Network Defense Essentials (NDE) Practice Exam 2025 – Your All-in-One Resource to Exam Success!

The term that best describes the tracking and examining of the activities of network devices is auditing. Auditing involves systematically evaluating and analyzing records of activities for compliance, security, and operational efficiency. This practice is essential for organizations to ensure that their devices are functioning correctly, that proper security measures are in place, and to detect any unauthorized or suspicious activities.

While monitoring often refers to the ongoing observation of network devices in real-time to identify performance issues or security incidents, auditing goes a step further by providing a detailed review of past activities. It typically involves generating reports that can be used to assess adherence to policies and identify areas for improvement.

Penetration testing is focused on assessing the security of a network by simulating attacks to identify vulnerabilities, while vulnerability assessment is a process to identify, quantify, and prioritize the vulnerabilities in a system. Neither of these practices emphasizes the routine examination of device activities as directly as auditing does.