________ offers transparent protection.

• A. SSL/TLS
• B. IPsec
• C. Both A and B
• D. Neither A nor B

Answer: (B)

Transparent protection means the security is applied in the network path without requiring changes to the applications or endpoints. IPsec operates at the IP layer, so it can secure traffic between two hosts or gateways as it travels, often in tunnel mode that wraps entire IP datagrams. This makes the protection effectively invisible to the applications—the traffic is encrypted and authenticated without needing to modify or configure each app.

SSL/TLS, by contrast, is implemented within specific applications or at the transport layer. You must enable TLS on each service and manage certificates; only the data that traverses those TLS-enabled channels is protected. It isn’t automatically shielding all traffic or other protocols, and it typically requires changes to application behavior or deployment of TLS-capable services.

Thus, IPsec provides the kind of network-layer, transparent protection described.