Network Security (NETSEC) 1 Practice Test

Preventive countermeasures are actions taken to stop threats before they can cause harm. They are proactive controls that reduce risk by blocking, preventing, or limiting the possibility of an incident. In this item, the focus is on measures designed to stop threats before any damage occurs, which is exactly what preventive controls do. Examples include access controls, patch management, configuration baselines, firewall rules, and enforcing least privilege. Detective measures, by contrast, are about finding incidents after they’ve happened (like an IDS or log monitoring). Corrective measures come into play after a disruption to restore or fix systems (such as backups and patches applied post-incident). Deterrents are about discouraging attacks through warnings or SAMPLEpenalties but don’t actively prevent every threat from occurring. So the best fit is preventive.