The invention is directed to techniques for dynamic policy provisioning. A network security device may comprise a memory that stores a first policy that identifies a first set of patterns that correspond to a first set of network attacks and a second policy, and a control unit that applies the first policy to the network traffic to detect the first set of network attacks. The control unit, while applying the first policy, monitors parameters corresponding to one or more resources and dynamically determines whether to apply a second policy to the network traffic based on the parameters. The control unit, based on the dynamic determination, applies the second policy to the network traffic to detect a second set of network attacks and forwards the network traffic based on the application of the second policy. In this manner, the network security device may implement the dynamic policy provisioning techniques.