Which of the following is the PRIMARY objective of performing scans with an active discovery tool?

Discovering virus and malware activity is typically handled by endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools, antivirus software, or intrusion detection systems (IDS), not primarily by active discovery tools.

Discovering changes for security configuration management is achieved through configuration management tools that track baseline deviations, not primarily through active discovery scans.

Active discovery tools, such as network scanners (e.g., Nmap), send probes (like ARP requests, ICMP pings, or port scans) across the network to identify live hosts, open ports, and running services. This process directly leads to asset identification by creating a list of active devices and helps build a comprehensive inventory of all connected devices on the network.

Vulnerability management and remediation are performed by dedicated vulnerability scanners that specifically look for known weaknesses, which is a subsequent step to asset identification, not the primary goal of active discovery.