A software developer and IT administrator are focused on implementing security in the organization to protect OSI layer 7. Which of the following security technologies would BEST meet their…

NIPS (Network Intrusion Prevention System) primarily inspects and blocks threats at the network and transport layers (layers 3-4) and is not specifically focused on layer 7 application traffic.

An HSM (Hardware Security Module) is a hardware device used for cryptographic key generation and storage, and does not provide intrusion detection or application-layer protection.

HIPS (Host-based Intrusion Prevention System) monitors and controls traffic at the host level including application-layer activity, enabling it to detect and block layer 7 threats on individual endpoints.

NIDS (Network Intrusion Detection System) is a passive detection tool that monitors network-level traffic and does not actively prevent or focus specifically on layer 7 application threats.

A WAF (Web Application Firewall) is specifically engineered to inspect and filter HTTP/HTTPS traffic at OSI layer 7, protecting web applications from application-layer attacks such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and request forgery.