Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) Practice Exam 2025 - Free CCSP Practice Questions and Study Guide

The act of identifying or verifying the eligibility of a station, originator, or individual to access specific categories of information is known as authentication. This process is critical in cybersecurity as it ensures that only authorized users can access certain data or systems, helping to safeguard sensitive information from unauthorized access.

Authentication typically involves various methods such as passwords, biometric data, security tokens, or multifactor authentication, all aimed at confirming the identity of a user or system before granting access. By establishing and verifying credentials, organizations can enforce access controls effectively, ensuring that individuals or systems interacting with their resources are legitimate and granted appropriate privileges based on their identity.

In contrast to the other options, masking involves obscuring specific data so that it remains confidential, non-repudiation refers to a mechanism that ensures that a person or entity cannot deny having performed a deed or transaction, and tokenization replaces sensitive data with a non-sensitive equivalent, known as a token. While these concepts are relevant in the context of data security, they do not pertain directly to the verification process associated with user identities and access rights.