What does IaaS primarily manage for a cloud customer?

The correct answer highlights that Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) primarily manages the hardware assets on which programs and data run. IaaS provides virtualized computing resources over the internet, which includes essential infrastructure components such as servers, storage, and networking hardware. This service allows customers to deploy their applications and manage operating systems and applications without the need to invest in physical hardware.

IaaS gives users control over the infrastructure while relieving them from the burdens of physical hardware maintenance. Customers can scale resources up or down based on demand, thereby optimizing costs and efficiency.

The other options do not accurately reflect the primary focus of IaaS. For instance, cloud application security is typically managed at the application layer or by specific services, rather than through IaaS. User data access permissions are usually part of Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions, and while IaaS may provide network resources, network deployment strategies are more characteristic of networking services rather than being the primary management focus of IaaS.