Preventive controls are designed to do which of the following?

• A. Stop attacks before they succeed (e.g., firewalls, access controls, patching)
• B. Identify attacks during or after occurrence
• C. Recover from incidents
• D. Document and log activities

Answer: (A)

Preventive controls focus on stopping threats before they succeed by reducing opportunities for exploitation. Firewalls, access controls, and patch management block unauthorized traffic, restrict who can access systems, and close known vulnerabilities, respectively. They act before an incident happens, making them proactive measures that lower the chance of a breach. In contrast, detective controls are meant to identify attacks during or after they occur, such as intrusion detection systems or security monitoring. Recovery or corrective controls come into play after an incident to restore operations. While documenting and logging activities provide important visibility and accountability, they are typically part of monitoring and post-event analysis rather than prevention. So preventive controls are designed to stop attacks before they succeed.