What term refers to understanding and recognizing potential security threats?

• A. Security awareness
• B. Penetration testing
• C. Incident response
• D. Security auditing

Answer: (A)

Security awareness is the practice of understanding and recognizing potential security threats. It focuses on people and how they identify phishing attempts, social engineering, suspicious activity, and risky behaviors. By educating users and fostering a security-minded culture, individuals learn to verify identities, avoid unsafe links, use strong passwords, and report suspicious incidents, thereby reducing the likelihood that threats succeed even when technical controls exist.

Penetration testing involves actively probing systems to find vulnerabilities, typically done by authorized professionals. Incident response is about detecting, containing, and recovering from threats after they occur. Security auditing examines and verifies that security controls and policies are correctly implemented and compliant.