______ is the plan-based creation and operation of countermeasures.

• A. Planning
• B. Protection
• C. Response
• D. All of the above

Answer: (B)

Protection is the act of safeguarding assets by putting in place and running the countermeasures that prevent, detect, and mitigate threats. The phrase “plan-based creation and operation of countermeasures” points to building and continuously operating safeguards—such as access controls, encryption, monitoring, and defense-in-depth—to protect information and systems. Planning is about designing how to protect, and response is about what to do during or after an incident; neither focuses on the ongoing creation and operation of the protective measures themselves. All of the above would only be correct if the description encompassed planning and reacting, which isn’t the case here.