Exam Topics Security + Flashcards
Pass the First Time
Which of the following threat actors is the most likely to be hired by a foreign government to attack critical systems located in other countries?
A. Hacktivist
B. Whistleblower
C. Organized crime
D. Unskilled attacker
C. Organized crime. These groups often possess the sophistication and resources needed to conduct cyber attacks on behalf of foreign governments.
Which of the following is used to add extra complexity before using a one-way data transformation algorithm?
A. Key stretching
B. Data masking
C. Steganography
D. Salting
D. Salting. This adds extra complexity to data before applying a one-way transformation algorithm, making it harder for attackers to crack hashed passwords.
An employee clicked a link in an email from a payment website that asked the employee to update contact information. The employee entered the log-in information but received a “page not found” error message. Which of the following types of social engineering attacks occurred?
A. Brand impersonation
B. Pretexting
C. Typosquatting
D. Phishing
D. Phishing. This type of attack tricks individuals into providing sensitive information by impersonating legitimate entities, like a payment website. Classic case of “too good to be true.”
An enterprise is trying to limit outbound DNS traffic originating from its internal network. Outbound DNS requests will only be allowed from one device with the IP address 10.50.10.25. Which of the following firewall ACLs will accomplish this goal?
A. Access list outbound permit 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 port 53
Access list outbound deny 10.50.10.25/32 0.0.0.0/0 port 53
B. Access list outbound permit 0.0.0.0/0 10.50.10.25/32 port 53
Access list outbound deny 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 port 53
C. Access list outbound permit 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 port 53
Access list outbound deny 0.0.0.0/0 10.50.10.25/32 port 53
D. Access list outbound permit 10.50.10.25/32 0.0.0.0/0 port 53
Access list outbound deny 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 port 53
D. Access list outbound permit 10.50.10.25/32 0.0.0.0/0 port 53. Access list outbound deny 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 port 53. This configuration permits DNS requests only from the specified IP address and denies all other outbound DNS traffic.
A data administrator is configuring authentication for a SaaS application and would like to reduce the number of credentials employees need to
maintain. The company prefers to use domain credentials to access new SaaS applications. Which of the following methods would allow this
functionality?
A. SSO
B. LEAP
C. MFA
D. PEAP
A. SSO (Single Sign-On). This allows users to access multiple applications with a single set of credentials, streamlining the login process.
Which of the following scenarios describes a possible business email compromise attack?
A. An employee receives a gift card
B. Employees who open an email attachment receive messages demanding payment in order to access files.
C. A service desk employee receives an email from the HR director asking for log-in credentials to a cloud administrator account.
D. An employee receives an email with a link to a phishing site that is designed to look like the company’s email portal.
C. A service desk employee receives an email from the HR director asking for log-in credentials to a cloud administrator account. Classic example of impersonation to gain sensitive information.
A company prevented direct access from the database administrators’ workstations to the network segment that contains database servers. Which of the following should a database administrator use to access the database servers?
A. Jump server
B. RADIUS
C. HSM
D. Load balancer
A. Jump server. It’s a secure way to provide access to sensitive segments while controlling and auditing that access.
An organization’s internet-facing website was compromised when an attacker exploited a buffer overflow. Which of the following should the organization deploy to best protect against similar attacks in the future?
A. NGFW
B. WAF
C. TLS
D. SD-WAN
B. WAF (Web Application Firewall). A WAF is designed to protect web applications by filtering and monitoring HTTP traffic, and it can help prevent attacks such as buffer overflows.
An administrator notices that several users are logging in from suspicious IP addresses. After speaking with the users, the administrator determines that the employees were not logging in from those IP addresses and resets the affected users’ passwords. Which of the following should the administrator implement to prevent this type of attack from succeeding in the future?
A. Multifactor authentication
B. Permissions assignment
C. Access management
D. Password complexity
A. Multifactor authentication. Implementing MFA adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to provide two or more verification factors to gain access, making it much harder for attackers to exploit stolen credentials.
An employee receives a text message that appears to have been sent by the payroll department and is asking for credential verification. Which of the following is social engineering techniques are being attempted? (Choose two).
A. Typosquatting
B. Phishing
C. Impersonation
D. Vishing
E. Smishing
F. Misinformation
C. Impersonation and E. Smishing. Impersonation because the message appears to be from the payroll department, and smishing because it’s a phishing attack delivered through SMS.
Several employees received a fraudulent text message from someone claiming to be the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The message started: “I’m in an airport right now with no access to email. I need you to buy gift cards for employee awards. Please send the gift cards to following email address”. Which of the following are the best responses to this situation? (Choose two).
A. Cancel current employee recognition gift cards.
B. Add a smishing exercise to the annual company training.
C. Issue a general email warning to the company.
D. Have the CEO change phone numbers.
E. Conduct a forensic investigation on the CEO’s phone.
F. Implement mobile device management.
B. Add a smishing exercise to the annual company training. C. Issue a general email warning to the company.
These steps address the immediate threat and help prevent future occurrences by raising awareness and training employees to recognize and handle such scams.
A company is required to use certified hardware when building networks. Which of the following best addresses the risks associated with procuring counterfeit hardware?
A. A thorough analysis of the supply chain.
B. A legally enforceable corporate acquisition policy.
C. A right to audit clause in vendor contracts and SOWs.
D. An in-depth penetration test of all suppliers and vendors.
C. A right to audit clause in vendor contracts and SOWs. This allows the company to ensure the authenticity of the hardware by conducting audits on their vendors, verifying that the supplied hardware meets the required standards and certifications.
Which of the following provides the details about the terms of a test with a third-party penetration tester?
A. Rules of engagement
B. Supply chain analysis
C. Right to audit clause
D. Due diligence
A. Rules of engagement. This document outlines the terms, conditions, scope, and boundaries of a penetration test conducted by a third party, ensuring that all parties are aware of the expectations and limitations of the test.
A penetration tester begins an engagement by performing port and service scans against the client environment according to the rules of engagement. Which of the following reconnaissance types is the tester performing?
A. Active
B. Passive
C. Defensive
D. Offensive
A. Active reconnaissance. This involves actively engaging with the target system through techniques like port and service scanning to gather information.
Which of the following is required for an organization to properly manage its restore process in the event of system failure?
A. IRP
B. DRP
C. RPO
D. SDLC
B. DRP (Disaster Recovery Plan). A comprehensive DRP is essential for an organization to manage and execute the restore process effectively in the event of system failure, ensuring minimal downtime and data loss.
Which of the following vulnerabilities is associated with installing software outside of a manufacturer’s approved software repository?
A. Jailbreaking
B. Memory injection
C. Resource reuse
D. Side loading
D. Side loading. It’s the process of installing software from sources other than the official app store or repository, which can introduce vulnerabilities and security risks.
(10:00:00 AM) Login rejected - username administrator - password Spring2023
(10:00:01 AM) Login rejected - username jsmith - password Spring2023
(10:00:01 AM) Login rejected - username guest - password Spring2023
(10:00:02 AM) Login rejected - username cpolk - password Spring2023
(10:00:03 AM) Login rejected - username fmartin - password Spring2023
A. Password spraying
B. Account forgery
C. Pass-the-hash
D. Brute-force
A. Password spraying. This attack uses a common password across many accounts, rather than brute-forcing a single account with many passwords.
An analyst is evaluating the implementation of Zero Trust principles within the data plane. Which of the following would be most relevant for the analyst to evaluate?
A. Secured zones
B. Subject role
C. Adaptive identity
D. Threat scope reduction
A. Secured zones. Evaluating secured zones within the data plane aligns closely with Zero Trust principles, emphasizing strict access controls and segmentation.
An engineer needs to find a solution that creates an added layer of security by preventing unauthorized access to internal company resources. Which of the following would be the best solution?
A. RDP server
B. Jump server
C. Proxy server
D. Hypervisor
B. Jump server. This creates an added layer of security by acting as an intermediary device that authorized users must access before reaching internal company resources, enhancing overall access control.
A company’s web filter is configured to scan the URL for strings and deny access when matches are found. Which of the following search strings should an analyst employ to prohibit access to non-encrypted websites?
A. encryption=off
B. http://
C. www.*.com
D. :443
To block access to non-encrypted websites, the analyst should use B. http://. This string targets URLs that start with “http://” indicating they are not using HTTPS encryption.
During a security incident, the security operations team identified sustained network traffic from a malicious IP address: 10.1.4.9. A security analyst is creating an inbound firewall rule to block the IP address from accessing the organization’s network. Which of the following fulfills this request?
A. access-list inbound deny ip source 0.0.0/0 destination 10.1.4.9/32
B. access-list inbound deny ip source 10.1.4.9/32 destination
C. access-list inbound permit ip source 10.1.4.9/32 destination 0.0.0.0/0
D. access-list inbound permit ip source 0.0.0.0/0 destination 10.1.4.9/32
B: access-list inbound deny ip source 10.1.4.9/32 destination. This command denies traffic from the specific malicious IP address 10.1.4.9, effectively blocking it from accessing the organization’s network.
A company needs to provide administrative access to internal resources while minimizing the traffic allowed through the security boundary. Which of the following methods is most secure?
A. Implementing a bastion host
B. Deploying a perimeter network
C. Installing a WAF
D. Utilizing single sign-on
A: Implementing a bastion host. A bastion host is a hardened system specifically designed to withstand attacks and provide secure administrative access to internal resources. It minimizes the traffic allowed through the security boundary by acting as a controlled gateway for accessing sensitive systems.
A security analyst is reviewing alerts in the SIEM related to potential malicious network traffic coming from an employee’s corporate laptop. The security analyst has determined that additional data about the executable running on the machine is necessary to continue the investigation. Which of the following logs should the analyst use as a data source?
A. Application
B. IPS/IDS
C. Network
D. Endpoint
D: Endpoint. Endpoint logs would provide detailed information about the executable running on the employee’s laptop, including its behaviors and activities. This data is crucial for analyzing and understanding any potential malicious actions taken by the executable.
A cyber operations team informs a security analyst about a new tactic malicious actors are using to compromise networks. SIEM alerts have not yet been configured. Which of the following best describes what the security analyst should do to identify this behavior?
A. Digital forensics
B. E-discovery
C. Incident response
D. Threat hunting
D: Threat hunting. Threat hunting involves proactively searching through networks or datasets to detect and isolate advanced threats that evade traditional security solutions. Since the SIEM alerts aren’t yet set up, threat hunting would be the proactive approach to identify and understand this new tactic.
