What is the primary objective of 'deterrence by denial'?

The primary objective of 'deterrence by denial' is to prevent an adversary from undertaking an action by convincing them that the action is unlikely to succeed or will be ineffective in achieving its intended goals. This strategy focuses on minimizing the perceived benefits of aggression by making the target less vulnerable or the attack itself less likely to achieve its objective, rather than threatening retaliation as in 'deterrence by punishment'. It is based on demonstrating that the attacker's efforts will be futile. An example of deterrence by denial in cybersecurity would be implementing robust firewalls and intrusion detection systems to make a cyberattack extremely difficult to execute successfully, thereby deterring the attacker because their efforts are unlikely to yield any beneficial results. Similarly, investing in strong encryption methods to protect sensitive data would make the theft of that data pointless to an adversary, deterring them from attempting to steal it. Unlike deterrence by punishment, which relies on the threat of a response after an attack, deterrence by denial aims to prevent the attack from occurring in the first place by convincing the potential attacker that their actions will be fruitless.