Neon has introduced the option to designate branches as "protected" to prevent unauthorized access and accidental deletions in database branching workflows, thereby enhancing security and reliability for production environments. When a branch is set as protected, it enforces strict access controls, allowing connections only from specified IP addresses and preventing the branch from being deleted or reset. This feature is particularly beneficial for protecting critical workflows and maintaining compliance with data regulations by ensuring that sensitive data is only accessible from authorized networks. The process for setting a branch as protected involves navigating to the Branches page, selecting the desired branch, and configuring IP allowlists if needed. This feature is available in Neon's Scale plan, which supports extensive production workloads and offers up to 500 branches per project, though a free tier is also available for new users.