Exam 4 Flashcards
Which protocol relies on mutual authentication of the client and the server for its security?
LDAPS
CHAP
Two-factor authentication
RADIUS
The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) uses a client-server model for mutual authentication. LDAP is used to enable access to a directory of resources (workstations, users, information, etc.). TLS provides mutual authentication between clients and servers. Since Secure LDAP (LDAPS) uses TLS, it provides mutual authentication.
Alexa is an analyst for a large bank that has offices in multiple states. She wants to create an alert to detect if an employee from one bank office logs into a workstation located at an office in another state. What type of detection and analysis is Alexa configuring?
Behavior
Heuristic
Anomaly
Trend
behavior-based detection. Behavior-based detection (or statistical- or profile-based detection) means that the engine is trained to recognize baseline traffic or expected events associated with a user account or network device. Anything that deviates from this baseline (outside a defined level of tolerance) generates an alert. The heuristic analysis determines whether several observed data points constitute an indicator and whether related indicators make up an incident depending on a good understanding of the relationship between the observed indicators. Human analysts are typically good at interpreting context but work painfully slowly, in computer terms, and cannot hope to cope with the sheer volume of data and traffic generated by a typical network. Anomaly analysis is the process of defining an expected outcome or pattern to events and then identifying any events that do not follow these patterns. This is useful in tools and environments that enable you to set rules. Trend analysis is not used for detection but instead to better understand capacity and the system’s normal baseline. Behavioral-based detection differs from anomaly-based detection. Behavioral-based detection records expected patterns concerning the entity being monitored (in this case, user logins). Anomaly-based detection prescribes the baseline for expected patterns based on its observation of what normal looks like.
What popular open-source port scanning tool is commonly used for host discovery and service identification?
Nessus
services.msc
nmap
dd
The world’s most popular open-source port scanning utility is nmap. The Services console (services.msc) allows an analyst to disable or enable Windows services. The dd tool is used to copy files, disks, and partitions, and it can also be used to create forensic disk images. Nessus is a proprietary vulnerability scanner developed by Tenable. While Nessus does contain the ability to conduct a port scan, its primary role is as a vulnerability scanner, and it is not an open-source tool.
Your firewall is blocking outbound email traffic that is attempting to be sent. Which port should you verify is set to ALLOW in the firewall to ensure your emails are being sent?
80
143
25
22
The simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) is the protocol used to send mail between hosts on the Internet using TCP port 25. Port 25 must be set to OPEN or ALLOW in the firewall for SMTP (Sendmail transfer protocol) to function properly. Secure shell (SSH) is the protocol used for remote administration and file copying using TCP port 22. SSH is considered secure since it uses authenticated and encrypted sessions for communication. Secure shell (SSH) is the protocol used for remote administration and file copying using TCP port 22. SSH is considered secure since it uses authenticated and encrypted sessions for communication. The internet message access protocol (IMAP) is a TCP/IP application protocol that provides a means for a client to access email messages stored in a mailbox on a remote server using TCP port number 143. Unlike POP3, messages persist on the server after the client has downloaded them. IMAP also supports mailbox management functions, such as creating subfolders and access to the same mailbox by more than one client at the same time.
Which of the following access control methods provides the most detailed and explicit type of access control over a resource?
MAC
ABAC
RBAC
DAC
ABAC
Attribute-based access control (ABAC) provides the most detailed and explicit type of access control over a resource because it is capable of making access decisions based on a combination of subject and object attributes, as well as context-sensitive or system-wide attributes. Information such as the group membership, the OS being used by the user, and even the machine’s IP address could be considered when granting or denying access.
Users connecting to an SSID appear to be unable to authenticate to the captive portal. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the issue?
WPA2 security key
SSL certificates
CSMA/CA
RADIUS
Captive portals usually rely on 802.1x, and 802.1x uses RADIUS for authentication. The IEEE 802.1x standard is a network authentication protocol that opens ports for network access when an organization authenticates a user’s identity and authorizes them for access to the network. This defines port security. The user’s identity is determined based on their credentials or certificate, which is confirmed by the RADIUS server. The Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service (RADIUS) is used to manage remote and wireless authentication infrastructure. Users supply authentication information to RADIUS client devices, such as wireless access points. The client device then passes the authentication data to an AAA (Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting) server that processes the request. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a security protocol developed by Netscape to provide privacy and authentication over the Internet. SSL is application independent that works at layer 5 [Session] and can be used with a variety of protocols, such as HTTP or FTP. Client and server set up a secure connection through PKI (X.509) certificates. Carrier-sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) is a network multiple access method in which carrier sensing is used, but nodes attempt to avoid collisions by beginning transmission only after the channel is sensed to be idle. CSMA/CA occurs in the background when communicating with a wireless access point and would not prevent the user from authenticating to the captive portal. A WPA2 security key is a preshared password used to authenticate and connect to a wireless access point. If the user connected to the SSID, then the WPA2 security key was valid.
You are conducting an incident response and want to determine if any account-based indicators of compromise (IoC) exist on a compromised server. Which of the following would you NOT search for on the server?
Failed logins
Malicious processes
Unauthorized sessions
Off-hours usage
A malicious process is any process running on a system that is outside the norm. This is a host-based indicator of compromise (IOC) and not directly associated with an account-based IOC. Off-hours usage, unauthorized sessions, and failed logins are all account-based examples of an IOC. Off-hours usage occurs when an account is observed to log in during periods outside of normal business hours. An attacker often uses this to avoid detection during business hours. Unauthorized sessions occur when a device or service is accessed without authorization. For example, if a limited privilege user is signed into a domain controlled. A failed login might be normal if a user forgets or incorrectly types their password, but repeated failures for one account could also be an indication of an attack attempting to crack a user’s password.
Which of the following hashing algorithms results in a 256-bit fixed output?
SHA-1
SHA-2
NTLM
MD-5
SHA-2 creates a 256-bit fixed output. SHA-1 creates a 160-bit fixed output. NTLM creates a 128-bit fixed output. MD-5 creates a 128-bit fixed output.
A popular game allows for in-app purchases to acquire extra lives in the game. When a player purchases the extra lives, the number of lives is written to a configuration file on the gamer’s phone. A hacker loves the game but hates having to buy lives all the time, so they developed an exploit that allows a player to purchase 1 life for $0.99 and then modifies the content of the configuration file to claim 100 lives were purchased before the application reading the number of lives purchased from the file. Which of the following type of vulnerabilities did the hacker exploit?
Race condition
Dereferencing
Sensitive data exposure
Broken authentication
Race conditions occur when the outcome from execution processes is directly dependent on the order and timing of certain events. Those events fail to execute in the order and timing intended by the developer. In this scenario, the hacker’s exploit is racing to modify the configuration file before the application reads the number of lives from it. Sensitive data exposure is a fault that allows privileged information (such as a token, password, or PII) to be read without being subject to the proper access controls. Broken authentication refers to an app that fails to deny access to malicious actors. Dereferencing attempts to access a pointer that references an object at a particular memory location.
Your company is making a significant investment in infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) hosting to replace its data centers. Which of the following techniques should be used to mitigate the risk of data remanence when moving virtual hosts from one server to another in the cloud?
use full-disk encryption
zero-wipe drives before moving systems
use data masking
span multiple virtual disks to fragment data
To mitigate the risk of data remanence, you should implement full disk encryption. This method will ensure that all data is encrypted and cannot be exposed to other organizations or the underlying IaaS provider. Using a zero wipe is typically impossible because VM systems may move without user intervention during scaling and elasticity operations. Data masking can mean that all or part of a field’s contents is redacted, by substituting all character strings with “x,” for example. Data masking will not prevent your corporate data from being exposed by data remanence. Spanning multiple disks will leave the data accessible, even though it would be fragmented, and would make the data remanence problem worse overall.
A cybersecurity analyst is reviewing the logs of a proxy server and saw the following URLs:
Begin Log
https://test.diontraining.com/profile.php?userid=1546
https://test.diontraining.com/profile.php?userid=5482
https://test.diontraining.com/profile.php?userid=3618
End Log
What vulnerability does this website have? race condition insecure direct object reference improper error handling weak or default configurations
Insecure direct object references (IDOR) are a cybersecurity issue that occurs when a web application developer uses an identifier for direct access to an internal implementation object but provides no additional access control and/or authorization checks. An attacker could change the userid number and directly access any user’s profile page in this scenario. A race condition is a software vulnerability when the resulting outcome from execution processes is directly dependent on the order and timing of certain events. Those events fail to execute in the order and timing intended by the developer. Weak or default configurations are commonly a result of incomplete or ad-hoc configurations, open cloud storage, misconfigured HTTP headers, unnecessary HTTP methods, permissive Cross-Origin resource sharing (CORS), and verbose error messages containing sensitive information. Improper handling of errors can reveal implementation details that should never be revealed, such as detailed information that can provide hackers important clues on the system’s potential flaws.
Fail To Pass Systems has just been the victim of another embarrassing data breach. Their database administrator needed to work from home this weekend, so he downloaded the corporate database to his work laptop. On his way home, he left the laptop in an Uber, and a few days later, the data was posted on the internet. Which of the following mitigations would have provided the greatest protection against this data breach?
- require a VPN to be utilized for all telework employees
- require data masking for any information stored in the database
- require data at rest encryption on all endpoints
- require all new employees to sign an NDA
The greatest protection against this data breach would have been to require data at rest encryption on all endpoints, including this laptop. If the laptop were encrypted, the data would not have been readable by others, even if it was lost or stolen. While requiring a VPN for all telework employees is a good idea, it would not have prevented this data breach since the laptop’s loss caused it. Even if a VPN had been used, the same data breach would have still occurred if the employee copied the database to the machine. Remember on exam day that many options are good security practices, but you must select the option that solves the issue or problem in the question being asked. Similarly, data masking and NDAs are useful techniques, but they would not have solved this particular data breach.
Which of the following must be combined with a threat to create risk?
Vulnerability
Malicious Actor
Exploit
Mitigation
A risk results from the combination of a threat and a vulnerability. A vulnerability is a weakness in a device, system, application, or process that might allow an attack to take place. A threat is an outside force that may exploit a vulnerability. Remember, a vulnerability is something internal to your organization’s security goals. Therefore, you can control, mitigate, or remediate a vulnerability. A threat is external to your organization’s security goals. A threat could be a malicious actor, a software exploit, a natural disaster, or other external factors. In the case of an insider threat, they are considered an external factor for threats and vulnerabilities since their goals lie outside your organization’s security goals.
When conducting forensic analysis of a hard drive, what tool would BEST prevent changing the hard drive contents during your analysis?
hardware write blocker
forensic drive duplicator
software write blocker
degausser
Hardware write blocker
Both hardware and software write blockers are designed to ensure that forensic software and tools cannot change a drive inadvertently by accessing it. But, since the question indicates that you need to choose the BEST solution to protect the drive’s contents from being changed during analysis, you should pick the hardware write blocker. A hardware write blocker’s primary purpose is to intercept and prevent (or ‘block’) any modifying command operation from ever reaching the storage device. A forensic drive duplicator copies a drive and validates that it matches the original drive but cannot be used by itself during analysis. A degausser is used to wipe magnetic media. Therefore, it should not be used on the drive since it would erase the hard drive contents.
During your annual cybersecurity awareness training in your company, the instructor states that employees should be careful about what information they post on social media. According to the instructor, if you post too much personal information on social media, such as your name, birthday, hometown, and other personal details, it is much easier for an attacker to conduct which type of attack to break your passwords?
brute force attack
cognitive password attack
rainbow table attack
birthday attack
A cognitive password is a form of knowledge-based authentication that requires a user to answer a question, presumably something they intrinsically know, to verify their identity. If you post a lot of personal information about yourself online, this password type can easily be bypassed. For example, during the 2008 elections, Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s email account was hacked because a high schooler used the “reset my password” feature on Yahoo’s email service to reset her password using the information that was publically available about Sarah Palin (like her birthday, high school, and other such information).
