In order to improve the level of network intrusion detection, this paper optimized IPSO-SVM algorithm based on support vector machine, and applied the algorithm to network intrusion detection, and constructed a new network intrusion detection architecture. This architecture simplifies the intrusion detection system by sample classification and selects the optimal parameters as the basis of intrusion detection judgment by iterative processing. Experimental results show that the intrusion detection scheme proposed in this paper can fully and accurately identify the intrusion attack behavior, and can be used as a network intrusion detection tool.