Which statement about data at rest is true?

• A. It remains stored on disk or other persistent storage and can be encrypted.
• B. It is always in memory.
• C. It is data that is transmitted over a network.
• D. It is data that has been backed up.

Answer: (A)

Data at rest means information that is stored on non-volatile storage, like disks or other persistent media, and is not currently moving over a network or being actively processed. Because it’s stationary, you can protect it with encryption to safeguard confidentiality when it’s not in use.

This contrasts with data in memory (data in use) and data in transit (data moving over a network). While backups are stored data too, the defining idea of data at rest is that it’s stored on persistent storage and not actively transmitted or used.