Which IPS response has the potential to cause the most damage to network services?

• A. Dropping packets
• B. Limiting suspicious traffic
• C. Both do equal damage
• D. Neither does damage

Answer: (A)

This question looks at how different IPS responses affect network availability and service continuity. Dropping packets directly removes data from ongoing conversations. When legitimate traffic loses packets, endpoints must retransmit or wait for timeouts, and TCP slows down to avoid congestion, which can lead to reduced throughput, stalled connections, or dropped sessions. In real-time or interactive services (like VoIP or streaming), packet loss translates to noticeable glitches or gaps, so aggressive dropping can cause substantial disruption across many users.

Limiting suspicious traffic throttles but doesn’t destroy ongoing flows. It reduces the rate of some packets, leaving connections alive and recoverable, albeit with higher latency or lower throughput. Because connections tend to remain intact, the overall impact on service availability is typically less severe than outright packet loss. In security terms, rate limiting is safer for maintaining service continuity while still mitigating a threat, whereas dropping packets is a harsher measure that can cause more damage to network services.