When securing evidence of misconduct or illegal activity, which of the following describes the proper safeguarding of evidence?

CAPTCHA is a challenge-response authentication mechanism used to distinguish human users from automated bots on web forms and logins, and has no relation to evidence safeguarding.

Spear phishing is a targeted social engineering attack aimed at specific individuals to steal credentials or information, and is a threat vector rather than an evidence protection process.

Chain of custody establishes an unbroken, documented record of every person who handled evidence, when they handled it, and what was done with it at each stage. This documentation is essential for legal proceedings because it proves that evidence has not been tampered with or contaminated between collection and presentation. Without a proper chain of custody, evidence can be ruled inadmissible in court or disciplinary proceedings.

Access control restricts who can access systems or physical spaces but does not describe the documented tracking and transfer procedures required to safeguard evidence.