Which of the following is the BEST way to improve an organization's ability to detect and respond to incidents?

A business impact analysis (BIA) focuses on understanding the impact of disruptions and establishing recovery objectives, not on directly improving detection and response capabilities.

Periodic security awareness training educates employees to recognize and report suspicious activities, such as phishing attempts or unusual system behavior, significantly enhancing the organization's ability to detect incidents early. Timely detection by users enables a quicker and more effective response, often preventing minor issues from escalating into major security breaches.

Performing a security gap analysis identifies weaknesses and informs potential improvements, but it is a diagnostic step rather than an direct action that improves detection and response capabilities itself.

Performing network penetration testing assesses existing vulnerabilities and tests defense mechanisms, which can improve response by identifying weaknesses, but it does not broadly enhance the entire organization's detection capability in the same way user awareness does for common attack vectors.