Which of the following is a key role of security-focused configuration management?

The key role of security-focused configuration management is ensuring that adjustments made to systems do not adversely affect security. This involves systematically managing, monitoring, and maintaining settings, configurations, and updates to hardware and software to safeguard against vulnerabilities and ensure compliance with security policies.

When changes are made to a system—whether they involve software updates, hardware replacements, or configuration adjustments—there is a risk that these changes could unintentionally introduce new vulnerabilities or weaken existing security controls. Therefore, maintaining a process that evaluates and validates these changes helps protect the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of sensitive data and systems.

While other aspects like budget control and documentation of software installations are important in their own right, they do not directly relate to the core mission of security-focused configuration management, which is primarily to ensure that security posture is maintained or improved throughout the system lifecycle.