The correct answer isattack path analysis using identity relationships. Cloud breaches increasingly occur throughmisconfigured identity permissions, not software flaws.

Attack path analysis mapstrust relationships, role assumptions, permissions, and access boundariesto understand how attackers can pivot through identity systems. This is especially relevant in cloud environments where:

Roles can assume other roles

Permissions are inherited

Overprivileged identities are common

Option A is too abstract and does not capture privilege chaining. Option B assumes malware execution, which is unnecessary in identity-based attacks. Option D measures severity but does not model attacker movement.

Professional threat hunters and cloud security teams rely on attack path analysis to:

Identify privilege escalation paths

Detect identity blast radius

Prioritize remediation of high-risk relationships

This directly supports proactive hunting and aligns withidentity-first security principles.

Therefore, optionCis correct.