The formal certification and accreditation process has four primary steps, what are they?

 Steps in Certification and Accreditation

Evaluating: Assess security controls to identify gaps and areas of improvement.

Describing: Document the system, including security controls and configurations.

Testing: Perform validation testing to ensure controls meet security requirements.

Authorizing: Obtain formal approval to operate based on evaluation results and residual risk.

 Comparison of Options

B. Evaluating, purchasing, testing, authorizing: Does not include describing, which is critical for documentation.

C. Auditing, documenting, verifying, certifying: Auditing and verifying are part of testing but are incomplete as standalone steps.

D. Discovery, testing, authorizing, certifying: Overlaps with evaluating but lacks specificity for describing.

 EC-Council References

Certification and accreditation frameworks (e.g., NIST RMF, ISO 27001) outline these steps for ensuring secure system authorization.