What is the role of logging for trusted agents?

• A. Prevent all security incidents.
• B. Automate all security decisions.
• C. Provide traceability, accountability, and evidence for investigations and compliance.
• D. Replace encryption.

Answer: (C)

Logging for trusted agents is about creating an auditable trail that supports accountability, traceability, and evidence for investigations and compliance. When trusted agents perform actions, the logs capture who did what, when, on what resource, and what the outcome was. This visibility makes it possible to reconstruct events during an investigation, verify that policies were followed, and produce documentation needed for audits or regulatory requirements.

For logging to be effective, the records must be protected from tampering and kept centralized, with accurate timestamps and enough context—who acted, what was done, which system or data was involved, and whether the action succeeded or failed. This evidence base not only aids incident response and forensic analysis but also reinforces trust by showing there is a verifiable paper trail of actions taken by trusted agents.

These logs do not prevent all security incidents by themselves, nor do they automate all security decisions, and they do not replace encryption. Instead, they provide the essential record that makes accountability possible and supports later review and compliance.