What type of monitoring examines the environment for potential threats and vulnerabilities?

Active monitoring is the approach that focuses on examining the environment for potential threats and vulnerabilities. This type of monitoring involves proactively scanning, testing, and assessing systems to identify security weaknesses before they can be exploited by malicious actors. By continuously analyzing and collecting data on the environment, active monitoring helps organizations maintain a strong security posture, enabling them to react quickly to potential incidents or threats.

This method is crucial in a dynamic cyber threat landscape, as it allows organizations to stay ahead of potential attackers and to mitigate risks effectively. Active monitoring can include techniques such as vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, and real-time surveillance of network traffic.

In contrast, other types of monitoring may not directly focus on identifying threats or vulnerabilities. For instance, passive monitoring often involves collecting data without actively engaging with the systems or networks, typically analyzing logs after events have occurred. Periodic monitoring consists of regular, scheduled reviews that may miss transient threats between assessments. Incident monitoring specifically deals with the response to and management of incidents that have already occurred rather than the proactive identification of potential threats.