When configuring a Sophos Firewall, which feature should be enabled to automatically block attacks and vulnerabilities?

Enabling the Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) on a Sophos Firewall is essential for automatically blocking attacks and vulnerabilities. The IPS actively monitors network traffic for known attack patterns and threats. When it detects suspicious activities that match its predefined signatures or behavior indicators, it can take immediate action to block the potentially harmful traffic. This system enhances the security posture of the network by providing real-time protection against various types of cyber threats, including exploits, malware, and denial-of-service attacks.

While the other features play important roles in the overall security strategy, they do not serve the primary function of automatically blocking active threats. Content filtering is mainly focused on regulating access to certain types of web content and does not directly intervene against active attacks. Access control is useful for defining who can access which resources on the network but does not provide proactive threat blocking. Logging and monitoring, while critical for incident response and analysis, do not actively prevent attacks; instead, they provide visibility into the traffic and events occurring within the network. Therefore, the IPS is the key feature for automatic intervention against attacks and vulnerabilities.