What is the goal of threat hunting in cybersecurity?

The goal of threat hunting in cybersecurity is to proactively identify and mitigate potential threats. This is crucial because traditional security measures, such as firewalls and antivirus programs, may not be sufficient to detect advanced persistent threats or sophisticated attacks that can bypass these defenses.

Threat hunting involves actively searching for signs of malicious activity or vulnerabilities within an organization's networks and systems before they can be exploited or cause harm. It emphasizes a proactive approach where security professionals look for unusual patterns or anomalies that may indicate a security breach or potential risk.

By focusing on early detection and response, threat hunting helps organizations strengthen their overall security posture, reduce dwell time (the duration an adversary remains undetected), and respond to incidents before they escalate into significant breaches or data loss. This aligns with the increasing need for cybersecurity teams to adopt a more dynamic and anticipatory stance against evolving threats in the cyber landscape.

Other options focus on aspects that are either reactive, such as responding to incidents after they happen, or not directly related to the core activity of threat hunting, highlighting that threat hunting fundamentally aims at proactive threat identification and mitigation.