What is the role of a Content Delivery Network (CDN) in terms of security?

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) plays a significant role in enhancing both security and performance for online content delivery. The correct answer highlights that a CDN provides DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) protection and enhances performance.

By distributing content across various geographically diverse servers, a CDN not only improves the loading speed for users but also mitigates the impact of DDoS attacks. In the event of a potential attack, the CDN can absorb and diffuse extraneous traffic across its network, preventing it from overwhelming the origin server. Additionally, the CDN's ability to cache content reduces the load on the original server and ensures better availability and redundancy.

Furthermore, CDNs often implement other security features, such as Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) and TLS encryption, which provide an extra layer of protection for data in transit. While ensuring data loss prevention, encrypting transactions, and handling authentication are essential security measures, they do not directly fall under the primary functions provided by a CDN. Instead, a CDN is primarily designed to enhance the delivery of web content efficiently while enhancing security mechanisms like DDoS protection.