Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) Practice Exam

XML, or eXtensible Markup Language, serves as a markup language standard for encoding documents. Its primary role is to facilitate the representation and transmission of structured information in a readable format that can be easily processed by both humans and machines. In the realm of network security, while XML itself is not inherently designed for creating secure communications or performance measurements, it can be utilized in various security-related applications. For instance, XML can be a foundational component in security protocols, such as XML Encryption and XML Signature, which are used to secure XML data by providing methods for encryption and integrity validation.

The reason this answer is correct lies in the fundamental nature of XML as a markup language, which allows you to define custom tags and structure data in a way that meets various needs in data exchange and representation. This versatility is especially relevant in many security frameworks, where data encoding and structural integrity are vital for effective security analysis and communication across different systems.