Defensive Cyberspace Operations (DCO) is comprised of four primary activities. Which of the following lists those activities?

Defensive Cyberspace Operations (DCO) is comprised of four primary activities. Which of the following lists those activities?

• A. Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover
• B. Protect, Detect, Respond, and Prevent
• C. Defend, Detect, Deter, and Degrade
• D. Secure, Monitor, Isolate, and Restore

Answer: (A)

Defensive Cyberspace Operations go through four intertwined actions that together maintain and restore cyberspace capability: Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. Protect means building and enforcing defenses to prevent breaches—strong access controls, patching, secure configurations, and resilience planning. Detect is about continuous monitoring and visibility to spot anomalies or incursions as soon as they happen. Respond covers the steps taken to contain and mitigate a cyber incident—containment, eradication, coordination, and communication to limit impact. Recover focuses on restoring services and operations to normal and then using those lessons to improve defenses for the future. The option that lists Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover aligns exactly with these four pillars, which is why it’s the best choice. Other options mix in terms that don’t fit the standard DCO model—one swaps Recover for Prevent, another emphasizes offensive or deterrence terms, and another uses different verbs that don’t map to the established four activities.

Defensive Cyberspace Operations go through four intertwined actions that together maintain and restore cyberspace capability: Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. Protect means building and enforcing defenses to prevent breaches—strong access controls, patching, secure configurations, and resilience planning. Detect is about continuous monitoring and visibility to spot anomalies or incursions as soon as they happen. Respond covers the steps taken to contain and mitigate a cyber incident—containment, eradication, coordination, and communication to limit impact. Recover focuses on restoring services and operations to normal and then using those lessons to improve defenses for the future.

The option that lists Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover aligns exactly with these four pillars, which is why it’s the best choice. Other options mix in terms that don’t fit the standard DCO model—one swaps Recover for Prevent, another emphasizes offensive or deterrence terms, and another uses different verbs that don’t map to the established four activities.