Which category of controls is designed to identify issues after they occur rather than prevent them?

• A. Detective controls
• B. Physical control
• C. CAM
• D. Preventative Controls

Answer: (A)

Detective controls are designed to uncover problems after they have occurred. They focus on monitoring, logging, and analyzing activity so you can detect breaches, misconfigurations, or policy violations and then respond or recover. Examples include audit logs, intrusion detection systems, security monitoring dashboards, and CCTV footage that shows what happened. This contrasts with preventative controls, which aim to stop events from happening in the first place (such as strong authentication or firewalls). Physical controls protect access to physical spaces, while CAM isn’t the category used for this detection-vs-prevention distinction. Since the question emphasizes identifying issues after they occur, detective controls are the best fit.