Which of the following tools would MOST LIKELY be used to perform security audit on various of forms of network systems?

An Intrusion Detection System passively monitors traffic for known attack signatures in real time and does not actively audit systems for vulnerabilities.

Vulnerability scanners systematically probe network hosts, services, and configurations against a database of known vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and weaknesses across many system types. This broad, active assessment capability makes them the standard tool for security audits, producing prioritized findings that cover OS, application, and network-layer issues simultaneously.

A port scanner only identifies open ports and running services; it does not assess whether those services are vulnerable or misconfigured.

A protocol analyzer captures and decodes network traffic for inspection but does not actively test systems for security weaknesses.