calls, application behavior, and configuration changes, HIPS can identify potential threats in real time and take appropriate actions to prevent or mitigate these threats.

While monitoring network traffic is essential for overall network security, this function is specifically associated with network-based intrusion detection systems, not HIPS. Blocking malicious emails is a task typically handled by email filtering systems or security gateways. HIPS can protect against certain types of malware, but its primary role is centered around monitoring and analyzing host actions to safeguard against intrusions. Therefore, its focus is squarely on the events and actions that happen within the endpoint device it protects, aligning perfectly with the selected answer.