Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) Practice Exam 2025 – All-in-One Guide to Mastering Your Certification!

Detection controls are specifically designed to identify and alert an organization to events that may indicate an attack or ongoing attack. These controls operate by monitoring system activities, network traffic, or user behaviors to detect anomalies that could suggest a security breach or compromise. When they successfully identify suspicious activities, detection controls provide alerts that inform security personnel of a potential security incident.

This characteristic makes detection controls vital for proactive incident response, enabling organizations to respond to threats promptly, whether they are occurring in real-time or have already been executed, thus helping to mitigate damage and secure systems.

In contrast, preventive controls aim to stop security incidents before they occur, corrective controls focus on restoring systems following an incident, and deterrent controls seek to discourage potential attackers from attempting to compromise systems in the first place. Each of these control types plays a different role, but only detection controls are specifically geared toward alerting stakeholders to ongoing or completed attacks.