What is the primary purpose of activity monitoring tools?

The primary purpose of activity monitoring tools is to record all user activity on organizational networks. These tools are essential for understanding user behavior, maintaining compliance with regulations, and detecting potential security incidents. By logging user activities, organizations can gain insights into normal operational patterns and identify any anomalies that may indicate malicious actions or security breaches.

Activity monitoring encompasses tracking access to resources, changes made to files, and actions taken by users on the network. This data is critical for incident handlers and security professionals when investigating security incidents, as it allows them to trace actions back to specific users and determine the extent of any compromise.

While the other choices may represent functionalities of tools used in a broader security context, they are not the primary intent of activity monitoring tools. Building custom queries relates more to data analysis and reporting rather than monitoring per se. Scanning network traffic for data exfiltration is a specific action aimed at detecting unauthorized data transfers, which is separate from the overall monitoring of user activity on a network. Therefore, the core function of these tools remains focused on recording user activities to enhance security and operational oversight.