What do security headers in an HTTP response indicate to your browser?

Security headers in an HTTP response provide the browser with directives on how to handle content securely when interacting with the site. These headers include various security policies that can dictate a range of behaviors, such as whether to allow content to be loaded only over secure connections (HTTPS), whether to enable or disable certain features like inline scripts, and how to manage cross-origin resource sharing (CORS).

For instance, headers like Content-Security-Policy (CSP) help prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks by specifying which sources of content are safe to load. Similarly, X-Content-Type-Options can prevent browsers from interpreting files as a different MIME type than what is declared, thereby reducing the risk of attacks based on content type misinterpretation.

While the other options mention actions like displaying images, using fonts, and caching data, these do not encapsulate the primary purpose of security headers, which is fundamentally about managing the security posture of the content the browser is handling.