Practice Exam 00 Flashcards

Question

You have just completed identifying, analyzing, and containing an incident. You have verified that the company uses self-encrypting drives as part of its default configuration. As you begin the eradication and recovery phase, you must sanitize the storage devices' data before restoring the data from known-good backups. Which of the following methods would be the most efficient to use to sanitize the affected hard drives? a. Perform a cryptographic erase (CE) on the storage devices b. Conduct zero-fill on the storage devices c. Use a secure erase (SE) utility on the storage devices d. Incinerate and replace the storage devices

Answer 1

a. Perform a cryptographic erase (CE) on the storage devices OBJ-2.7: Sanitizing a hard drive can be done using cryptographic erase (CE), secure erase (SE), zero-fill, or physical destruction. In this case, the hard drives already used data at rest. Therefore, the most efficient method would be to choose CE. The cryptographic erase (CE) method sanitizes a self-encrypting drive by erasing the media encryption key and then reimaging the drive. A secure erase (SE) is used to perform the sanitization of flash-based devices (such as SSDs or USB devices) when cryptographic erase is not available. The zero-fill method relies on overwriting a storage device by setting all bits to the value of zero (0), but this is not effective on SSDs or hybrid drives, and it takes much longer than the CE method. The final option is to conduct physical destruction, but since the scenario states that the storage device will be reused, this is not a valid technique. Physical destruction occurs by mechanical shredding, incineration, or degaussing magnetic hard drives.

Answer 2

a. (1) Vishing and (2) phishing OBJ-1.1: Vishing uses a phone call to conduct information gathering and phishing type of actions. Spearphishing involves targeting specific individuals using well-crafted emails to gather information from a victim. Phishing relies on sending out a large volume of email to a broad set of recipients in the hopes of collecting the desired action or information. A hoax involves tricking a user into performing an action (such as virus remediation actions) when no infection has occurred. Pharming involves domain spoofing in an attempt to gather the desired information from a victim.

Answer 3

d. IdP OBJ-3.8: The IdP provides the validation of the user's identity. Security assertions markup language (SAML) is an XML-based framework for exchanging security-related information such as user authentication, entitlement, and attributes. SAML is often used in conjunction with SOAP. SAML is a solution for providing single sign-on (SSO) and federated identity management. It allows a service provider (SP) to establish a trust relationship with an identity provider (IdP) so that the SP can trust the identity of a user (the principal) without the user having to authenticate directly with the SP. The principal's User Agent (typically a browser) requests a resource from the service provider (SP). The resource host can also be referred to as the relying party (RP). If the user agent does not already have a valid session, the SP redirects the user agent to the identity provider (IdP). The IdP requests the principal's credentials if not already signed in and, if correct, provides a SAML response containing one or more assertions. The SP verifies the signature(s) and (if accepted) establishes a session and provides access to the resource.

Answer 4

b. Uninterruptible power supply OBJ-2.5: An uninterruptible power supply or uninterruptible power source (UPS) is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source becomes too low or the main power fails. A UPS provides near-instantaneous protection from input power interruptions by using a battery backup. The on-battery run-time of most uninterruptible power sources is usually short (less than 60 minutes) but sufficient to properly shut down a computer system. A line conditioner is a device that adjusts voltages in under-voltage and overvoltage conditions to maintain a 120 V output. Line conditioners raise a sag or under-voltage event back to normal levels, but they cannot protect the line from a complete power failure or power outage. A surge protector defends against possible voltage spikes that could damage your electronics, appliances, or equipment. A power strip will not protect against voltage spikes. A UPS or line conditioner could protect against voltage spikes, but they cost much more than a surge protector. A power distribution unit (PDU) is a device designed to provide power to devices that require power, and may or may not support remote monitoring and access.

Answer 5

c. You should accept the risk if the residual risk is low enough OBJ-5.4: In most cases, you will be unable to remove all risks. Instead, it would be best to mitigate the risk to a low enough level to accept the residual risk. Removing the controls would add to the risk, which is a bad course of action to select. Ignoring the remaining risk is unacceptable; instead, you should acknowledge what risk remains and accept it if it is low enough. If it is not low enough, you should continue to mitigate the risk by adding additional control measures. It is unlikely you will ever be able to get all risk down to zero, but mitigating to a lower level and then accepting the residual risk is a common industry practice.

Answer 6

a. BYOD OBJ-3.5: The BYOD (bring your own device) strategy opens a network to many vulnerabilities. People can bring their personal devices to the corporate network, and their devices may contain vulnerabilities that could be allowed to roam free on a corporate network. COPE (company-owned/personally enabled) means that the company provides the users with a smartphone primarily for work use, but basic functions such as voice calls, messaging, and personal applications are allowed, with some controls on usage and flexibility. With CYOD, the user can choose which device they wish to use from a small selection of devices approved by the company. The company then buys, procures, and secures the device for the user. The MDM is a mobile device management system that gives centralized control over COPE company-owned personally enabled devices.

Answer 7

c. Deterrent OBJ-5.1: A deterrent control is designed to discourage the violation of a security policy. Since the cameras are clearly visible, they are acting as a deterrent control. Corrective control is one that is used to fix or eliminate a vulnerability. A compensating control is used to minimize a vulnerability when it is deemed too difficult or impractical to correct the vulnerability fully. Administrative control is used to create a policy or procedure to minimize or eliminate a vulnerability.

Answer 8

b. SQL injection OBJ-1.3: Based on the log entries, it appears the attack was successful in conducting a SQL injection. Notice the escape character (') used in the log. A connection to the MySQL database is being used in the script, which could be exploited since no input validation is being performed. Command injection is an attack in which the goal is to execute arbitrary commands on the host operating system via a vulnerable application. SQL injection is a specific type of command injection. LDAP injection is a code injection technique used to exploit web applications that could reveal sensitive user information or modify information represented in the LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) data stores. Directory traversal or Path Traversal is an HTTP attack that allows attackers to access restricted directories and execute commands outside of the web server's root directory.

Answer 9

c. FTX Imager OBJ-4.1: FTK Imager can create perfect copies or forensic images of computer data without making changes to the original evidence. The forensic image is identical in every way to the original, including copying the slack, unallocated, and free space on a given drive. The dd tool can also create forensic images, but it is not a proprietary tool since it is open-source. Memdump is used to collect the content within RAM on a given host. Autopsy is a cross-platform, open-source forensic tool suite.

Answer 10

c. Diamond Model of Intrusion Analysis OBJ-4.2: The Diamond Model provides an excellent methodology for communicating cyber events and allowing analysts to derive mitigation strategies implicitly. The Diamond Model is constructed around a graphical representation of an attacker's behavior. The MITRE ATT&CK framework provides explicit pseudo-code examples for detecting or mitigating a given threat within a network and ties specific behaviors back to individual actors. The Lockheed Martin cyber kill chain provides a general life cycle description of how attacks occur but does not deal with the specifics of how to mitigate them. OpenIOC contains a depth of research on APTs but does not integrate the detection and mitigation strategy.

Answer 11

c. VPN OBJ-3.2: Endpoint security includes software host-based firewalls, host-based intrusion protection systems (HIPS), and anti-virus software. A VPN is not typically considered an endpoint security tool because it is a network security tool.

Answer 12

a. MAC OBJ-3.8: Mandatory Access Control (MAC) requires all access to be predefined based on system classification, configuration, and authentication. MAC is commonly used in highly centralized environments and usually relies on a series of labels, such as classification levels of the data.

Answer 13

a. Use full-disk encryption OBJ-1.5: 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.

Answer 14

c. 69, 25, 80, 53 OBJ-3.1: For the exam, you need to know your ports and protocols. The Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) uses port 69. The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) uses port 25. The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) uses port 80. The Domain Name Service (DNS) protocol uses port 53.

Answer 15

d. Data protection officer OBJ-5.5: The primary role of the data protection officer (DPO) is to ensure that her organization processes the personal data of its staff, customers, providers, or any other individuals (also referred to as data subjects) in compliance with the applicable data protection rules. They must understand how any privacy information is used within business operations. Therefore, they are the best person for the auditor to interview to get a complete picture of the data usage.

Answer 16

b. Exact data match OBJ-3.2: An exact data match (EDM) is a pattern matching technique that uses a structured database of string values to detect matches. For example, a company might have a list of actual social security numbers of its customers. But, since it is not appropriate to load these numbers into a DLP filter, they could use EDM to match the numbers' fingerprints instead based on their format or sequence. Document matching attempts to match a whole document or a partial document against a signature in the DLP. Statistical matching is a further refinement of partial document matching that uses machine learning to analyze various data sources using artificial intelligence or machine learning. Classification techniques use a rule based on a confidentiality classification tag or label attached to the data. For example, the military might use a classification-based DLP to search for any files labeled as secret or top secret

Answer 17

b. Increase individual accountability OBJ-5.3: To adequately provide accountability, the use of shared or group accounts should be disabled. This allows you to log and track individual user actions based on individual user accounts. This enables the organization to hold users accountable for their actions, too.

Answer 18

c. AES OBJ-2.8: The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a symmetric-key algorithm for encrypting digital data. It was established as an electronic data encryption standard by NIST in 2001. AES can use a 128-bit, 192-bit, or 256-bit key, and uses a 128-bit block size.

Answer 19

c. Penetration test OBJ-1.8: Penetration tests provide an organization with an external attacker’s perspective on their security status. The NIST process for penetration testing divides tests into four phases: planning, discovery, attack, and reporting. The penetration test results are valuable security planning tools, as they describe the actual vulnerabilities that an attacker might exploit to gain access to a network. A vulnerability scan provides an assessment of your security posture from an internal perspective. Asset management refers to a systematic approach to the governance and realization of value from the things that a group or entity is responsible for over their whole life cycles. It may apply both to tangible assets and intangible assets. Patch management is the process that helps acquire, test, and install multiple patches (code changes) on existing applications and software tools on a computer, enabling systems to stay updated on existing patches and determining which patches are the appropriate ones.

Answer 20

c. Hardening OBJ-3.2: Hardening is usually the process of securing a system by reducing its surface of vulnerability, which is larger when a system performs more functions; in principle, a single-function system is more secure than a multipurpose one. Reducing available ways of attack typically includes changing default passwords, removing unnecessary software, unnecessary usernames or logins, and disabling or removing unnecessary services. Windows is the use of windows for the simultaneous display of more than one item on a screen. Harvesting is the process of gathering data, normally user credentials. Stealthing is a made-up term in this question.

Answer 21

d. Twofish OBJ-2.8: Twofish is a symmetric key block cipher with a block size of 128 bits and key sizes up to 256 bits. ECC, RSA, and Diffie-Hellman are all asymmetric algorithms.

Answer 22

b. PGP OBJ-2.8: Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is an encryption program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication. PGP is used for signing, encrypting, and decrypting texts, emails, files, directories, and whole disk partitions and to increase the security of email communications. PGP is a public-key cryptosystem and relies on an asymmetric algorithm. AES, RC4, and 3DES are all symmetric algorithms.

Answer 23

b. Rules of engagement OBJ-1.8: While the contract documents' network scope will define what will be tested, the rules of engagement define how that testing is to occur. Rules of engagement can state things like no social engineering is allowed, no external website scanning, etc. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) is a preliminary or exploratory agreement to express an intent to work together that is not legally binding and does not involve monetary exchange. A service level agreement contains the operating procedures and standards for a service contract. An acceptable use policy is a policy that governs employees' use of company equipment and internet services.

Answer 24

d. The type of data processed by the system OBJ-5.4: The data's asset value is a metric or classification that an organization places on data stored, processed, and transmitted by an asset. Different data types, such as regulated data, intellectual property, and personally identifiable information, can determine its value. The cost of acquisition, cost of hardware replacement, and depreciated costs refer to the financial value of the hardware or system itself. This can be significantly different from the value of the information and data that the system stores and processes.

Answer 25

d. journalctl _UID=1003 | grep sudo OBJ-4.3: journalctl is a command for viewing logs collected by systemd. The systemd-journald service is responsible for systemd’s log collection, and it retrieves messages from the kernel, systemd services, and other sources. These logs are gathered in a central location, which makes them easy to review. If you specify the parameter of _UID=1003, you will only receive entries made under the authorities of the user with ID (UID) 1003. In this case, that is Terri. Using the piping function, we can send that list of entries into the grep command as an input and then filter the results before returning them to the screen. This command will be sufficient to see all the times that Terri has executed something as the superuser using privilege escalation. If there are too many results, we could further filter the results using regular expressions with grep using the -e flag. Since the UID of 1003 is only used by Terri, it is unnecessary to add [Tt]erri to your grep filter as the only results for UID 1003 (terri) will already be shown. So, while all four of these would produce the same results, the most efficient option to accomplish this is by entering “journalctl _UID=1003 | grep sudo” in the terminal. Don’t get afraid when you see questions like this; walk through each part of the command step by step and determine the differences. In this question, you may not have known what journalctl is, but you didn’t need to. You needed to identify which grep expression was the shortest that would still get the job done. By comparing the differences between the options presented, you could likely take your best guess and identify the right one.

Answer 26

c. Brute force OBJ-1.2: This is an example of a brute force attack. Unlike password spraying that focuses on attempting only one or two passwords per user, a brute force attack focuses on trying multiple passwords for a single user. The goal of this attack is to crack the user's password and gain access to their account. Password spraying, instead, refers to the attack method that takes a large number of usernames and loops them with a single password. We can use multiple iterations using several different passwords, but the number of passwords attempted is usually low compared to the number of users attempted. This method avoids password lockouts, and it is often more effective at uncovering weak passwords than targeting specific users. In the scenario provided, only one or two attempts are being made to each username listed. This is indicative of a password spraying attack instead of a brute force attempt against a single user. Impersonation is the act of pretending to be another person for fraudulent purposes. Credential stuffing is the automated injection of breached username/password pairs to gain user accounts access fraudulently. This is a subset of the brute force attack category: large numbers of spilled credentials are automatically entered into websites until they are potentially matched to an existing account. The attacker can then hijack the account for their purposes.

Answer 27

c. Wiping OBJ-2.7: Data wiping or clearing occurs by using a software tool to overwrite the data on a hard drive to destroy all electronic data on a hard disk or other media. Data wiping may be performed with a 1x, 7x, or 35x overwriting, with a higher number of times being more secure. This allows the hard drive to remain functional and allows for hardware reuse. Degaussing a hard drive involves demagnetizing a hard drive to erase its stored data. You cannot reuse a hard drive once it has been degaussed. Therefore, it is a bad solution for this scenario. Purging involves removing sensitive data from a hard drive using the device's internal electronics or an outside source such as a degausser, or by using a cryptographic erase function if the drive supports one. Shredding involves the physical destruction of the hard drive. This is a secure method of destruction but doesn’t allow for device reuse.

Answer 28

b. Hypervisor OBJ-2.2: A hypervisor, also known as a virtual machine monitor, is a process that creates and runs virtual machines (VMs). A hypervisor allows one host computer to support multiple guest VMs by virtually sharing its resources, like memory and processing. To create and provision virtual machines within the Windows 2019 operating system, you can use a Type II hypervisor like VM Ware or VirtualBox. Disk Management is a system utility in Windows that enables you to perform advanced storage tasks. Device Manager is a component of the Microsoft Windows operating system that allows users to view and control the hardware attached to the computer. Remote Desktop Services, known as Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 and earlier, is one of the components of Microsoft Windows that allow a user to take control of a remote computer or virtual machine over a network connection.

Answer 29

d. Processor Cache, Random Access Memory, Swap File, Hard Drive or USB Drive OBJ-4.5: The correct order for evidence collection based on the order of volatility is the Processor Cache, Random Access Memory, Swap File, and then the Hard Drive or USB Drive. Since the Processor Cache is the most volatile and changes the most frequently, it should be captured first. Random Access Memory (RAM) is temporary storage on a computer. It can quickly change or be overwritten, and the information stored in RAM is lost when power is removed from the computer, so it should be collected second. Swap files are temporary files on a hard disk used as virtual memory, and therefore, they should be collected third. The files on a hard disk or USB drive are the least volatile of the four options presented since they are used for long-term storage of data and are not lost when the computer loses power.

Answer 30

a. 443 OBJ-3.1: Web-based attacks would likely appear on port 80 (HTTP) or port 443 (HTTPS). An attack against Active Directory is likely to be observed on port 389 LDAP. An attack on an FTP server is likely to be observed on port 21 (FTP). An attack using the remote desktop protocol would be observed on port 3389 (RDP).

Answer 31

a. 10.0.19.121 is a client that is accessing an SSH server over port 52497 OBJ-4.1: This output from the tcpdump command is displaying three packets in a larger sequence of events. Based solely on these three packets, we can only be certain that the server (11.154.12.121) runs an SSH server over port 22. This is based on the first line of the output. The second and third lines are the server responding to the request and sending data back to the client (10.0.19.121) over port 52497. There is no evidence of an attack against either the server or the client based on this output since we can only see the headers and not the content being sent between the client and server.

Answer 32

a. SPI OBJ-5.5: According to the GDPR, information about an individual's race or ethnic origin is classified as Sensitive Personal Information (SPI). Sensitive personal information (SPI) is information about a subject's opinions, beliefs, and nature afforded specially protected status by privacy legislation. As it cannot be used to identify somebody or make any relevant assertions about health uniquely, it is neither PII nor PHI. Data loss prevention (DLP) is a software solution that detects and prevents sensitive information from being stored on unauthorized systems or transmitted over unauthorized networks.

Answer 33

d. Multifactor authentication OBJ-2.4: For the exam, you need to know the different authentication categories and what type of authentication methods belong to each category. This is an example of multifactor authentication because you are using both a username/password combination with an SMS code. This provides a knowledge factor (username/password) and a possession factor (your smartphone) to provide two factors of authentication, making this the best option.

Answer 34

a. Capture network traffic using a sniffer, schedule a period of downtime to image and remediate the affected server, and maintain the chain of custody OBJ-1.7: Since the database server is part of a critical production network, it is important to work with the business to time the remediation period to minimize productivity losses. You can immediately begin to capture network traffic since this won't affect the database server or the network (least intrusive) while scheduling a period of downtime in which to take a forensic image of the database server's hard drive. All network captures and the hard drive should be maintained under the chain of custody if needed for criminal prosecution or civil action after remediation. The server should be remediated and brought back online once the hard drive image has been created.

Answer 35

b. Intimidation OBJ-1.1: Intimidation is a commonly used technique during a social engineering campaign. It relies on trying to scare or frighten a person into clicking a link. Often, these emails will claim to be from the FBI, IRS, or other government agencies.

Answer 36

b. Faulty input validation OBJ-3.2: A primary vector for attacking applications is to exploit faulty input validation. The input could include user data entered into a form or URL, passed by another application or link. This is heavily exploited by cross-site scripting, SQL injection, and XML injection attacks. Directory traversal is the practice of accessing a file from a location that the user is unauthorized to access. The attacker does this by ordering an application to backtrack through the directory path to read or execute a file in a parent directory. In a file inclusion attack, the attacker adds a file to a web app or website's running process. The file is either constructed to be malicious or manipulated to serve the attacker's malicious purposes. Cross-site scripting (XSS) is one of the most powerful input validation exploits. XSS involves a trusted site, a client browsing the trusted site, and the attacker's site.

Answer 37

c. SSO OBJ-3.8: Single sign-on (SSO) is an authentication process that allows users to access multiple applications with one set of login credentials. SSO is a common procedure in enterprises, where a client accesses multiple resources connected to a local area network (LAN). Permission propagation occurs when a technician sets permissions on a folder or a drive, and the folder properties apply those permissions to all of the folders under that folder in the tree. Permissions propagation secures your data by limiting access to the users specified in the top folder. Multifactor authentication is an authentication scheme that works based on something you know, something you have, something you are, something you do, or somewhere you are. These schemes can be made stronger by combining them (for example, protecting the use of a smart card certification [something you have] with a PIN [something you know]). Inheritance or inherited permissions are permissions that are given to an object because it is a child of a parent object. Inheritance occurs due to permissions propagation.

Answer 38

b. Removal media OBJ-2.7: Air gaps are designed to remove connections between two networks to create physical segmentation between them. The only way to cross an air gap is to have a physical device between these systems, such as using a removable media device to transfer files between them. A directory traversal is an HTTP attack that allows attackers to access restricted directories and execute commands outside the web server's root directory. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks are a type of injection in which malicious scripts are injected into otherwise benign and trusted websites. A session hijacking attack compromises the session token by stealing or predicting a valid session token to gain unauthorized access to the Web Server. A directory traversal, cross-site scripting, or session hijacking attack cannot by itself cross an air gap.

Answer 39

d. Implement NAC OBJ-3.3: Network Access Control (NAC) uses a set of protocols to define and implement a policy that describes how to secure access to network nodes whenever a device initially attempts to access the network. NAC can utilize an automatic remediation process by fixing non-compliant hosts before allowing network access. Network Access Control can control access to a network with policies, including pre-admission endpoint security policy checks and post-admission controls over where users and devices can go on a network and what they can do. In this scenario, implementing NAC can identify which machines are known and trusted Dion Training assets and provide them with access to the secure internal network. NAC could also determine unknown machines (assumed to be those of CompTIA employees) and provide them with direct internet access only by placing them on a guest network or VLAN. While MAC filtering could be used to allow or deny access to the network, it cannot by itself control which set of network resources could be utilized from a single ethernet port. A security information and event management (SIEM) system provides real-time analysis of security alerts generated by applications and network hardware. An access control list could define what ports, protocols, or IP addresses the ethernet port could be utilized. Still, it would be unable to distinguish between a Dion Training employee's laptop and a CompTIA employee's laptop like a NAC implementation could.

Answer 40

a. Randomized one-time use pad OBJ-2.8: The only truly unbreakable encryption is one that uses a one-time use pad. This ensures that every message is encrypted with a different shared key that only the two owners of the one-time use pad would know. This technique ensures that there is no pattern in the key for an attacker to guess or find. Even if one of the messages could be broken, all of the other messages would remain secure since they use different keys to encrypt them. Unfortunately, one-time use pads require that two identical copies of the pad are produced and distributed securely before they can be used. DES and AES both rely on a single shared secret key, making it vulnerable to attack. DES has already been broken, while AES remains unbroken (today). With enough time and computing power, though, an AES key could be discovered. RSA is also vulnerable to attack with enough time and computing power.

Answer 41

a. DENY TCP ANY HOST 71.168.10.45 EQ 3389 OBJ-4.4: Since the question asks you to prevent unauthorized service access, we need to block port 3389 from accepting connections on 71.168.10.45 (the host). This option will deny ANY workstation from connecting to this machine (host) over the Remote Desktop Protocol service that is unauthorized (port 3389).

Answer 42

d. 172.16.1.3, 192.168.1.12, 445, TCP, ALLOW OBJ-3.3: The ACL should be created with 172.16.1.3 as the Source IP, 192.168.1.12 as the Destination IP, 445 as the port number operating over TCP, and the ALLOW condition set. This is the most restrictive option presented (only the HR and Files server are used), and the minimal number of ports are opened to accomplish our goal (only port 445 for the SMB service).

Answer 43

c. Separation of duties OBJ-5.3: This organization uses separation of duties to ensure that neither Kirsten nor Bob can exploit the organization’s ordering processes for their gain. Separation of duties is the concept of having more than one person required to complete a particular task to prevent fraud and error. Dual control, instead, requires both people to act together. For example, a nuclear missile system uses dual control and requires two people to each turn a different key simultaneously to allow for a missile launch to occur. Mandatory vacation policies require employees to take time away from their job and detect fraud or malicious activities. A background check is a process a person or company uses to verify that a person is who they claim to be and provides an opportunity for someone to check a person's criminal record, education, employment history, and other past activities to confirm their validity.

Answer 44

a. Scarcity OBJ-1.1: Scarcity is used to create a fear in a person of missing out on a special deal or offer. This technique is used in advertising all the time, such as "supplies are limited," "only available for the next 4 hours", and other such artificial limitations being used. Familiarity is a social engineering technique that relies on assuming a widely known organization's persona. For example, in the United States, nearly 25% of Americans have a Bank of America account. For this reason, phishing campaigns often include emails pretending to be from Bank of America since 1 in 4 people who receive the email in the United States are likely to have an account. This makes them familiar with the bank name and is more likely to click on the email link.

Answer 45

c. DES OBJ-2.8: The Data Encryption Standard (DES) is a symmetric-key algorithm for the encryption of digital data. Although its short key length of 56 bits makes it too insecure for applications, it was the standard used from 1977 until the early 2000s. GPG, ECC, and DSA are all asymmetric algorithms.

Answer 46

a. Data minimization OBJ-5.5: Data minimization involves limiting data collection to only what is required to fulfill a specific purpose. Reducing what information is collected reduces the amount and type of information that must be protected. Since we only need your name and email to deliver the voucher and your credit card to receive payment for the voucher, we do not collect any additional information, such as your home address or phone number. Data masking can mean that all or part of a field's contents are redacted, by substituting all character strings with x, for example. Tokenization means that all or part of data in a field is replaced with a randomly generated token. The token is stored with the original value on a token server or token vault, separate from the production database. An authorized query or app can retrieve the original value from the vault, if necessary, so tokenization is a reversible technique. Data anonymization is the process of removing personally identifiable information from data sets so that the people whom the data describe remain anonymous.

Answer 47

a. Shoulder surfing OBJ-1.1: While a malicious employee or insider could use all of the methods listed to obtain another user's passwords, shoulder surfing is the MOST likely to be used. Shoulder surfing is a type of social engineering technique used to obtain personal identification numbers (PINs), passwords, and other confidential data by looking over the victim's shoulder. Since a malicious employee or insider can work close to their victims (other users), they could easily use this technique to collect the victimized users' passwords. An on-path attack is an attack where the attacker secretly relays and possibly alters the communications between two parties who believe they are directly communicating with each other. The attacker makes independent connections with the victims and relays messages between them to make them believe they are talking directly to each other over a private connection. The attacker will intercept all relevant messages passing between the two victims and inject new ones. Tailgating is a social engineering technique to gain access to a building by following someone unaware of their presence. Phishing is an email-based social engineering attack in which the attacker sends an email from a supposedly reputable source, such as a bank, to try to elicit private information from the victim. Phishing attacks target an indiscriminate large group of random people.

Answer 48

d. Indicator of compromise OBJ-1.2: An indicator of compromise is an artifact observed on a network or in an operating system that, with high confidence, indicates a computer intrusion. Typical IOCs are virus signatures and IP addresses, MD5 hashes of malware files or URLs, or botnet command and control servers' domain names. SQL injection is a code injection technique used to attack data-driven applications. Malicious SQL statements are inserted into an entry field for execution, such as dumping the database contents to the attacker. Cross-site request forgery (CSRF or XSRF) is a malicious exploit of a website where unauthorized commands are transmitted from a user that the web application trusts. There are many ways in which a malicious website can transmit commands, such as specially-crafted image tags, hidden forms, and JavaScript XMLHttpRequests can all work without the user's interaction or even knowledge. A botnet consists of many Internet-connected devices, each of which is running one or more bots. Botnets can be used to perform Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, steal data, send spam, and allow the attacker to access the device and its connection.

Answer 49

a. Unknown environment testing OBJ-1.8: An unknown environment penetration test requires no previous information and usually takes the approach of an uninformed attacker. The penetration tester has no prior information about the target system or network in an unknown environment penetration test. These tests provide a realistic scenario for testing the defenses, but they can be costlier and more time-consuming to conduct as the tester is examining a system from an outsider’s perspective. A partially known environment tester has the user’s access and knowledge levels, potentially with elevated privileges on a system. These partially known environment penetration testers typically have some knowledge of a network’s internals, potentially including design and architecture documentation and an account internal to the network. A known environment test is known by several different names, including clear-box, open-box, auxiliary, or logic-driven testing. It falls on the opposite end of the spectrum from an unknown environment test because the penetration testers have full access to source code, architecture documentation, and so forth. A known environment penetration tester can also perform static code analysis, so familiarity with source code analyzers, debuggers, and similar tools are necessary for this type of testing. A semi-trusted environment test is made up term and is used as a distractor in this question.

Answer 50

c. Implement a jumpbox system OBJ-3.3: A jumpbox is a system on a network used to access and manage devices in a separate security zone. This would create network segmentation between the supplier's laptops and the rest of the network to minimize the risk. A jump-box system is a hardened and monitored device that spans two dissimilar security zones and provides a controlled means of access between them. While the other options listed are all good security practices, they do not fully mitigate the risk that insecure systems pose since Victor cannot enforce these configurations on a supplier-provided laptop. Instead, he must find a method of segmenting the laptops from the rest of the network, either physically, logically, using an air gap, or using a jumpbox.

Answer 51

a. Smartcard and PIN OBJ-2.4: Multi-factor authentication (MFA) creates multiple security layers to help increase the confidence that the user requesting access is who they claim to be by requiring two distinct factors for authentication. These factors can be something you know (knowledge factor), something you have (possession factor), something you are (inheritance factor), something you do (action factor), or somewhere you are (location factor). By selecting a smartcard (something you have) and a PIN (something you know), you have implemented multi-factor authentication. Choosing a fingerprint and retinal scan would instead use only one factor (inheritance). Choosing a username, password, and security question would also be only using one factor (knowledge). For something to be considered multi-factor, you need items from at least two different authentication factor categories: knowledge, possession, inheritance, location, or action.

Answer 52

c. Race condition OBJ-1.6: 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.

Answer 53

a. Clear OBJ-2.7: Clear applies logical techniques to sanitize data in all user-addressable storage locations for protection against simple non-invasive data recovery techniques. Clearing involves overwriting data once (and seldom more than three times) with repetitive data (such as all zeros) or resetting a device to factory settings. Purging data is meant to eliminate information from being feasibly recovered even in a laboratory environment. Destroy requires physical destruction of the media, such as pulverization, melting, incineration, and disintegration. Degaussing is the process of decreasing or eliminating a remnant magnetic field. Degaussing is an effective method of sanitization for magnetic media, such as hard drives and floppy disks.

Answer 54

c. Zero-day attacks OBJ-3.2: Zero-day attacks have no known fix, so patches will not correct them. A zero-day vulnerability is a computer-software vulnerability that is unknown to, or unaddressed by, those who should be interested in mitigating the vulnerability (including the vendor of the target software). If a discovered software bug or known vulnerability is found, a patch or mitigation is normally available. If a piece of malware has well-defined indicators of compromise, a patch or signature can be created to defend against it, as well.

Answer 55

d. MD5 or SHA1 hash digest of the file OBJ-2.8: Keith should conduct a hash of the downloaded file and compare it against the MD5 hash digest listed on the server of this file. This file needs to be a verifiable MD5 hash file to validate the file integrity has not been compromised during the download. This is an important step to ensure the file was not modified in transit during the download. The other options are insufficient to guarantee the integrity of the downloaded file since integrity checking relies on comparing hash digests. A public or private key would not be assigned solely to a single file, nor do they provide integrity on their own. Public and private keys are used to ensure data confidentiality, whereas a hash digest ensures integrity. The file size and file creation date are additional forms of metadata that could help validate a file's integrity. Still, they are of a much lower quality and trust factor than using a hash digest. Therefore MD5 or SHA1 is a better choice.

Answer 56

d. FM-200, Biometric locks, Mantrap, Antvirus OBJ-2.7: The best option based on your choices is FM-200, Biometric locks, Mantrap, and Antivirus. FM-200 is a fire extinguishing system commonly used in data centers and server rooms to protect the servers from fire. Biometric locks are often used in high-security areas as a lock on the access door. Additionally, biometric authentication could be used for a server by using a USB fingerprint reader. Mantraps often are used as part of securing a data center as well. This area creates a boundary between a lower security area (such as the offices) and the higher security area (the server room). Antivirus should be installed on servers since they can use signature-based scans to ensure files are safe before being executed.

Answer 57

d. Conduct tokenization of the PHI data before ingesting it into the big data application OBJ-3.2: The university should utilize a tokenization approach to prevent an inadvertent release of the PHI data. In a tokenization approach, all or part of data in a field is replaced with a randomly generated token. That token is then stored with the original value on a token server or token vault, separate from the production database. This is an example of a deidentification control and should be used since the personally identifiable medical data is not needed to be retained after ingesting it for the research project; only the medical data itself is needed. While using DevSecOps can improve the overall security posture of the applications being developed in this project, it does not explicitly define a solution to prevent this specific issue making it a less ideal answer choice for the exam. Formal verification methods can be used to prove that none of the AI/ML techniques that process the PHI data could inadvertently leak. Still, the cost and time associated with using these methods make them inappropriate for a system used to conduct research. A formal method uses a mathematical model of a system's inputs and outputs to prove that the system works as specified in all cases. It is difficult for manual analysis and testing to capture every possible use case scenario in a sufficiently complex system. Formal methods are mostly used with critical systems such as aircraft flight control systems, self-driving car software, and nuclear reactors, not big data research projects. The option provided that recommends utilizing a SaaS model is not realistic. There is unlikely to be a SaaS provider with a product suited to the big data research being done. SaaS products tend to be commoditized software products that are hosted in the cloud. The idea of migrating to a SaaS is a distractor on this exam, which is trying to get you to think about shifting the responsibility for the PHI to the service provider and away from the university, but due to the research nature of the project, this is unlikely to be a valid option in the real world and may not be legally allowed due to the PHI being processed.

Answer 58

c. Implement an allow list OBJ-3.2: By implementing an allow list of the authorized IP addresses for the five largest vendors, they will be the only ones who can access the webserver. This can be done by creating rules in the Access Control List (ACL) to deny ALL other users except these five vendors, thereby dropping a large number of requests from any other IP addresses, such as those from an attacker. Based on the scenario's description, it appears like the system is under some form of denial of service attack. Still, by implementing an allow list at the edge of the network and sinkholing any traffic from IP addresses that are not allow listed, the server will no longer be overwhelmed or perform slowly to respond to legitimate requests. MAC filtering is only applicable at layer 2 of the OSI model (which would not work for traffic being sent over the internet from your vendors to your server). A VPN is a reasonable solution to secure the connection between the vendors and your systems, but it will not deal with the DoS condition being experienced. An intrusion detection system may detect the DoS condition, but an IDS cannot resolve it (whereas an IPS could).

Answer 59

d. Intrusion prevention system OBJ-2.6: Since this question is focused on the ICS/SCADA network, the best solution would be implementing an Intrusion Prevention System. ICS/SCADA machines utilize very specific commands to control the equipment and to prevent malicious activity. You could set up strict IPS rules to prevent unknown types of actions from being allowed to occur. Log consolidation is a good idea, but it won't prevent an issue and therefore isn't the most critical thing to add first. Automated patch management should not be conducted, as ICS/SCADA systems must be tested before conducting any patches. Often, patches will break ICS/SCADA functionality. Antivirus software may or may not be able to run on the equipment, as well, since some ICS/SCADA systems often do not rely on standard operating systems like Windows.

Answer 60

d. Protected health information OBJ-4.5: Protected health information (PHI) is defined as any information that identifies someone as the subject of medical and insurance records, plus their associated hospital and laboratory test results. This type of data is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). It requires notification of the individual, the Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the media (if more than 500 individuals are affected) in the case of a data breach. Personally identifiable information (PII) is any data that can be used to identify, contact, or impersonate an individual. Credit card information is protected under the PCI DSS information security standard. Trade secret information is protected by the organization that owns those secrets.

Answer 61

d. Nessus OBJ-4.1: Nessus is a popular vulnerability scanner. It can be used to check how vulnerable your network is by using various plugins to test for vulnerabilities. Also, Nessus can perform compliance auditing, like internal and external PCI DSS audit scans. The nmap tool is a port scanner. The Metasploit Project is a computer security project that provides information about security vulnerabilities and aids in penetration testing and IDS signature development. BeEF is short for The Browser Exploitation Framework. It is a penetration testing tool that focuses on the web browser.

Answer 62

c. Create a hash digest of the source drive and the image file to ensure they match OBJ-4.5: The first thing that must be done after acquiring a forensic disk image is to create a hash digest of the source drive and destination image file to ensure they match. A critical step in the presentation of evidence will be to prove that analysis has been performed on an identical image to the data present on the physical media and that neither data set has been tampered with. The standard means of proving this is to create a cryptographic hash or fingerprint of the disk contents and any derivative images made from it. When comparing hash values, you need to use the same algorithm used to create the reference value. While encrypting the image files is a good security practice to maintain the data's confidentiality, it does not provide data integrity like a hash digest does. Once imaged, the source drive should not be altered or encrypted. Digitally signing the image file could serve the function of non-repudiation, but it is an uncommon practice and not required to be performed.

Answer 63

c. A malicious inbound TCP packet OBJ-4.3: The rule header is set to alert only on TCP packets based on this IDS rule's first line. The flow condition is set as "to_client, established," which means that only inbound traffic will be analyzed against this rule and only inbound traffic for connections that are already established. Therefore, this rule will alert on an inbound malicious TCP packet only when the packet matches all the conditions listed in this rule. This rule is an example of a Snort IDS rule. For the exam, you do not need to create your own IDS rules, but you should be able to read them and pick out generic content like the type of protocol covered by the signature, the port to be analyzed, and the direction of flow.

Answer 64

b. Deploy a new group policy OBJ-3.7: A group policy is used to manage Windows systems in a Windows network domain environment utilizing a Group Policy Object (GPO). GPOs can include many settings related to credentials, such as password complexity requirements, password history, password length, and account lockout settings. You can force a reset of the default administrator account password by using a group policy update.

Answer 65

c. Trojan OBJ-1.2: A trojan is a type of malware that looks legitimate but can take control of your computer. A Trojan is designed to damage, disrupt, steal, or in general, inflict some other harmful action on your data or network. The most common form of a trojan is a Remote Access Trojan (RAT), which allows an attacker to control a workstation or steal information remotely. To operate, a trojan will create numerous processes that run in the background of the system. Ransomware is a type of malware designed to deny access to a computer system or data until a ransom is paid. Ransomware typically spreads through phishing emails or by unknowingly visiting an infected website. Once infected, a system or its files are encrypted, and then the decryption key is withheld from the victim unless payment is received. A rootkit is a clandestine computer program designed to provide continued privileged access to a computer while actively hiding its presence. A rootkit is generally a collection of tools that enabled administrator-level access to a computer or network. They can often disguise themselves from detection by the operating system and anti-malware solutions. If a rootkit is suspected on a machine, it is best to reformat and reimage the system. A keylogger actively attempts to steal confidential information by capturing the data when entered into the computer by the user. This is done by recording keystrokes entered into a web browser or other application. A software keylogger can be run in the background on a victim's computer. A hardware keylogger may be placed between the USB port and the wired keyboard.

Answer 66

b. Input validation OBJ-1.3: Input validation prevents the attacker from sending invalid data to an application and is a strong control against both SQL injection and cross-site scripting attacks. A network layer firewall is a device that is designed to prevent unauthorized access, thereby protecting the computer network. It blocks unauthorized communications into the network and only permits authorized access based on the IP address, ports, and protocols in use. Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) is another attack type. A hypervisor controls access between virtual machines.