Exam Test Bank Flashcards
(333 cards)
1
Q
NO.1 Which of the following is an algorithm performed to verify that data has not been modified?
A. Hash
B. Code check
C. Encryption
D. Checksum
A
Answer: A
2
Q
NO.2 A company decided to reduce the cost of its annual cyber insurance policy by removing the coverage for ransomware attacks.
Which of the following analysis elements did the company most likely use in making this decision?
A. MTTR
B. RTO
C. ARO
D. MTBF
A
Answer: C ARO (Annualized Rate of Occurrence)
3
Q
NO.3 A visitor plugs a laptop into a network jack in the lobby and is able to connect to the company’s network. Which of the following should be configured on the existing network infrastructure to best prevent this activity?
A. Port security
B. Web application firewall
C. Transport layer security
D. Virtual private network
A
Answer: A
4
Q
NO.4 A website user is locked out of an account after clicking an email link and visiting a different website Web server logs show the user’s password was changed, even though the user did not change the password. Which of the following is the most likely cause?
A. Cross-site request forgery
B. Directory traversal
C. ARP poisoning
D. SQL injection
A
Answer: A
5
Q
NO.5 An employee receives a text message from an unknown number claiming to be the company’s Chief Executive Officer and asking the employee to purchase several gift cards. Which of the
following types of attacks does this describe?
A. Vishing
B. Smishing
C. Pretexting
D. Phishing
A
Answer: B
6
Q
NO.6 After a security incident, a systems administrator asks the company to buy a NAC platform. Which of the following attack surfaces is the systems administrator trying to protect?
A. Bluetooth
B. Wired
C. NFC
D. SCADA
A
Answer: B
7
Q
NO.8 A company is utilizing an offshore team to help support the finance department. The company wants to keep the data secure by keeping it on a company device but does not want to provide equipment to the offshore team. Which of the following should the company implement to meet this requirement?
A. VDI
B. MDM
C. VPN
D. VPC
A
Answer: A
8
Q
NO.7 Which of the following is used to protect a computer from viruses, malware, and Trojans being installed and moving laterally across the network?
A. IDS
B. ACL
C. EDR
D. NAC
A
Answer: C
Endpoint detection and response (EDR) is a technology that monitors and analyzes the activity and behavior of endpoints, such as computers, laptops, mobile devices, and servers.
9
Q
NO.9 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
A
Answer: B
A jump server can provide an added layer of security by preventing unauthorized access to internal company resources.
10
Q
NO.10 Which of the following incident response activities ensures evidence is properly handied?
A. E-discovery
B. Chain of custody
C. Legal hold
D. Preservation
A
Answer: B
11
Q
NO.11 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
A
Answer: D
12
Q
NO.12 An IT security team is concerned about the confidentiality of documents left unattended in MFPs. Which of the following should the security team do to mitigate the situation?
A. Educate users about the importance of paper shredder devices.
B. Deploy an authentication factor that requires ln-person action before printing.
C. Install a software client m every computer authorized to use the MFPs.
D. Update the management software to utilize encryption.
A
Answer: B
13
Q
NO.13 Cadets speaking a foreign language are using company phone numbers to make unsolicited phone calls to a partner organization. A security analyst validates through phone system logs that the calls are occurring and the numbers are not being spoofed. Which of the following is the most likely explanation?
A. The executive team is traveling internationally and trying to avoid roaming charges
B. The company’s SIP server security settings are weak.
C. Disgruntled employees are making calls to the partner organization.
D. The service provider has assigned multiple companies the same numbers
A
Answer: B
14
Q
NO.14 A systems administrator is looking for a low-cost application-hosting solution that is cloudbased. Which of the following meets these requirements?
A. Serverless framework
B. Type 1 hvpervisor
C. SD-WAN
D. SDN
A
Answer: A
15
Q
NO.15 A recent penetration test identified that an attacker could flood the MAC address table of network switches.
Which of the following would best mitigate this type of attack?
A. Load balancer
B. Port security
C. IPS
D. NGFW
A
Answer: B
16
Q
NO.16 A company is working with a vendor to perform a penetration test Which of the following includes an estimate about the number of hours required to complete the engagement?
A. SOW
B. BPA
C. SLA
D. NDA
A
Answer: A
17
Q
NO.17 Which of the following should a systems administrator use to ensure an easy deployment of resources within the cloud provider?
A. Software as a service
B. Infrastructure as code
C. Internet of Things
D. Software-defined networking
A
Answer: B
18
Q
NO.18 Which of the following is the best reason to complete an audit in a banking environment?
A. Regulatory requirement
B. Organizational change
C. Self-assessment requirement
D. Service-level requirement
A
Answer: A
19
Q
NO.19 A company is planning to set up a SIEM system and assign an analyst to review the logs on a weekly basis.
Which of the following types of controls is the company setting up?
A. Corrective
B. Preventive
C. Detective
D. Deterrent
A
Answer: C
20
Q
NO.20 Which of the following scenarios describes a possible business email compromise attack?
A. An employee receives a gift card request in an email that has an executive’s name in the display field of the email.
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.
A
Answer: C
21
Q
NO.21 Which of the following security controls is most likely being used when a critical legacy server is segmented into a private network?
A. Deterrent
B. Corrective
C. Compensating
D. Preventive
A
Answer: C
Compensating: Provides an alternative method to achieve the desired security outcome when the primary control is not possible.
22
Q
NO.22 Which of the following agreement types defines the time frame in which a vendor needs to respond?
A. SOW
B. SLA
C. MOA
D. MOU
A
Answer: B
23
Q
NO.23 Which of the following best describes the practice of researching laws and regulations related to information security operations within a specific industry?
A. Compliance reporting
B. GDPR
C. Due diligence
D. Attestation
A
Answer: C
24
Q
NO.24 A Chief Information Security Officer wants to monitor the company’s servers for SQLi attacks and allow for comprehensive investigations if an attack occurs. The company uses SSL decryption to allow traffic monitoring. Which of the following strategies would best accomplish this goal?
A. Logging all NetFlow traffic into a SIEM
B. Deploying network traffic sensors on the same subnet as the servers
C. Logging endpoint and OS-specific security logs
D. Enabling full packet capture for traffic entering and exiting the servers
A
Answer: D
Full packet capture can help identify the source, destination, payload, and timing of an SQLi attack, as well as the impact on the server and database.
25
NO.25 Two companies are in the process of merging. The companies need to decide how to standardize their information security programs. Which of the following would best align the security programs?
A. Shared deployment of CIS baselines
B. Joint cybersecurity best practices
C. Both companies following the same CSF
D. Assessment of controls in a vulnerability report
Answer: C
26
NO.26 A network manager wants to protect the company's VPN by implementing multifactor authentication that uses:
. Something you know
. Something you have
. Something you are
Which of the following would accomplish the manager's goal?
A. Domain name, PKI, GeolP lookup
B. VPN IP address, company ID, facial structure
C. Password, authentication token, thumbprint
D. Company URL, TLS certificate, home address
Answer: C
27
NO.27 After a company was compromised, customers initiated a lawsuit. The company's attorneys have requested that the security team initiate a legal hold in response to the lawsuit. Which of the
following describes the action the security team will most likely be required to take?
A. Retain the emails between the security team and affected customers for 30 days.
B. Retain any communications related to the security breach until further notice.
C. Retain any communications between security members during the breach response.
D. Retain all emails from the company to affected customers for an indefinite period of time.
Answer: B
28
NO.28 Which of the following would be the best way to handle a critical business application that is running on a legacy server?
A. Segmentation
B. Isolation
C. Hardening
D. Decommissioning
Answer: B
29
NO.29 A company hired a consultant to perform an offensive security assessment covering penetration testing and social engineering.
Which of the following teams will conduct this assessment activity?
A. White
B. Purple
C. Blue
D. Red
Answer: D
30
NO.30 The Chief Information Security Officer wants to put security measures in place to protect PlI. The organization needs to use its existing labeling and classification system to accomplish this goal.
Which of the following would most likely be configured to meet the requirements?
A. Tokenization
B. S/MIME
C. DLP
D. MFA
Answer: C
Data Loss Prevention, DLP solutions can identify and protect data
based on its classification
31
NO.31 A systems administrator is configuring a site-to-site VPN between two branch offices. Some of the settings have already been configured correctly. The systems administrator has been provided
the following requirements as part of completing the configuration:
Simulation question
32
NO.32 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
Answer: B DRP (Disaster Recovery Plan)
33
NO.33 Which of the following security concepts is accomplished with the installation of a RADIUS server?
A. CIA
B. AAA
C. ACL
D. PEM
Answer: B AAA (Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting)
RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service)
34
NO.34 A U.S.-based cloud-hosting provider wants to expand its data centers to new international locations. Which of the following should the hosting provider consider first?
A. Local data protection regulations
B. Risks from hackers residing in other countries
C. Impacts to existing contractual obligations
D. Time zone differences in log correlation
Answer: A
35
NO.35 An IT manager informs the entire help desk staff that only the IT manager and the help desk lead will have access to the administrator console of the help desk software. Which of the following security techniques is the IT manager setting up?
A. Hardening
B. Employee monitoring
C. Configuration enforcement
D. Least privilege
Answer: D
36
NO.36 A security consultant needs secure, remote access to a client environment. Which of the following should the security consultant most likely use to gain access?
A. EAP
B. DHCP
C. IPSec
D. NAT
Answer: C
IPSec is a protocol suite that provides secure communication over IP networks
37
NO.37 In which of the following scenarios is tokenization the best privacy technique to use?
A. Providing pseudo-anonymization tor social media user accounts
B. Serving as a second factor for authentication requests
C. Enabling established customers to safely store credit card Information
D. Masking personal information inside databases by segmenting data
Answer: C
38
NO.38 An administrator assists the legal and compliance team with ensuring information about customer transactions is archived for the proper time period. Which of the following data policies is the administrator carrying out?
A. Compromise
B. Retention
C. Analysis
D. Transfer
E. Inventory
Answer: B
retention policy is a set of rules that defines how long data should be stored
39
NO.39 A security analyst needs to propose a remediation plan for each item in a risk register. The item with the highest priority requires employees to have separate logins for SaaS solutions and different password complexity requirements for each solution. Which of the following implementation plans will most likely resolve this security issue?
A. Creating a unified password complexity standard
B. Integrating each SaaS solution with the Identity provider
C. Securing access to each SaaS by using a single wildcard certificate
D. Configuring geofencing on each SaaS solution
Answer: B
40
NO.40 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 10.50.10.2532 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
Answer: D
41
NO.41 Which of the following must be considered when designing a high-availability network? (Select two).
A. Ease of recovery
B. Ability to patch
C. Physical isolation
D. Responsiveness
E. Attack surface
F. Extensible authentication
Answer: A E
42
NO.42 Which of the following are cases in which an engineer should recommend the
decommissioning of a network device? (Select two).
A. The device has been moved from a production environment to a test environment.
B. The device is configured to use cleartext passwords.
C. The device is moved to an isolated segment on the enterprise network.
D. The device is moved to a different location in the enterprise.
E. The device's encryption level cannot meet organizational standards.
F. The device is unable to receive authorized updates.
Answer: E,F
43
NO.43 An IT manager is increasing the security capabilities of an organization after a data classification initiative determined that sensitive data could be exfiltrated from the environment.
Which of the following solutions would mitigate the risk?
A. XDR
B. SPF
C. DLP
D. DMARC
Answer: C
44
NO.44 After an audit, an administrator discovers all users have access to confidential data on a file server. Which of the following should the administrator use to restrict access to the data quickly?
A. Group Policy
B. Content filtering
C. Data loss prevention
D. Access control lists
Answer: D
45
NO.45 While considering the organization's cloud-adoption strategy, the Chief Information Security Officer sets a goal to outsource patching of firmware, operating systems, and applications to the chosen cloud vendor. Which of the following best meets this goal?
A. Community cloud
B. PaaS
C. Containerization
D. Private cloud
E. SaaS
F. laaS
Answer: E
46
NO.46 A systems administrator receives the following alert from a file integrity monitoring tool:
The hash of the cmd.exe file has changed.
The systems administrator checks the OS logs and notices that no patches were applied in the last two months.
Which of the following most likely occurred?
A. The end user changed the file permissions.
B. A cryptographic collision was detected.
C. A snapshot of the file system was taken.
D. A rootkit was deployed.
Answer: D
47
NO.47 An employee in the accounting department receives an email containing a demand for payment for services performed by a vendor However, the vendor is not in the vendor management database. Which of the following in this scenario an example of?
A. Pretexting
B. Impersonation
C. Ransomware
D. Invoice scam
Answer: D
48
NO.48 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 ig source 0.0.0.0/0 destination 10.1.4.9/32
B. access-list inbound deny ig source 10.1.4.9/32 destination 0.0.0.0/0
C. access-list inbound permit ig source 10.1.4.9/32 destination 0.0.0.0/0
D. access-list inbound permit ig source 0.0.0.0/0 destination 10.1.4.9/32
Answer: B
49
NO.49 An employee fell for a phishing scam, which allowed an attacker to gain access to a company PC. The attacker scraped the PC's memory to find other credentials. Without cracking these credentials, the attacker used them to move laterally through the corporate network. Which of the following describes this type of attack?
A. Privilege escalation
B. Buffer overflow
C. SQL injection
D. Pass-the-hash
Answer: D
technique is known as a "pass-the-hash" attack, where the attacker captures hashed credentials
50
NO.50 Which of the following tasks is typically included in the BIA process?
A. Estimating the recovery time of systems
B. Identifying the communication strategy
C. Evaluating the risk management plan
D. Establishing the backup and recovery procedures
E. Developing the incident response plan
Answer: A
Business Impact Analysis (BIA) process includes estimating how long it will take to recover systems and resume normal operations.
51
NO.51 Which of the following should a security administrator adhere to when setting up a new set of firewall rules?
A. Disaster recovery plan
B. Incident response procedure
C. Business continuity plan
D. Change management procedure
Answer: D
Estimating how long it will take to recover systems and resume normal
operations is part of the Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
52
NO.52 Various stakeholders are meeting to discuss their hypothetical roles and responsibilities in a specific situation, such as a security incident or major disaster. Which of the following best describes this meeting?
A. Penetration test
B. Continuity of operations planning
C. Tabletop exercise
D. Simulation
Answer: C
53
NO.53 A company is currently utilizing usernames and passwords, and it wants to integrate an MFA method that is seamless, can Integrate easily into a user's workflow, and can utilize employee-owned devices. Which of the following will meet these requirements?
A. Push notifications
B. Phone call
C. Smart card
D. Offline backup codes
Answer: A
54
NO.54 Which of the following factors are the most important to address when formulating a training curriculum plan for a security awareness program? (Select two).
A. Cadence and duration of training events
B. Secure software development training for all personnel
C. The reporting mechanisms for ethics violations
D. Threat vectors based on the industry in which the organization operates
E. Channels by which the organization communicates with customers
F. Retraining requirements for individuals who fail phishing simulations
Answer: A,D
55
NO.55 A company is discarding a classified storage array and hires an outside vendor to complete the disposal. Which of the following should the company request from the vendor?
A. Certification
B. Inventory list
C. Classification
D. Proof of ownership
Answer: A
56
NO.56 Which of the following is the best way to secure an on-site data center against intrusion from an insider?
A. Bollards
B. Access badge
C. Motion sensor
D. Video surveillance
Answer: B
57
NO.57 Which of the following is the most common data loss path for an air-gapped network?
A. Bastion host
B. Unsecured Bluetooth
C. Unpatched OS
D. Removable devices
Answer: D
58
NO.58 Employees in the research and development business unit receive extensive training to ensure they understand how to best protect company data. Which of the following is the type of data these employees are most likely to use in day-to-day work activities?
A. Encrypted
B. Intellectual property
C. Critical
D. Data in transit
Answer: B
59
NO.59 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
Answer: D
60
NO.60 Which of the following allows for the attribution of messages to individuals?
A. Adaptive identity
B. Non-repudiation
C. Authentication
D. Access logs
Answer: B
Non-repudiation is the ability to prove that a message or document was sent or signed by a particular person
61
NO.61 The Cruel Information Security Officer (CISO) asks a security analyst to install an OS update to a production VM that has a 99% uptime SLA. The CISO tells me analyst the installation must be done as quickly as possible. Which of the following courses of action should the security analyst take first?
A. Log in to the server and perform a health check on the VM.
B. Install the patch Immediately.
C. Confirm that the backup service is running.
D. Take a snapshot of the VM.
Answer: D
62
NO.62 Which of the following teams combines both offensive and defensive testing techniques to protect an organization's critical systems?
A. Red
B. Blue
C. Purple
D. Yellow
Answer: C
63
NO.63 A security engineer is installing an IPS to block signature-based attacks in the environment. Which of the following modes will best accomplish this task?
A. Monitor
B. Sensor
C. Audit
D. Active
Answer: D
64
NO.64 An administrator is Investigating an incident and discovers several users' computers were Infected with malware after viewing files that were shared with them. The administrator discovers no degraded performance in the infected machines and an examination of the log files does not show excessive failed logins. Which of the following attacks Is most likely the cause of the malware?
A. Malicious flash drive
B. Remote access Trojan
C. Brute-forced password
D. Cryptojacking
Answer: B
65
NO.65 A vendor needs to remotely and securely transfer files from one server to another using the command line. Which of the following protocols should be Implemented to allow for this type of access? (Select two).
A. SSH
B. SNMP
C. RDP
D. S/MIME
E. SMTP
F. SFTP
Answer: A F
Secure Shell (SSH) is a protocol used for secure command-line access to remote systems, while Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) is an extension of SSH used specifically for securely transferring files. Both SSH and SFTP ensure that data is encrypted during transmission, protecting it from interception or tampering.
66
NO.66 A security analyst is creating base for the server team to follow when hardening new devices for deployment. Which of the following best describes what the analyst is creating?
A. Change management procedure
B. Information security policy
C. Cybersecurity framework
D. Secure configuration guide
Answer: D
A "secure configuration guide," which is a set of instructions or
guidelines used to configure devices securely before deployment
67
NO.67 A business received a small grant to migrate its infrastructure to an off-premises solution. Which of the following should be considered first?
A. Security of cloud providers
B. Cost of implementation
C. Ability of engineers
D. Security of architecture
Answer: D
68
NO.68 A security analyst is investigating a workstation that is suspected of outbound communication to a command- and-control server. During the investigation, the analyst discovered that logs on the endpoint were deleted. Which of the following logs would the analyst most likely look at next?
A. IPS
B. Firewall
C. ACL
D. Windows security
Answer: B
Firewall logs can reveal external communication, including outbound traffic to a command-and-control (C2) server
69
NO.69 A security analyst is reviewing the source code of an application in order to identify
misconfigurations and vulnerabilities. Which of the following kinds of analysis best describes this review?
A. Dynamic
B. Static
C. Gap
D. Impact
Answer: B
70
NO.70 Malware spread across a company's network after an employee visited a compromised industry blog. Which of the following best describes this type of attack?
A. Impersonation
B. Disinformation
C. Watering-hole
D. Smishing
Answer: C
71
NO.71 Which of the following data roles is responsible for identifying risks and appropriate access to data?
A. Owner
B. Custodian
C. Steward
D. Controller
Answer: A
The data owner is the role responsible for identifying risks to data and determining who should have access to that data.
72
NO.72 An organization maintains intellectual property that it wants to protect. Which of the following concepts would be most beneficial to add to the company's security awareness training program?
A. Insider threat detection
B. Simulated threats
C. Phishing awareness
D. Business continuity planning
Answer: A
73
NO.73 After conducting a vulnerability scan, a systems administrator notices that one of the
identified vulnerabilities is not present on the systems that were scanned. Which of the following describes this example?
A. False positive
B. False negative
C. True positive
D. True negative
Answer: A
74
NO.74 A security analyst is investigating an application server and discovers that software on the server is behaving abnormally. The software normally runs batch jobs locally and does not generate traffic, but the process is now generating outbound traffic over random high ports. Which of the following vulnerabilities has likely been exploited in this software?
A. Memory injection
B. Race condition
C. Side loading
D. SQL injection
Answer: A
Memory injection vulnerabilities allow unauthorized code or commands to be executed within a software program, leading to abnormal behavior such as generating outbound traffic over random high ports
75
NO.75 Which of the following should a security operations center use to improve its incident response procedure?
A. Playbooks
B. Frameworks
C. Baselines
D. Benchmarks
Answer: A
playbook is a documented set of procedures that outlines the step-by-step response to specific types of cybersecurity incidents
76
NO.76 Which of the following is the final step of the incident response process?
A. Lessons learned
B. Eradication
C. Containment
D. Recovery
Answer: A
77
NO.77 Which of the following automation use cases would best enhance the security posture of an organization by rapidly updating permissions when employees leave a company?
A. Provisioning resources
B. Disabling access
C. Reviewing change approvals
D. Escalating permission requests
Answer: B
78
NO.78 Users at a company are reporting they are unable to access the URL for a new retail website because it is flagged as gambling and is being blocked. Which of the following changes would allow users to access the site?
A. Creating a firewall rule to allow HTTPS traffic
B. Configuring the IPS to allow shopping
C. Tuning the DLP rule that detects credit card data
D. Updating the categorization in the content filter
Answer: D
79
NO.79 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
Answer: A
Secured zones are logical or physical segments of the network
that isolate data and resources based on their sensitivity and risk.
80
NO.80 A bank insists all of its vendors must prevent data loss on stolen laptops. Which of the following strategies is the bank requiring?
A. Encryption at rest
B. Masking
C. Data classification
D. Permission restrictions
Answer: A
81
NO.81 A security analyst reviews domain activity logs and notices the following:
Which of the following is the best explanation for what the security analyst has discovered?
UserID jsmith, password authenticatio: succeeded, MFA: failed (invalid code)
UserID jsmith, password authenticatio: succeeded, MFA: failed (invalid code)
UserID jsmith, password authenticatio: succeeded, MFA: failed (invalid code)
UserID jsmith, password authenticatio: succeeded, MFA: failed (invalid code)
A. The user jsmith's account has been locked out.
B. A keylogger is installed on [smith's workstation
C. An attacker is attempting to brute force ismith's account.
D. Ransomware has been deployed in the domain.
Answer: C
82
NO.82 A company wants to verify that the software the company is deploying came from the vendor the company purchased the software from. Which of the following is the best way for the company to confirm this information?
A. Generate a hash of the files.
B. Execute the code in a sandbox.
C. Validate the code signature.
D. Search the executable for ASCII strings.
Answer: C
Code signatures are digital signatures applied by the software vendor, and validating them confirms the software's integrity and origin.References
83
NO.83 A company tested and validated the effectiveness of network security appliances within the corporate network. The IDS detected a high rate of SQL injection attacks against the company's servers, and the company's perimeter firewall is at capacity. Which of the following would be the best action to maintain security and reduce the traffic to the perimeter firewall?
A. Set the appliance to IPS mode and place it in front of the company firewall.
B. Convert the firewall to a WAF and use IPSec tunnels to increase throughput.
C. Set the firewall to fail open if it is overloaded with traffic and send alerts to the SIEM.
D. Configure the firewall to perform deep packet inspection and monitor TLS traffic.
Answer: A
84
NO.84 A security administrator recently reset local passwords and the following values were recorded in the system:
host |Accnt |MD5 password values
ACCT-PC-1|Admin|f1bdf5ed1d7ad7ede4e3809bd35644b0
HR-PC-1 |Admin|d706ab0258fe67c131ebc57a6e28184
IT-PC-2 |Admin|feddb9cbb321d7dfbf6cb059736f0b3d
FILE-SRV-1|Admin|f054bbd2f5ebab9cb5571000b2c60c02
DB-SRV-1 |Admin|a638f732ba7cf2d95b16979e2725da78
Which of the following in the security administrator most likely protecting against?
A. Account sharing
B. Weak password complexity
C. Pass-the-hash attacks
D. Password compromise
Answer: C
scenario shows MD5 hashed password values; most likely reason the security administrator is focusing on these values is to protect against pass-the-hash attacks
85
NO.85 Which of the following is the most likely to be used to document risks, responsible parties, and thresholds?
A. Risk tolerance
B. Risk transfer
C. Risk register
D. Risk analysis
Answer: C
A risk register is a document that records and tracks the risks associated with a project, system, or organization.
86
NO.86 Which of the following threat vectors is most commonly utilized by insider threat actors attempting data exfiltration?
A. Unidentified removable devices
B. Default network device credentials
C. Spear phishing emails
D. Impersonation of business units through typosquatting
Answer: A
87
NO.87 A security operations center determines that the malicious activity detected on a server is normal. Which of the following activities describes the act of ignoring detected activity in the future?
A. Tuning
B. Aggregating
C. Quarantining
D. Archiving
Answer: A
88
NO.88 A systems administrator notices that one of the systems critical for processing customer transactions is running an end-of-life operating system. Which of the following techniques would increase enterprise security?
A. Installing HIDS on the system
B. Placing the system in an isolated VLAN
C. Decommissioning the system
D. Encrypting the system's hard drive
Answer: B
89
NO.89 Which of the following explains why an attacker cannot easily decrypt passwords using a rainbow table attack?
A. Digital signatures
B. Salting
C. Hashing
D. Perfect forward secrecy
Answer: B
Salting prevents attackers from easily decrypting passwords using rainbow tables, which are precomputed tables for reversing cryptographic hash
functions.
90
NO.90 A security team is reviewing the findings in a report that was delivered after a third party performed a penetration test. One of the findings indicated that a web application form field is vulnerable to cross-site scripting. Which of the following application security techniques should the security analyst recommend the developer implement to prevent this vulnerability?
A. Secure cookies
B. Version control
C. Input validation
D. Code signing
Answer: C
Input validation is a technique that checks the user input for any malicious or unexpected data before processing it by the web application.
91
NO.91 A healthcare organization wants to provide a web application that allows individuals to digitally report health emergencies. Which of the following is the most important consideration during development?
A. Scalability
B. Availability
C. Cost
D. Ease of deployment
Answer: B
92
NO.92 Which of the following best describe why a process would require a two-person integrity security control?
A. To Increase the chance that the activity will be completed in half of the time the process would take only one user to complete
B. To permit two users from another department to observe the activity that is being performed by an authorized user
C. To reduce the risk that the procedures are performed incorrectly or by an unauthorized user
D. To allow one person to perform the activity while being recorded on the CCTV camera
Answer: C
93
NO.93 A manager receives an email that contains a link to receive a refund. After hovering over the link, the manager notices that the domain's URL points to a suspicious link. Which of the following security practices helped the manager to identify the attack?
A. End user training
B. Policy review
C. URL scanning
D. Plain text email
Answer: A
94
NO.94 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 social engineering techniques are being attempted? (Choose two.)
A. Typosquatting
B. Phishing
C. Impersonation
D. Vishing
E. Smishing
F. Misinformation
Answer: C E
95
NO.95 Which of the following most impacts an administrator's ability to address CVEs discovered on a server?
A. Rescanning requirements
B. Patch availability
C. Organizational impact
D. Risk tolerance
Answer: B
Patch availability most impacts an administrator's ability to address Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) discovered on a se
96
NO.96 A systems administrator is working on a defense-in-depth strategy and needs to restrict activity from employees after hours. Which of the following should the systems administrator implement?
A. Role-based restrictions
B. Attribute-based restrictions
C. Mandatory restrictions
D. Time-of-day restrictions
Answer: D
97
NO.97 To improve the security at a data center, a security administrator implements a CCTV system and posts several signs about the possibility of being filmed. Which of the following best describe these types of controls? (Select two).
A. Preventive
B. Deterrent
C. Corrective
D. Directive
E. Compensating
F. Detective
Answer: B F
98
NO.98 A systems administrator wants to prevent users from being able to access data based on their responsibilities. The administrator also wants to apply the required access structure via a simplified format. Which of the following should the administrator apply to the site recovery resource group?
A. RBAC
B. ACL
C. SAML
D. GPO
Answer: A
Role-Based Access Control, which is a method of restricting access to data and resources based on the roles or responsibilities of users
99
NO.99 Which of the following would be most useful in determining whether the long-term cost to transfer a risk is less than the impact of the risk?
A. ARO
B. RTO
C. RPO
D. ALE
E. SLE
Answer: D
Annual Loss Expectancy (ALE) is most useful in determining whether the long-term cost to transfer a risk is less than the impact of the risk
100
NO.100 An enterprise has been experiencing attacks focused on exploiting vulnerabilities in older browser versions with well-known exploits. Which of the following security solutions should be configured to best provide the ability to monitor and block these known signature-based attacks?
A. ACL
B. DLP
C. IDS
D. IPS
Answer: D
101
NO.101 A security analyst and the management team are reviewing the organizational performance of a recent phishing campaign. The user click-through rate exceeded the acceptable risk threshold, and the management team wants to reduce the impact when a user clicks on a link in a phishing message. Which of the following should the analyst do?
A. Place posters around the office to raise awareness of common phishing activities.
B. Implement email security filters to prevent phishing emails from being delivered
C. Update the EDR policies to block automatic execution of downloaded programs.
D. Create additional training for users to recognize the signs of phishing attempts.
Answer: C
An endpoint detection and response (EDR) system is a security tool that monitors and analyzes the activities and behaviors of endpoints, such as computers, laptops, mobile devices, and servers
102
NO.102 Which of the following examples would be best mitigated by input sanitization?
A.
B. nmap - 10.11.1.130
C. Email message: "Click this link to get your free gift card."
D. Browser message: "Your connection is not private."
Answer: A
Input sanitization involves cleaning or filtering user inputs to ensure that they do not contain harmful data, such as malicious scripts. This prevents attackers from executing script-based attacks (e.g., Cross-Site Scripting or XSS).
103
NO.103 A security administrator is configuring fileshares. The administrator removed the default permissions and added permissions for only users who will need to access the fileshares as part of their job duties. Which of the following best describes why the administrator performed these actions?
A. Encryption standard compliance
B. Data replication requirements
C. Least privilege
D. Access control monitoring
Answer: C
104
105
NO.104 A company requires hard drives to be securely wiped before sending decommissioned systems to recycling. Which of the following best describes this policy?
A. Enumeration
B. Sanitization
C. Destruction
D. Inventory
Answer: B
106
NO.105 A systems administrator works for a local hospital and needs to ensure patient data is protected and secure. Which of the following data classifications should be used to secure patient data?
A. Private
B. Critical
C. Sensitive
D. Public
Answer: C
107
NO.106 A security team created a document that details the order in which critical systems should be through back online after a major outage. Which of the following documents did the team create?
A. Communication plan
B. Incident response plan
C. Data retention policy
D. Disaster recovery plan
Answer: D
108
NO.107 A company hired a security manager from outside the organization to lead security operations. Which of the following actions should the security manager perform first in this new role?
A. Establish a security baseline.
B. Review security policies.
C. Adopt security benchmarks.
D. Perform a user ID revalidation.
Answer: B
109
NO.108 Which of the following must be considered when designing a high-availability network? (Choose two).
A. Ease of recovery
B. Ability to patch
C. Physical isolation
D. Responsiveness
E. Attack surface
F. Extensible authentication
Answer: A E
* Ease of recovery: This refers to the ability of the network to restore normal functionality quickly and efficiently after a failure or disruption. Ease of recovery can be achieved by implementing backup and restore procedures, redundancy and failover mechanisms, fault tolerance and resilience, and disaster recovery plans.
* Attack surface: This refers to the amount of exposure and vulnerability of the network to potential threats and attacks. Attack surface can be reduced by implementing security controls such as firewalls, encryption, authentication, access control, segmentation, and hardening.
110
NO.109 The marketing department set up its own project management software without telling the appropriate departments. Which of the following describes this scenario?
A. Shadow IT
B. Insider threat
C. Data exfiltration
D. Service disruption
Answer: A
111
NO.110 A client demands at least 99.99% uptime from a service provider's hosted security services. Which of the following documents includes the information the service provider should return to the client?
A. MOA
B. SOW
C. MOU
D. SLA
Answer: D
A service level agreement (SLA) is a document that defines the level of service expected by a customer from a service provider, indicating the metrics by which that service is measured, and the remedies or penalties, if any, should the agreed-upon levels not be achieve
112
NO.111 Which of the following topics would most likely be included within an organization's SDLC?
A. Service-level agreements
B. Information security policy
C. Penetration testing methodology
D. Branch protection requirements
Answer: B
an organization's Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), is an Information Security Policy outlines the rules and procedures for ensuring that the organization's IT assets and data are protected throughout the development process
113
NO.112 A systems administrate wants to implement a backup solution. the solution needs to allow recovery of the entire system, including the operating system, in case of a disaster. Which of the following backup types should the administrator consider?
A. Incremental
B. Storage area network
C. Differential
D. Image
Answer: D
114
NO.113 An organization recently updated its security policy to include the following statement:
Regular expressions are included in source code to remove special characters such as $, |, ;. &, `, and ? from variables set by forms in a web application. Which of the following best explains the security technique the organization adopted by making this addition to the policy?
A. Identify embedded keys
B. Code debugging
C. Input validation
D. Static code analysis
Answer: C
Input validation is a security technique that checks the user input for any malicious or unexpected data before processing it by the application. Input validation can prevent various types of attacks, such as injection, cross- site scripting, buffer overflow, and command execution, that exploit the vulnerabilities in the application code.
115
NO.114 A company implemented an MDM policy to mitigate risks after repealed instances of employees losing company-provided mobile phones. In several cases. The lost phones were used maliciously to perform social engineering attacks against other employees. Which of the following MDM features should be configured to best address this issue? (Select two).
A. Screen locks
B. Remote wipe
C. Full device encryption
D. Push notifications
E. Application management
F. Geolocation
Answer: A B
116
NO.115 Which of the following is the best way to consistently determine on a daily basis whether security settings on servers have been modified?
A. Automation
B. Compliance checklist
C. Attestation
D. Manual audit
Answer: A
Automation is the process of using software, hardware, or other tools to
perform tasks that would otherwise require human intervention or manual effort.
117
NO.116 A security administrator is deploying a DLP solution to prevent the exfiltration of sensitive customer data. Which of the following should the administrator do first?
A. Block access to cloud storage websites.
B. Create a rule to block outgoing email attachments.
C. Apply classifications to the data.
D. Remove all user permissions from shares on the file server.
Answer: C
118
NO.118 Which of the following best describe a penetration test that resembles an actual external attach?
A. Known environment
B. Partially known environment
C. Bug bounty
D. Unknown environment
Answer: D
119
NO.119 Which of the following vulnerabilities is exploited when an attacker overwrites a register with a malicious address?
A. VM escape
B. SQL injection
C. Buffer overflow
D. Race condition
Answer: C
A buffer overflow is a vulnerability that occurs when an application writes more data to a memory buffer than it can hold, causing the excess data to overwrite adjacent memory locations.
120
NO.120 A company's legal department drafted sensitive documents in a SaaS application and wants to ensure the documents cannot be accessed by individuals in high-risk countries. Which of the following is the most effective way to limit this access?
A. Data masking
B. Encryption
C. Geolocation policy
D. Data sovereignty regulation
Answer: C
121
NO.121 A security engineer is implementing FDE for all laptops in an organization. Which of the following are the most important for the engineer to consider as part of the planning process? (Select two).
A. Key escrow
B. TPM presence
C. Digital signatures
D. Data tokenization
E. Public key management
F. Certificate authority linking
Answer: A B
* Key escrow is a method of storing encryption keys in a secure location, such as a trusted third party or a hardware security module (HSM). Key escrow is important for FDE because it allows the recovery of encrypted data in case of lost or forgotten passwords, device theft, or hardware failure. Key escrow also enables authorized access to encrypted data for legal or forensic purposes.
* TPM presence is a feature of some laptops that have a dedicated chip for storing encryption keys and other security information. TPM presence is important for FDE because it enhances the security and performance of encryption by generating and protecting the keys within the chip, rather than
relying on software or external devices. TPM presence also enables features such as secure boot, remote attestation, and device authentication.
122
NO.122 The Chief Information Security Officer of an organization needs to ensure recovery from ransomware would likely occur within the organization's agreed-upon RPOs end RTOs. Which of the following backup scenarios would best ensure recovery?
A. Hourly differential backups stored on a local SAN array
B. Daily full backups stored on premises in magnetic offline media
C. Daily differential backups maintained by a third-party cloud provider
D. Weekly full backups with daily incremental stored on a NAS drive
Answer: C (double check this answer)
123
NO.123 A security engineer is working to address the growing risks that shadow IT services are introducing to the organization. The organization has taken a cloud-first approach end does not have an on-premises IT infrastructure. Which of the following would best secure the organization?
A. Upgrading to a next-generation firewall
B. Deploying an appropriate in-line CASB solution
C. Conducting user training on software policies
D. Configuring double key encryption in SaaS platforms
Answer: B
Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) provide visibility and control over shadow IT services, enforce security policies, and protect data across cloud services.
124
NO.124 Which of the following describes the process of concealing code or text inside a graphical image?
A. Symmetric encryption
B. Hashing
C. Data masking
D. Steganography
Answer: D
125
NO.125 A company would like to provide employees with computers that do not have access to the internet in order to prevent information from being leaked to an online forum. Which of the following would be best for the systems administrator to implement?
A. Air gap
B. Jump server
C. Logical segmentation
D. Virtualization
Answer: A
126
NO.126 An organization wants to limit potential impact to its log-in database in the event of a breach. Which of the following options is the security team most likely to recommend?
A. Tokenization
B. Hashing
C. Obfuscation
D. Segmentation
Answer: B
Hashing converts passwords into fixed-length strings of characters, which
cannot be easily reversed to reveal the original passwords.
127
NO.127 A security administrator would like to protect data on employees' laptops. Which of the following encryption techniques should the security administrator use?
A. Partition
B. Asymmetric
C. Full disk
D. Database
Answer: C
128
NO.128 A spoofed identity was detected for a digital certificate. Which of the following are the type of unidentified key and the certificate that could be in use on the company domain?
A. Private key and root certificate
B. Public key and expired certificate
C. Private key and self-signed certificate
D. Public key and wildcard certificate
Answer: C
129
NO.129 An organization disabled unneeded services and placed a firewall in front of a businesscritical legacy system. Which of the following best describes the actions taken by the organization?
A. Exception
B. Segmentation
C. Risk transfer
D. Compensating controls
Answer: D
130
NO.130 A software developer released a new application and is distributing application files via the developer's website. Which of the following should the developer post on the website to allow users to verify the integrity of the downloaded files?
A. Hashes
B. Certificates
C. Algorithms
D. Salting
Answer: A
131
NO.131 An organization has too many variations of a single operating system and needs to standardize the arrangement prior to pushing the system image to users. Which of the following should the organization implement first?
A. Standard naming convention
B. Mashing
C. Network diagrams
D. Baseline configuration
Answer: D
132
NO.132 A hacker gained access to a system via a phishing attempt that was a direct result of a user clicking a suspicious link. The link laterally deployed ransomware, which laid dormant for multiple weeks, across the network. Which of the following would have mitigated the spread?
A. IPS
B. IDS
C. WAF
D. UAT
Answer: A
133
NO.133 A security team is setting up a new environment for hosting the organization's on-premises software application as a cloud-based service. Which of the following should the team ensure is in place in order for the organization to follow security best practices?
A. Visualization and isolation of resources
B. Network segmentation
C. Data encryption
D. Strong authentication policies
Answer: C
134
NO.134 A security analyst scans a company's public network and discovers a host is running a remote desktop that can be used to access the production network. Which of the following changes should the security analyst recommend?
A. Changing the remote desktop port to a non-standard number
B. Setting up a VPN and placing the jump server inside the firewall
C. Using a proxy for web connections from the remote desktop server
D. Connecting the remote server to the domain and increasing the password length
Answer: B
VPN and jump server prevent the remote desktop service from being exposed to the public network, and only authorized users with VPN credentials can access the jump server and then the production server.
135
NO.135 A newly appointed board member with cybersecurity knowledge wants the board of directors to receive a quarterly report detailing the number of incidents that impacted the organization. The systems administrator is creating a way to present the data to the board of directors. Which of the following should the systems administrator use?
A. Packet captures
B. Vulnerability scans
C. Metadata
D. Dashboard
Answer: D
136
NO.136 A company recently decided to allow employees to work remotely. The company wants to protect us data without using a VPN. Which of the following technologies should the company Implement?
A. Secure web gateway
B. Virtual private cloud end point
C. Deep packet Inspection
D. Next-gene ration firewall
Answer: A
A Secure Web Gateway (SWG) protects users by filtering unwanted software/malware from userinitiated web traffic and enforcing corporate and regulatory policy compliance.
137
NO.137 Which of the following best describes configuring devices to log to an off-site location for possible future reference?
A. Log aggregation
B. DLP
C. Archiving
D. SCAP
Answer: A
Log aggregation involves collecting logs from multiple sources and storing them in a centralized location, often off-site, to ensure they are preserved and can be analyzed in the future.
138
NO.138 A systems administrator is creating a script that would save time and prevent human error when performing account creation for a large number of end users. Which of the following would be a good use case for this task?
A. Off-the-shelf software
B. Orchestration
C. Baseline
D. Policy enforcement
Answer: B
Orchestration is the process of automating multiple tasks across different systems and applications.
139
NO.139 A security analyst is reviewing the following logs:
[10:00:00 AM] Login rejected – username administrator -password Spring2023
[10:00:01 AM] Login rejected – username jsmith -password Spring2023
[10:00:02 AM] Login rejected – username guest -password Spring2023
[10:00:03 AM] Login rejected – username cpolk -password Spring2023
[10:00:04 AM] Login rejected – username fmartin -password Spring2023
Which of the following attacks is most likely occurring?
A. Password spraying
B. Account forgery
C. Pass-t he-hash
D. Brute-force
Answer: A
140
NO.140 While troubleshooting a firewall configuration, a technician determines that a "deny any" policy should be added to the bottom of the ACL. The technician updates the policy, but the new policy causes several company servers to become unreachable. Which of the following actions would prevent this issue?
A. Documenting the new policy in a change request and submitting the request to change
management
B. Testing the policy in a non-production environment before enabling the policy in the production network
C. Disabling any intrusion prevention signatures on the 'deny any* policy prior to enabling the new policy
D. Including an 'allow any1 policy above the 'deny any* policy
Answer: B
141
NO.141 An organization is required to maintain financial data records for three years and customer data for five years. Which of the following data management policies should the organization implement?
A. Retention
B. Destruction
C. Inventory
D. Certification
Answer: A
142
NO.142 Which of the following describes the reason root cause analysis should be conducted as part of incident response?
A. To gather loCs for the investigation
B. To discover which systems have been affected
C. To eradicate any trace of malware on the network
D. To prevent future incidents of the same nature
Answer: D
143
NO.143 A cybersecurity incident response team at a large company receives notification that malware is present on several corporate desktops No known Indicators of compromise have been found on the network. Which of the following should the team do first to secure the environment?
A. Contain the Impacted hosts
B. Add the malware to the application blocklist.
C. Segment the core database server.
D. Implement firewall rules to block outbound beaconing
Answer: A
144
NO.144 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
Answer: D
Threat hunting is the process of proactively searching for signs of malicious activity or compromise in a network, rather than waiting for alerts or indicators of compromise (IOCs) to appear.
145
NO.145 While investigating a recent security breach an analyst finds that an attacker gained access by SQL infection through a company website. Which of the following should the analyst recommend to the website developers to prevent this from reoccurring?
A. Secure cookies
B. Input sanitization
C. Code signing
D. Blocklist
Answer: B
Input sanitization is a critical security measure to prevent SQL injection attacks, which occur when an attacker exploits vulnerabilities in a website's input fields to execute malicious SQL code.
146
NO.146 A business needs a recovery site but does not require immediate failover. The business also wants to reduce the workload required to recover from an outage. Which of the following recovery
sites is the best option?
A. Hot
B. Cold
C. Warm
D. Geographically dispersed
Answer: C
147
NO.147 A software development manager wants to ensure the authenticity of the code created by the company. Which of the following options is the most appropriate?
A. Testing input validation on the user input fields
B. Performing code signing on company-developed software
C. Performing static code analysis on the software
D. Ensuring secure cookies are use
Answer: B
148
NO.148 A new employee logs in to the email system for the first time and notices a message from human resources about onboarding. The employee hovers over a few of the links within the email and discovers that the links do not correspond to links associated with the company. Which of the following attack vectors is most likely being used?
A. Business email
B. Social engineering
C. Unsecured network
D. Default credentials
Answer: B
149
NO.149 A systems administrator is changing the password policy within an enterprise environment and wants this update implemented on all systems as quickly as possible. Which of the following operating system security measures will the administrator most likely use?
A. Deploying PowerShell scripts
B. Pushing GPO update
C. Enabling PAP
D. Updating EDR profiles
Answer: B
By pushing a group policy object (GPO) update, the systems administrator can quickly and uniformly enforce the new password policy across all systems in the domain.
150
NO.150 Which of the following is classified as high availability in a cloud environment?
A. Access broker
B. Cloud HSM
C. WAF
D. Load balancer
Answer: D
In a cloud environment, high availability is typically ensured through the use of a load balancer.
151
NO.151 In order to strengthen a password and prevent a hacker from cracking it, a random string of 36 characters was added to the password. Which of the following best describes this technique?
A. Key stretching
B. Tokenization
C. Data masking
D. Salting
Answer: D
151
NO.152 An organization wants to ensure the integrity of compiled binaries in the production environment. Which of the following security measures would best support this objective?
A. Input validation
B. Code signing
C. SQL injection
D. Static analysis
Answer: B
152
NO.153 Which of the following describes the category of data that is most impacted when it is lost?
A. Confidential
B. Public
C. Private
D. Critical
Answer: D
153
NO.154 A company is adding a clause to its AUP that states employees are not allowed to modify the operating system on mobile devices. Which of the following vulnerabilities is the organization addressing?
A. Cross-site scripting
B. Buffer overflow
C. Jailbreaking
D. Side loading
Answer: C
154
NO.155 Which of the following exercises should an organization use to improve its incident response process?
A. Tabletop
B. Replication
C. Failover
D. Recovery
Answer: A
155
NO.156 An organization is building a new backup data center with cost-benefit as the primary requirement and RTO and RPO values around two days. Which of the following types of sites is the best for this scenario?
A. Real-time recovery
B. Hot
C. Cold
D. Warm
Answer: C
156
NO.157 An administrator is reviewing a single server's security logs and discovers the following;
Keywords Date and Time Source Event ID Task
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Audit 09/16/2022 Microsoft 4625 Logon
Failure 11:13:05 AM Windows security
Audit 09/16/2022 Microsoft 4625 Logon
Failure 11:13:07 AM Windows security
Audit 09/16/2022 Microsoft 4625 Logon
Failure 11:13:09 AM Windows security
Audit 09/16/2022 Microsoft 4625 Logon
Failure 11:13:11 AM Windows security
Audit 09/16/2022 Microsoft 4625 Logon
Failure 11:13:13 AM Windows security
Which of the following best describes the action captured in this log file?
A. Brute-force attack
B. Privilege escalation
C. Failed password audit
D. Forgotten password by the user
Answer: A
157
NO.158 An organization would like to calculate the time needed to resolve a hardware issue with a server. Which of the following risk management processes describes this example?
A. Recovery point objective
B. Mean time between failures
C. Recovery time objective
D. Mean time to repair
Answer: D
158
NO.159 Which of the following would most likely mitigate the impact of an extended power outage on a company's environment?
A. Hot site
B. UPS
C. Snapshots
D. SOAR
Answer: B
159
NO.160 Which of the following is a common source of unintentional corporate credential leakage in cloud environments?
A. Code repositories
B. Dark web
C. Threat feeds
D. State actors
E. Vulnerability databases
Answer: A
160
NO.161 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
Answer: D
Side loading is the process of installing software outside of a manufacturer's approved software repository.
161
NO.162 Which of the following is a reason why a forensic specialist would create a plan to preserve data after an incident and prioritize the sequence for performing forensic analysis?
A. Order of volatility
B. Preservation of event logs
C. Chain of custody
D. Compliance with legal hold
Answer: A
When conducting a forensic analysis after an incident, it's essential to prioritize the data collection process based on the "order of volatility." This principle dictates that more volatile data (e.g., data in memory, network connections) should be captured before less volatile data (e.g., disk drives, logs). The idea is to preserve the most transient and potentially valuable evidence first, as it is more likely to be lost or altered quickly.
162
NO.163 An external vendor recently visited a company's headquarters for a presentation. Following the visit a member of the hosting team found a file that the external vendor left behind on a server. The file contained detailed architecture information and code snippets. Which of the following data types best describes this file?
A. Government
B. Public
C. Proprietary
D. Critical
Answer: C
163
NO.164 Which of the following can a security director use to prioritize vulnerability patching within a company's IT environment?
A. SOAR
B. CVSS
C. SIEM
D. CVE
Answer: B
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of security vulnerabilities.
164
NO.165 An administrator at a small business notices an increase in support calls from employees who receive a blocked page message after trying to navigate to a spoofed website. Which of the following should the administrator do?
A. Deploy multifactor authentication.
B. Decrease the level of the web filter settings
C. Implement security awareness training.
D. Update the acceptable use policy
Answer: C
165
NO.166 A technician is opening ports on a firewall for a new system being deployed and supported by a SaaS provider. Which of the following is a risk in the new system?
A. Default credentials
B. Non-segmented network
C. Supply chain vendor
D. Vulnerable software
Answer: C
166
NO.167 A company is developing a critical system for the government and storing project information on a fileshare. Which of the following describes how this data will most likely be classified? (Select two).
A. Private
B. Confidential
C. Public
D. Operational
E. Urgent
F. Restricted
Answer: B F
167
NO.168 Which of the following phases of an incident response involves generating reports?
A. Recovery
B. Preparation
C. Lessons learned
D. Containment
Answer: C
168
NO.169 A security analyst is investigating an alert that was produced by endpoint protection software. The analyst determines this event was a false positive triggered by an employee who attempted to download a file. Which of the following is the most likely reason the download was blocked?
A. A misconfiguration in the endpoint protection software
B. A zero-day vulnerability in the file
C. A supply chain attack on the endpoint protection vendor
D. Incorrect file permissions
Answer: A
169
NO.170 An organization is adopting cloud services at a rapid pace and now has multiple SaaS applications in use. Each application has a separate log-in. so the security team wants to reduce the number of credentials each employee must maintain. Which of the following is the first step the security team should take?
A. Enable SAML
B. Create OAuth tokens.
C. Use password vaulting.
D. Select an IdP
Answer: D
An Identity Provider (IdP) provides a centralized authentication service that supports Single Sign-On (SSO), enabling users to access multiple applications with a single set of credentials.
170
NO.171 Which of the following best represents an application that does not have an on-premises requirement and is accessible from anywhere?
A. Pass
B. Hybrid cloud
C. Private cloud
D. IaaS
E. SaaS
Answer: E
171
NO.172 A company that is located in an area prone to hurricanes is developing a disaster recovery plan and looking at site considerations that allow the company to immediately continue operations.
Which of the following is the best type of site for this company?
A. Cold
B. Tertiary
C. Warm
D. Hot
Answer: D
172
NO.173 The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at a large company would like to gain an understanding of how the company's security policies compare to the requirements imposed by external regulators. Which of the following should the CISO use?
A. Penetration test
B. Internal audit
C. Attestation
D. External examination
Answer: D
173
NO.174 Which of the following is the most likely outcome if a large bank fails an internal PCI DSS compliance assessment?
A. Fines
B. Audit findings
C. Sanctions
D. Reputation damage
Answer: A
PCI DSS is the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, which is a set of security requirements for organizations that store, process, or transmit cardholder data.
174
NO.175 A company is decommissioning its physical servers and replacing them with an architecture that will reduce the number of individual operating systems. Which of the following strategies should the company use to achieve this security requirement?
A. Microservices
B. Containerization
C. Virtualization
D. Infrastructure as code
Answer: B
* Containerization: Uses containers to run multiple isolated applications on a single OS kernel, reducing the need for multiple OS instances and improving resource utilization.
175
NO.176 During a recent breach, employee credentials were compromised when a service desk employee issued an MFA bypass code to an attacker who called and posed as an employee. Which of the following should be used to prevent this type of incident in the future?
A. Hardware token MFA
B. Biometrics
C. Identity proofing
D. Least privilege
Answer: C
* Identity proofing: Ensures that the person requesting the MFA bypass is who they claim to be, thereby preventing social engineering attacks where attackers pose as legitimate employees.
176
NO.177 After reviewing the following vulnerability scanning report:
Server:192.168.14.6
Service: Telnet
Port: 23 Protocol: TCP
Status: Open Severity: High
Vulnerability: Use of an insecure network protocol
A security analyst performs the following test:
nmap -p 23 192.168.14.6 -script telnet-encryption
PORT STATE SERVICE REASON
23/tcp open telnet syn-ack
I telnet encryption:
| _ Telnet server supports encryption
Which of the following would the security analyst conclude for this reported vulnerability?
A. It is a false positive.
B. A rescan is required.
C. It is considered noise.
D. Compensating controls exist.
Answer: A
177
NO.178 A security analyst discovers that a large number of employee credentials had been stolen and were being sold on the dark web. The analyst investigates and discovers that some hourly employee credentials were compromised, but salaried employee credentials were not affected. Most employees clocked in and out while they were Inside the building using one of the kiosks connected to the network. However, some clocked out and recorded their time after leaving to go home. Only those who clocked in and out while Inside the building had credentials stolen. Each of the kiosks are on different floors, and there are multiple routers, since the business segments environments for certain business functions. Hourly employees are required to use a website called acmetimekeeping.com to clock in and out. This website is accessible from the internet.
Which of the following Is the most likely reason for this compromise?
A. A brute-force attack was used against the time-keeping website to scan for common passwords.
B. A malicious actor compromised the time-keeping website with malicious code using an unpatched vulnerability on the site, stealing the credentials.
C. The internal DNS servers were poisoned and were redirecting acmetimkeeping.com to malicious domain that intercepted the credentials and then passed them through to the real site
D. ARP poisoning affected the machines in the building and caused the kiosks lo send a copy of all the submitted credentials to a machine.
Answer: D
Specificity to Internal Kiosks: The fact that only hourly employees who clocked in and out from within the building had their credentials stolen suggests that the compromise was related to the internal network. ARP poisoning is a local network attack, where an attacker sends falsified ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) messages over a local area network, leading to the linking of an
attacker's MAC address with the IP address of a legitimate computer or server. Once ARP poisoning is successful, the attacker can intercept, modify, or stop data in transit. This fits the description of only those using kiosks inside the building being affected.
178
NO.179 Which of the following alert types is the most likely to be ignored over time?
A. True positive
B. True negative
C. False positive
D. False negative
Answer: C
179
NO.180 An organization implemented cloud-managed IP cameras to monitor building entry points and sensitive areas. The service provider enables direct TCP/IP connection to stream live video footage from each camera. The organization wants to ensure this stream is encrypted and authenticated. Which of the following protocols should be implemented to best meet this objective?
A. SSH
B. SRTP
C. S/MIME
D. PPTP
Answer: B
Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol (SRTP) is a security protocol used to encrypt and authenticate the streaming of audio and video over IP networks.
180
NO.181 Which of the following describes a security alerting and monitoring tool that collects system, application, and network logs from multiple sources in a centralized system?
A. SIEM
B. DLP
C. IDS
D. SNMP
Answer: A
SIEM stands for Security Information and Event Management. It is a security alerting and monitoring tool that collects system, application, and network logs from multiple sources in a centralized system.
181
NO.182 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
Answer: A
182
NO.183 An accounting clerk sent money to an attacker's bank account after receiving fraudulent instructions to use a new account. Which of the following would most likely prevent this activity in the future?
A. Standardizing security incident reporting
B. Executing regular phishing campaigns
C. Implementing insider threat detection measures
D. Updating processes for sending wire transfers
Answer: D
183
NO.184 A financial institution would like to store its customer data in the cloud but still allow the data to be accessed and manipulated while encrypted. Doing so would prevent the cloud service provider from being able to decipher the data due to its sensitivity. The financial institution Is not concerned about computational overheads and slow speeds.
Which of the following cryptographictechniques would best meet the requirement?
A. Asymmetric
B. Symmetric
C. Homomorphic
D. Ephemeral
Answer: C
Homomorphic encryption allows data to be encrypted and manipulated without needing to decrypt it first. This cryptographic technique would allow the financial institution to store customer data securely in the cloud while still permitting operations like searching and calculations to be performed on the
encrypted data. This ensures that the cloud service provider cannot decipher the sensitive data, meeting the institution's security requirements.
184
NO.185 Which of the following can be used to identify potential attacker activities without affecting production servers?
A. Honey pot
B. Video surveillance
C. Zero Trust
D. Geofencing
Answer: A
185
NO.186 A Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) wants to explicitly raise awareness about the increase of ransomware-as-a-service in a report to the management team. Which of the following best describes the threat actor in the CISO's report?
A. Insider threat
B. Hacktivist
C. Nation-state
D. Organized crime
Answer: D
186
NO.187 Which of the following tools can assist with detecting an employee who has accidentally emailed a file containing a customer's PII?
A. SCAP
B. Net Flow
C. Antivirus
D. DLP
Answer: D
187
NO.188 A security engineer needs to configure an NGFW to minimize the impact of the increasing number of various traffic types during attacks. Which of the following types of rules is the engineer the most likely to configure?
A. Signature-based
B. Behavioral-based
C. URL-based
D. Agent-based
Answer: B
Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) uses behavioral-based rules analyze the behavior of traffic patterns and can detect and block unusual or malicious activity that deviates from normal behavior.
188
NO.189 Which of the following is best used to detect fraud by assigning employees to different roles?
A. Least privilege
B. Mandatory vacation
C. Separation of duties
D. Job rotation
Answer: D
189
NO.190 Security controls in a data center are being reviewed to ensure data is properly protected and that human life considerations are included. Which of the following best describes how the controls should be set up?
A. Remote access points should fail closed.
B. Logging controls should fail open.
C. Safety controls should fail open.
D. Logical security controls should fail closed.
Answer: C
190
NO.191 A security administrator identifies an application that is storing data using MD5. Which of the following best identifies the vulnerability likely present in the application?
A. Cryptographic
B. Malicious update
C. Zero day
D. Side loading
Answer: A
The vulnerability likely present in the application that is storing data using MD5 is a cryptographic vulnerability. MD5 is considered to be a weak hashing algorithm due to its susceptibility to collision attacks, where two different inputs produce the same hash output, compromising data integrity and
security.
191
NO.192 Which of the following is used to quantitatively measure the criticality of a vulnerability?
A. CVE
B. CVSS
C. CIA
D. CERT
Answer: B
CVSS stands for Common Vulnerability Scoring System, which is a framework that provides a standardized way to assess and communicate the severity and risk of vulnerabilities.
192
NO.193 Which of the following involves an attempt to take advantage of database misconfigurations?
A. Buffer overflow
B. SQL injection
C. VM escape
D. Memory injection
Answer: B
SQL injection is a type of attack that exploits a database misconfiguration or a flaw in the application code that interacts with the database. An attacker can inject malicious SQL statements into the user input fields or the URL parameters that are sent to the database server.
193
NO.194 A systems administrator is working on a solution with the following requirements:
* Provide a secure zone.
* Enforce a company-wide access control policy.
* Reduce the scope of threats.
Which of the following is the systems administrator setting up?
A. Zero Trust
B. AAA
C. Non-repudiation
D. CIA
Answer: A
Zero Trust can provide a secure zone by isolating and protecting sensitive data and resources from unauthorized access.
194
NO.195 A security manager is implementing MFA and patch management. Which of the following would best describe the control type and category? (Select two).
A. Physical
B. Managerial
C. Detective
D. Administrator
E. Preventative
F. Technical
Answer: E F
MFA prevents unauthorized access by requiring multiple forms of verification, and patch management ensures that systems are protected against vulnerabilities by applying updates. Both of these controls are implemented using technical methods, and they work to prevent security incidents before they occur.
195
NO.196 Which of the following would be the best way to block unknown programs from executing?
A. Access control list
B. Application allow list.
C. Host-based firewall
D. DLP solution
Answer: B
196
NO.197 An attacker posing as the Chief Executive Officer calls an employee and instructs the employee to buy gift cards. Which of the following techniques is the attacker using?
A. Smishing
B. Disinformation
C. Impersonating
D. Whaling
Answer: C
197
NO.198 A growing company would like to enhance the ability of its security operations center to detect threats but reduce the amount of manual work required for the security analysts. Which of the following would best enable the reduction in manual work?
A. SOAR
B. SIEM
C. MDM
D. DLP
Answer: A
Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) systems help organizations automate repetitive security tasks, reduce manual intervention, and improve the efficiency of security operations. By integrating with various security tools, SOAR can automatically respond to incidents, helping to enhance threat detection while reducing the manual workload on security analysts.
198
NO.199 A company is planning to set up a SIEM system and assign an analyst to review the logs on a weekly basis Which of the following types of controls is the company setting up?
A. Corrective
B. Preventive
C. Detective
D. Deterrent
Answer: C
199
NO.200 After performing an assessment, an analyst wants to provide a risk rating for the findings. Which of the following concepts should most likely be considered when calculating the ratings?
A. Owners and thresholds
B. Impact and likelihood
C. Appetite and tolerance
D. Probability and exposure factor
Answer: B
200
NO.201 Which of the following is the first step to take when creating an anomaly detection process?
A. Selecting events
B. Building a baseline
C. Selecting logging options
D. Creating an event log
Answer: B
201
NO.202 A new vulnerability enables a type of malware that allows the unauthorized movement of data from a system. Which of the following would detect this behavior?
A. Implementing encryption
B. Monitoring outbound traffic
C. Using default settings
D. Closing all open ports
Answer: B
202
NO.203 Which of the following risks can be mitigated by HTTP headers?
A. SQLi
B. XSS
C. DoS
D. SSL
Answer: B
HTTP headers can be used to mitigate risks associated with Cross-Site Scripting (XSS). Security-related HTTP headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP) and X-XSS-Protection can be configured to prevent the execution of malicious scripts in the context of a web page.
* XSS (Cross-Site Scripting): A vulnerability that allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users. HTTP headers like CSP help prevent XSS attacks by specifying which dynamic resources are allowed to load.
203
NO.204 A legacy device is being decommissioned and is no longer receiving updates or patches. Which of the following describes this scenario?
A. End of business
B. End of testing
C. End of support
D. End of life
Answer: D
204
NO.205 Which of the following can best protect against an employee inadvertently installing malware on a company system?
A. Host-based firewall
B. System isolation
C. Least privilege
D. Application allow list
Answer: D
An application allow list is a security technique that specifies which applications are authorized to run on a system and blocks all other applications.
205
NO.206 Which of the following is most likely to be deployed to obtain and analyze attacker activity and techniques?
A. Firewall
B. IDS
C. Honeypot
D. Layer 3 switch
Answer: C
206
NO.207 Which of the following methods to secure credit card data is best to use when a requirement is to see only the last four numbers on a credit card?
A. Encryption
B. Hashing
C. Masking
D. Tokenization
Answer: C
207
NO.208 Which of the following security concepts is being followed when implementing a product that offers protection against DDoS attacks?
A. Availability
B. Non-repudiation
C. Integrity
D. Confidentiality
Answer: A
208
NO.209 An administrator has identified and fingerprinted specific files that will generate an alert if an attempt is made to email these files outside of the organization. Which of the following best describes the tool the administrator is using?
A. DLP
B. SNMP traps
C. SCAP
D. IPS
Answer: A
209
NO.210 A company wants to verify that the software the company is deploying came from the vendor the company purchased the software from. Which of the following is the best way for the company to confirm this information?
A. Validate the code signature.
B. Execute the code in a sandbox.
C. Search the executable for ASCII strings.
D. Generate a hash of the files.
Answer: A
Validating the code signature is the best way to verify software authenticity, as it ensures that the software has not been tampered with and that it comes from a verified source. Code signatures are digital signatures applied by the software vendor, and validating them confirms the software's integrity and origin
210
NO.211 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
Answer: B
To best protect against similar attacks in the future, the organization should deploy a web application firewall (WAF). A WAF is a type of firewall that monitors and filters the traffic between a web application and the internet.
211
NO.212 During a recent company safety stand-down, the cyber-awareness team gave a presentation on the importance of cyber hygiene. One topic the team covered was best practices for printing centers. Which of the following describes an attack method that relates to printing centers?
A. Whaling
B. Credential harvesting
C. Prepending
D. Dumpster diving
Answer: D
212
NO.213 Which of the following environments utilizes a subset of customer data and is most likely to be used to assess the impacts of major system upgrades and demonstrate system features?
A. Development
B. Test
C. Production
D. Staging
Answer: D
A staging environment is a controlled setting that closely mirrors the production environment but uses a subset of customer data. It is used to test major system upgrades, assess their impact, and demonstrate new features before they are rolled out to the live production environment. This ensures that any issues can be identified and addressed in a safe environment before affecting endusers.
213
NO.214 An important patch for a critical application has just been released, and a systems administrator is identifying all of the systems requiring the patch. Which of the following must be
maintained in order to ensure that all systems requiring the patch are updated?
A. Asset inventory
B. Network enumeration
C. Data certification
D. Procurement process
Answer: A
214
NO.215 Which of the following best describes why the SMS OTP authentication method is more risky to implement than the TOTP method?
A. The SMS OTP method requires an end user to have an active mobile telephone service and SIM card.
B. Generally. SMS OTP codes are valid for up to 15 minutes while the TOTP time frame is 30 to 60 seconds
C. The SMS OTP is more likely to be intercepted and lead to unauthorized disclosure of the code than the TOTP method.
D. The algorithm used to generate on SMS OTP code is weaker than the one used to generate a TOTP code
Answer: C
The SMS OTP (One-Time Password) method is more vulnerable to interception compared to TOTP (Time- based One-Time Password) because SMS messages can be intercepted through various attack vectors like SIM swapping or SMS phishing. TOTP, on the other hand, generates codes directly on the device and does not rely on a communication channel like SMS, making it less susceptible to interception.
215
NO.216 A newly identified network access vulnerability has been found in the OS of legacy loT devices. Which of the following would best mitigate this vulnerability quickly?
A. Insurance
B. Patching
C. Segmentation
D. Replacement
Answer: C
216
NO.217 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
Answer: A
217
NO.218 An administrator finds that all user workstations and servers are displaying a message that is associated with files containing an extension of .ryk. Which of the following types of infections is present on the systems?
A. Virus
B. Trojan
C. Spyware
D. Ransomware
Answer: D
The .ryk extension is associated with a ransomware variant called Ryuk, which targets large organizations and demands high ransoms1.
218
NO.219 You are security administrator investigating a potential infection on a network. Click on each host and firewall. Review all logs to determine which host originated the Infecton and then deny each remaining hosts clean or infected
see simulation slides
219
NO.220 A company's marketing department collects, modifies, and stores sensitive customer data. The infrastructure team is responsible for securing the data while in transit and at rest. Which of the following data roles describes the customer?
A. Processor
B. Custodian
C. Subject
D. Owner
Answer: C
data subjects are the individuals whose personal data is collected, processed, or stored by an organization.
220
NO.221 Which of the following is the phase in the incident response process when a security analyst reviews roles and responsibilities?
A. Preparation
B. Recovery
C. Lessons learned
D. Analysis
Answer: A
221
NO.222 A systems administrator is auditing all company servers to ensure they meet the minimum security baseline. While auditing a Linux server, the systems administrator observes the /etc/shadow file has permissions beyond the baseline recommendation.
Which of the following commands should the systems administrator use to resolve this issue?
A. chmod
B. grep
C. dd
D. passwd
Answer: A
The chmod command is used to change file permissions on Unix and Linux systems.
222
NO.223 A company has begun labeling all laptops with asset inventory stickers and associating them with employee IDs. Which of the following security benefits do these actions provide? (Choose two.)
A. If a security incident occurs on the device, the correct employee can be notified.
B. The security team will be able to send user awareness training to the appropriate device.
C. Users can be mapped to their devices when configuring software MFA tokens.
D. User-based firewall policies can be correctly targeted to the appropriate laptops.
E. When conducting penetration testing, the security team will be able to target the desired laptops.
F. Company data can be accounted for when the employee leaves the organization.
Answer: A F
223
NO.224 Which of the following is the most important security concern when using legacy systems to provide production service?
A. Instability
B. Lack of vendor support
C. Loss of availability
D. Use of insecure protocols
Answer: B
Without support from the vendor, systems may not receive critical security patches and updates, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.
224
NO.225 A security analyst is assessing several company firewalls. Which of the following tools would the analyst most likely use to generate custom packets to use during the assessment?
A. hping
B. Wireshark
C. PowerShell
D. netstat
Answer: A
225
NO.226 Which of the following is the most effective way to protect an application server running software that is no longer supported from network threats?
A. Air gap
B. Barricade
C. Port security
D. Screen subnet
Answer: A
Air-gapping is the most effective way to protect an application server running unsupported software from network threats.
226
NO.227 A user would like to install software and features that are not available with a smartphone's default software. Which of the following would allow the user to install unauthorized software and enable new features?
A. SOU
B. Cross-site scripting
C. Jailbreaking
D. Side loading
Answer: C
227
NO.228 Sine a recent upgrade to a WLAN infrastructure, several mobile users have been unable to access the internet from the lobby. The networking team performs a heat map survey of the building and finds several WAPs in the area. The WAPs are using similar frequencies with high power settings. Which of the following installation considerations should the security team evaluate next?
A. Channel overlap
B. Encryption type
C. New WLAN deployment
D. WAP placement
Answer: A
Evaluating and adjusting the channel settings on the WAPs to avoid overlap is crucial to resolving the connectivity problems.
228
NO.229 An administrator was notified that a user logged in remotely after hours and copied large amounts of data to a personal device.
Which of the following best describes the user's activity?
A. Penetration testing
B. Phishing campaign
C. External audit
D. Insider threat
Answer: D
229
NO.230 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. Endpoint
D. Network
Answer: C
230
NO.231 A systems administrator would like to deploy a change to a production system. Which of the following must the administrator submit to demonstrate that the system can be restored to a working state in the event of a performance issue?
A. Backout plan
B. Impact analysis
C. Test procedure
D. Approval procedure
Answer: A
231
NO.232 A business uses Wi-Fi with content filleting enabled. An employee noticed a coworker accessed a blocked site from a work computer and repotted the issue. While Investigating the issue, a security administrator found another device providing internet access to certain employees.
Which of the following best describes the security risk?
A. The host-based security agent Is not running on all computers.
B. A rogue access point Is allowing users to bypass controls.
C. Employees who have certain credentials are using a hidden SSID.
D. A valid access point is being jammed to limit availability.
Answer: B
232
NO.233 The security operations center is researching an event concerning a suspicious IP address. A security analyst looks at the following event logs and discovers that a significant portion of the user accounts have experienced faded log-In attempts when authenticating from the same IP address:
184.168.131.241 – userA – failed authentication
184.168.131.241 – userA – failed authentication
184.168.131.241 – userB – failed authentication
184.168.131.241 – userB – failed authentication
184.168.131.241 – userC – failed authentication
184.168.131.241 – userC– failed authentication
Which of the following most likely describes attack that took place?
A. Spraying
B. Brute-force
C. Dictionary
D. Rainbow table
Answer: A
233
NO.234 A company wants to reduce the time and expense associated with code deployment. Which of the following technologies should the company utilize?
A. Serverless architecture
B. Thin clients
C. Private cloud
D. Virtual machines
Answer: A
Serverless architecture allows companies to deploy code without managing the underlying infrastructure.
234
NO.235 An organization would like to store customer data on a separate part of the network that is not accessible to users on the main corporate network. Which of the following should the administrator use to accomplish this goal?
A. Segmentation
B. Isolation
C. Patching
D. Encryption
Answer: A
Segmentation is a network design technique that divides the network into smaller and isolated segments based on logical or physical boundaries.
235
NO.236 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
Answer: A
A bastion host is another name for jump box or jump server
236
NO.237 Which of the following best practices gives administrators a set period to perform changes to an operational system to ensure availability and minimize business impacts?
A. Impact analysis
B. Scheduled downtime
C. Backout plan
D. Change management boards
Answer: B
237
NO.238 Which of the following has been implemented when a host-based firewall on a legacy Linux system allows connections from only specific internal IP addresses?
A. Compensating control
B. Network segmentation
C. Transfer of risk
D. SNMP traps
Answer: A
238
NO.239 An engineer moved to another team and is unable to access the new team's shared folders while still being able to access the shared folders from the former team. After opening a ticket, the engineer discovers that the account was never moved to the new group. Which of the following access controls is most likely causing the lack of access?
A. Role-based
B. Discretionary
C. Time of day
D. Least privilege
Answer: A
239
NO.240 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
Answer: A
Active reconnaissance is a type of reconnaissance that involves sending packets or requests to a target and analyzing the responses.
240
NO.241 Which of the following would be used to detect an employee who is emailing a customer list to a personal account before leaving the company?
A. DLP
B. FIM
C. IDS
D. EDR
Answer: A
241
NO.242 Which of the following is a hardware-specific vulnerability?
A. Firmware version
B. Buffer overflow
C. SQL injection
D. Cross-site scripting
Answer: A
242
NO.243 A bank set up a new server that contains customers' Pll. Which of the following should the bank use to make sure the sensitive data is not modified?
A. Full disk encryption
B. Network access control
C. File integrity monitoring
D. User behavior analytics
Answer: C
243
NO.244 During the onboarding process, an employee needs to create a password for an intranet account. The password must include ten characters, numbers, and letters, and two special characters. Once the password is created, the company will grant the employee access to other company-owned websites based on the intranet profile. Which of the following access management concepts is the company most likely using to safeguard intranet accounts and grant access to multiple sites based on a user's intranet account? (Select two).
A. Federation
B. Identity proofing
C. Password complexity
D. Default password changes
E. Password manager
F. Open authentication
Answer: A C
Federation is an access management concept that allows users to authenticate once and access multiple resources or services across different domains or organizations. Federation relies on a trusted third party that stores the user's credentials and provides them to the requested resources or services without exposing them. Password complexity is a security measure that requires users to create passwords that meet certain criteria, such as length, character types, and uniqueness. Password complexity can help prevent brute-force attacks, password guessing, and credential stuffing by making passwords harder to crack or guess.
244
NO.245 A systems administrator set up a perimeter firewall but continues to notice suspicious connections between internal endpoints. Which of the following should be set up in order to mitigate the threat posed by the suspicious activity?
A. Host-based firewall
B. Web application firewall
C. Access control list
D. Application allow list
Answer: A
host-based firewall is a software application that runs on an individual endpoint and filters the incoming and outgoing network traffic based on a set of rules. A host-based firewall can help to mitigate the threat posed by suspicious connections between internal endpoints by blocking or allowing the traffic based on the source, destination, port, protocol, or application.
245
NO.246 Which of the following would be best suited for constantly changing environments?
A. RTOS
B. Containers
C. Embedded systems
D. SCADA
Answer: B
246
NO.247 Which of the following practices would be best to prevent an insider from introducing malicious code into a company's development process?
A. Code scanning for vulnerabilities
B. Open-source component usage
C. Quality assurance testing
D. Peer review and approval
Answer: D
247
NO.248 Which of the following roles, according to the shared responsibility model, is responsible for securing the company's database in an IaaS model for a cloud environment?
A. Client
B. Third-party vendor
C. Cloud provider
D. DBA
Answer: A
According to the shared responsibility model, the client and the cloud provider have different roles and responsibilities for securing the cloud environment, depending on the service model.
248
NO.249 Which of the following security control types does an acceptable use policy best represent?
A. Detective
B. Compensating
C. Corrective
D. Preventive
Answer: D
249
NO.250 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
Answer: C
Organized crime is a type of threat actor that is motivated by financial gain and often operates across national borders. Organized crime groups may be hired by foreign governments to conduct cyberattacks on critical systems located in other countries, such as power grids, military networks, or financial institutions. Organized crime groups have the resources, skills, and connections to carry out sophisticated and persistent attacks that can cause significant damage and disruption12.
250
NO.251 A security analyst developed a script to automate a trivial and repeatable task. Which of the following best describes the benefits of ensuring other team members understand how the script works?
A. To reduce implementation cost
B. To identify complexity
C. To remediate technical debt
D. To prevent a single point of failure
Answer: D
251
NO.252 An organization recently started hosting a new service that customers access through a web portal. A security engineer needs to add to the existing security devices a new solution to protect this new service. Which of the following is the engineer most likely to deploy?
A. Layer 4 firewall
B. NGFW
C. WAF
D. UTM
Answer: C
Web Application Firewall (WAF) specifically protects web applications by filtering, monitoring, and blocking HTTP requests based on a set of rules.
252
NO.253 Which of the following should a systems administrator set up to increase the resilience of an application by splitting the traffic between two identical sites?
A. Load balancing
B. Geographic disruption
C. Failover
D. Parallel processing
Answer: A
253
NO.254 A company's end users are reporting that they are unable to reach external websites. After reviewing the performance data for the DNS severs, the analyst discovers that the CPU, disk, and memory usage are minimal, but the network interface is flooded with inbound traffic. Network logs show only a small number of DNS queries sent to this server. Which of the following best describes what the security analyst is seeing?
A. Concurrent session usage
B. Secure DNS cryptographic downgrade
C. On-path resource consumption
D. Reflected denial of service
Answer: D
A reflected denial of service (RDoS) attack is a type of DDoS attack that uses spoofed source IP addresses to send requests to a third-party server, which then sends responses to the victim server.
254
NO.255 An employee recently resigned from a company. The employee was responsible for managing and supporting weekly batch jobs over the past five years. A few weeks after the employee resigned. one of the batch jobs talked and caused a major disruption. Which of the following would work best to prevent this type of incident from reoccurring?
A. Job rotation
B. Retention
C. Outsourcing
D. Separation of duties
Answer: A
255
NO.256 The CIRT is reviewing an incident that involved a human resources recruiter exfiltration sensitive company data. The CIRT found that the recruiter was able to use HTTP over port 53 to upload documents to a web server. Which of the following security infrastructure devices could have identified and blocked this activity?
A. WAF utilizing SSL decryption
B. NGFW utilizing application inspection
C. UTM utilizing a threat feed
D. SD-WAN utilizing IPSec
Answer: B
NGFW utilizing application inspection: Inspects traffic at the application layer and can block nonstandard protocol usage, such as HTTP over port 53.
256
NO.257 The application development teams have been asked to answer the following questions:
* Does this application receive patches from an external source?
* Does this application contain open-source code?
* is this application accessible by external users?
* Does this application meet the corporate password standard?
Which of the following are these questions port of?
A. Risk control self-assessment
B. Risk management strategy
C. Risk acceptance
D. Risk matrix
Answer: A
257
NO.258 department is not using the company VPN when accessing various company-related services and systems.
Which of the following scenarios describes this activity?
A. Espionage
B. Data exfiltration
C. Nation-state attack
D. Shadow IT
Answer: D
258
NO.259 A company is developing a business continuity strategy and needs to determine how many staff members would be required to sustain the business in the case of a disruption. Which of the following best describes this step?
A. Capacity planning
B. Redundancy
C. Geographic dispersion
D. Tablet exercise
Answer: A
Capacity planning is the process of determining the resources needed to meet the current and future demands of an organization. Capacity
259
NO.260 Which of the following enables the use of an input field to run commands that can view or manipulate data?
A. Cross-site scripting
B. Side loading
C. Buffer overflow
D. SQL injection
Answer: D
SQL injection is a type of attack that enables the use of an input field to run commands that can view or manipulate data in a database. SQL stands for Structured Query Language, which is a language used to communicate with databases. By injecting malicious SQL statements into an input field, an attacker can bypass authentication, access sensitive information, modify or delete data, or execute commands on the server.
260
NO.261 A small business uses kiosks on the sales floor to display product information for customers. A security team discovers the kiosks use end-of-life operating systems. Which of the following is the security team most likely to document as a security implication of the current architecture?
A. Patch availability
B. Product software compatibility
C. Ease of recovery
D. Cost of replacement
Answer: A
End-of-life operating systems are those that are no longer supported by the vendor or manufacturer, meaning they do not receive any security updates or patches. This makes them vulnerable to exploits and attacks that take advantage of known or unknown flaws in the software. Patch availability is the
security implication of using end-of-life operating systems, as it affects the ability to fix or prevent security issues.
261
NO.262 Which of the following would be the best ways to ensure only authorized personnel can access a secure facility? (Select two).
A. Fencing
B. Video surveillance
C. Badge access
D. Access control vestibule
E. Sign-in sheet
F. Sensor
Answer: C D
Badge access requires the personnel to present a valid and authenticated badge to a reader or scanner that grants or denies access based on predefined rules and permissions.
Access control vestibule is a physical security measure that consists of a small room or chamber with two doors, one leading to the outside and one leading to the secure area.
262
NO.263 A software developer would like to ensure the source code cannot be reverse engineered or debugged. Which of the following should the developer consider?
A. Version control
B. Obfuscation toolkit
C. Code reuse
D. Continuous integration
E. Stored procedures
Answer: B
An obfuscation toolkit is used by developers to make source code difficult to understand and reverse engineer.
263
NO.264 A company purchased cyber insurance to address items listed on the risk register. Which of the following strategies does this represent?
A. Accept
B. Transfer
C. Mitigate
D. Avoid
Answer: B
264
NO.265 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
Answer: D
An endpoint log is a file that contains information about the activities and events that occur on an end-user device, such as a laptop, desktop, tablet, or smartphone. Endpoint logs can provide valuable data for security analysts, such as the processes running on the device, the network connections established, the files accessed or modified, the user actions performed, and the applications installed or updated. Endpoint logs can also record the details of any executable files running on the device, such as the name, path, size, hash, signature, and permissions of the executable.
265
NO.266 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
Answer: A
SSO stands for single sign-on, which is a method of authentication that allows users to access multiple applications or services with one set of credentials. SSO reduces the number of credentials employees need to maintain and simplifies the login process.
266
NO.267 A security audit of an organization revealed that most of the IT staff members have domain administrator credentials and do not change the passwords regularly. Which of the following solutions should the security team propose to resolve the findings in the most complete way?
A. Creating group policies to enforce password rotation on domain administrator credentials
B. Reviewing the domain administrator group, removing all unnecessary administrators, and rotating all passwords
C. Integrating the domain administrator's group with an IdP and requiring SSO with MFA for all access
D. Securing domain administrator credentials in a PAM vault and controlling access with role-based access control
Answer: D
Using a Privileged Access Management (PAM) vault to secure domain administrator credentials and enforcing role-based access control (RBAC) is the most comprehensive solution. PAM systems help manage and control access to privileged accounts, ensuring that only authorized personnel can
access sensitive credentials.
267
NO.268 A company is implementing a vendor's security tool in the cloud. The security director does not want to manage users and passwords specific to this tool but would rather utilize the company's standard user directory. Which of the following should the company implement?
A. 802.1X
B. SAML
C. RADIUS
D. CHAP
Answer: B
Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is an open standard that allows identity providers (IdP) to pass authorization credentials to service providers (SP), enabling Single Sign-On (SSO).
268
NO.269 An organization is leveraging a VPN between its headquarters and a branch location. Which of the following is the VPN protecting?
A. Data in use
B. Data in transit
C. Geographic restrictions
D. Data sovereignty
Answer: B
269
NO.270 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
Answer: D
270
NO.271 Which of the following penetration testing teams is focused only on trying to compromise an organization using an attacker's tactics?
A. White
B. Red
C. Purple
D. Blue
Answer: B
271
NO.272 An analyst is reviewing an incident in which a user clicked on a link in a phishing email. Which of the following log sources would the analyst utilize to determine whether the connection was successful?
A. Network
B. System
C. Application
D. Authentication
Answer: A
Network logs would provide information on outbound and inbound traffic, allowing the analyst to see if the user's system connected to the remote server specified in the phishing link.
272
NO.273 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
Answer: B
273
NO.274 The marketing department set up its own project management software without telling the appropriate departments. Which of the following describes this scenario?
A. Shadow IT
B. Insider threat
C. Data exfiltration
D. Service disruption
Answer: A
274
NO.275 A company is concerned about weather events causing damage to the server room and downtime. Which of the following should the company consider?
A. Clustering servers
B. Geographic dispersion
C. Load balancers
D. Off-site backups
Answer: B
Geographic dispersion is a strategy that involves distributing the servers or data centers across different geographic locations.
275
NO.276 A company most likely is developing a critical system for the government and storing project information on a fileshare. Which of the following describes how this data will be classified? (Select two).
A. Private
B. Confidential
C. Public
D. Operational
E. Urgent
F. Restricted
Answer: B F
276
NO.277 An organization experiences a cybersecurity incident involving a command-and-control server. Which of the following logs should be analyzed to identify the impacted host? (Select two).
A. Application
B. Authentication
C. DHCP
D. Network
E. Firewall
F. Database
Answer: D E
277
NO.278 One of a company's vendors sent an analyst a security bulletin that recommends a BIOS update. Which of the following vulnerability types is being addressed by the patch?
A. Virtualization
B. Firmware
C. Application
D. Operating system
Answer: B
278
NO.279 Which of the following control types is AUP an example of?
A. Physical
B. Managerial
C. Technical
D. Operational
Answer: B
An Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is an example of a managerial control. Managerial controls are policies and procedures that govern an organization's operations, ensuring security through directives and rules.
279
NO.280 A company must ensure sensitive data at rest is rendered unreadable. Which of the following will the company most likely use?
A. Hashing
B. Tokenization
C. Encryption
D. Segmentation
Answer: C
280
NO.281 The management team notices that new accounts that are set up manually do not always have correct access or permissions.
Which of the following automation techniques should a systems administrator use to streamline account creation?
A. Guard rail script
B. Ticketing workflow
C. Escalation script
D. User provisioning script
Answer: D
A user provisioning script is an automation technique that uses a predefined set of instructions or commands to create, modify, or delete user accounts and assign appropriate access or permissions. A user provisioning script can help to streamline account creation by reducing manual errors, ensuring consistency and compliance, and saving time and resources
281
NO.282 After a recent vulnerability scan, a security engineer needs to harden the routers within the corporate network. Which of the following is the most appropriate to disable?
A. Console access
B. Routing protocols
C. VLANs
D. Web-based administration
Answer: D
282
NO.283 A security analyst finds a rogue device during a monthly audit of current endpoint assets that are connected to the network. The corporate network utilizes 002.1X for access control. To be allowed on the network, a device must have a Known hardware address, and a valid user name and password must be entered in a captive portal. The following is the audit report:
IP address |MAC | Host Account
10.10.04.42| BE-AC-11-F1-E4-44 | PC-NY user1
10.10.04.30| EB-AC-11-82-42-F3 | PC-CA user3
10.10.04.59| 28-BB-5A-11-52-29 | PC-PA user2
10.10.04.58| 28-BB-5A-F0-E9-D1 | PC-TX user4
10.10.04.22| EB-AC-11-82-42-F3 | WIN10 user3
10.10.04.26| BB-28-11-21-A2-73 | PC-NJ admin
Which of the following is the most likely way a rogue device was allowed to connect?
A. A user performed a MAC cloning attack with a personal device.
B. A DMCP failure caused an incorrect IP address to be distributed
C. An administrator bypassed the security controls for testing.
D. DNS hijacking let an attacker intercept the captive portal traffic.
Answer: A
In this attack, a personal device copies the MAC address of an authorized device, bypassing the 802.1X access control that relies on known hardware addresses for network access. The matching MAC addresses in the audit report suggest that this technique was used to gain unauthorized network access.
283
NO.284 Which of the following is used to validate a certificate when it is presented to a user?
A. OCSP
B. CSR
C. CA
D. CRC
Answer: A
Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) is a protocol that allows applications to check the revocation status of a certificate in real-time.
284
NO.285 Client files can only be accessed by employees who need to know the information and have specified roles in the company. Which of the following best describes this security concept?
A. Availability
B. Confidentiality
C. Integrity
D. Non-repudiation
Answer: B
Confidentiality ensures that sensitive information is only accessible to those who are authorized to view it, preventing unauthorized access.
285
NO.286 Which of the following describes the maximum allowance of accepted risk?
A. Risk indicator
B. Risk level
C. Risk score
D. Risk threshold
Answer: D
286
NO.287 An administrator needs to perform server hardening before deployment. Which of the following steps should the administrator take? (Select two).
A. Disable default accounts.
B. Add the server to the asset inventory.
C. Remove unnecessary services.
D. Document default passwords.
E. Send server logs to the SIEM.
F. Join the server to the corporate domain.
Answer: A C
287
NO.288 A systems administrator is redesigning how devices will perform network authentication. The following requirements need to be met:
* An existing Internal certificate must be used.
* Wired and wireless networks must be supported
* Any unapproved device should be Isolated in a quarantine subnet
* Approved devices should be updated before accessing resources
Which of the following would best meet the requirements?
A. 802.IX
B. EAP
C. RADIUS NOTE : NAC uses 802.1x for authentication
D. WPA2
Answer: A
802.1X is a network access control protocol that provides an authentication mechanism to devices trying to connect to a LAN or WLAN. It
288
NO.289 After a security awareness training session, a user called the IT help desk and reported a suspicious call. The suspicious caller stated that the Chief Financial Officer wanted credit card information in order to close an invoice. Which of the following topics did the user recognize from the training?
A. Insider threat
B. Email phishing
C. Social engineering
D. Executive whaling
Answer: C
289
NO.290 Which of the following security concepts is the best reason for permissions on a human resources fileshare to follow the principle of least privilege?
A. Integrity
B. Availability
C. Confidentiality
D. Non-repudiation
Answer: C
290
NO.291 A company is expanding its threat surface program and allowing individuals to security test the company's internet-facing application. The company will compensate researchers based on the vulnerabilities discovered. Which of the following best describes the program the company is setting up?
A. Open-source intelligence
B. Bug bounty
C. Red team
D. Penetration testing
Answer: B
A bug bounty is a program that rewards security researchers for finding and reporting vulnerabilities in an application or system. Bug bounties are often used by companies to improve their security posture and incentivize ethical hacking.
291
NO.292 Which of the following factors are the most important to address when formulating a training curriculum plan for a security awareness program? (Select two).
A. Channels by which the organization communicates with customers
B. The reporting mechanisms for ethics violations
C. Threat vectors based on the industry in which the organization operates
D. Secure software development training for all personnel
E. Cadence and duration of training events
F. Retraining requirements for individuals who fail phishing simulations
Answer: C E
292
NO.293 Which of the following would help ensure a security analyst is able to accurately measure the overall risk to an organization when a new vulnerability is disclosed?
A. A full inventory of all hardware and software
B. Documentation of system classifications
C. A list of system owners and their departments
D. Third-party risk assessment documentation
Answer: A
A full inventory of all hardware and software is essential for measuring the overall risk to an organization when a new vulnerability is disclosed, because it allows the security analyst to identify which systems are affected by the vulnerability and prioritize the remediation efforts. Without a full inventory, the security analyst may miss some vulnerable systems or waste time and resources on irrelevant ones.
293
NO.294 A client asked a security company to provide a document outlining the project, the cost, and the completion time frame. Which of the following documents should the company provide to the client?
A. MSA
B. SLA
C. BPA
D. SOW
Answer: D
294
NO.295 An organization is struggling with scaling issues on its VPN concentrator and internet circuit due to remote work. The organization is looking for a software solution that will allow it to reduce traffic on the VPN and internet circuit, while still providing encrypted tunnel access to the data center and monitoring of remote employee internet traffic. Which of the following will help achieve these objectives?
A. Deploying a SASE solution to remote employees
B. Building a load-balanced VPN solution with redundant internet
C. Purchasing a low-cost SD-WAN solution for VPN traffic
D. Using a cloud provider to create additional VPN concentrators
Answer: A
Secure Access Service Edge. It is a cloud-based service that combines network and security functions into a single integrated solution. SASE can help reduce traffic on the VPN and internet circuit by providing secure and optimized access to the data center and cloud applications for remote employees.
295
NO.296 During a penetration test, a vendor attempts to enter an unauthorized area using an access badge Which of the following types of tests does this represent?
A. Defensive
B. Passive
C. Offensive
D. Physical
Answer: D
296
NO.297 The local administrator account for a company's VPN appliance was unexpectedly used to log in to the remote management interface. Which of the following would have most likely prevented this from happening'?
A. Using least privilege
B. Changing the default password
C. Assigning individual user IDs
D. Reviewing logs more frequently
Answer: B
Changing the default password for the local administrator account on a VPN appliance is a basic security measure that would have most likely prevented the unexpected login to the remote management interface.
297
NO.298 Which of the following is most likely associated with introducing vulnerabilities on a corporate network by the deployment of unapproved software?
A. Hacktivists
B. Script kiddies
C. Competitors
D. Shadow IT
Answer: D
298
NO.299 After a recent ransomware attack on a company's system, an administrator reviewed the log files. Which of the following control types did the administrator use?
A. Compensating
B. Detective
C. Preventive
D. Corrective
Answer: B
299
NO.300 A user is attempting to patch a critical system, but the patch fails to transfer. Which of the following access controls is most likely inhibiting the transfer?
A. Attribute-based
B. Time of day
C. Role-based
D. Least privilege
Answer: D
The least privilege principle states that users and processes should only have the minimum level of access required to perform their tasks. This helps to prevent unauthorized or unnecessary actions that could compromise security.
300
NO.301 Which of the following is a primary security concern for a company setting up a BYOD program?
A. End of life
B. Buffer overflow
C. VM escape
D. Jailbreaking
Answer: D
301
NO.302 A network administrator is working on a project to deploy a load balancer in the company's cloud environment. Which of the following fundamental security requirements does this project fulfill?
A. Privacy
B. Integrity
C. Confidentiality
D. Availability
Answer: D
302
NO.303 A company wants to get alerts when others are researching and doing reconnaissance on the company One approach would be to host a part of the Infrastructure online with known vulnerabilities that would appear to be company assets. Which of the following describes this approach?
A. Watering hole
B. Bug bounty
C. DNS sinkhole
D. Honeypot
Answer: D
303
NO.304 An IT manager is putting together a documented plan describing how the organization will keep operating in the event of a global incident. Which of the following plans is the IT manager creating?
A. Business continuity
B. Physical security
C. Change management
D. Disaster recovery
Answer: A
304
NO.305 An administrator discovers that some files on a database server were recently encrypted. The administrator sees from the security logs that the data was last accessed by a domain user.
Which of the following best describes the type of attack that occurred?
A. Insider threat
B. Social engineering
C. Watering-hole
D. Unauthorized attacker
Answer: A
The domain user who encrypted the files on the database server is an example of an insider threat, as they abused their access privileges to cause harm to the organization.
305
NO.306 Which of the following actions could a security engineer take to ensure workstations and servers are properly monitored for unauthorized changes and software?
A. Configure all systems to log scheduled tasks.
B. Collect and monitor all traffic exiting the network.
C. Block traffic based on known malicious signatures.
D. Install endpoint management software on all systems.
Answer: D
306
NO.307 A security analyst receives alerts about an internal system sending a large amount of unusual DNS queries to systems on the internet over short periods of time during non-business hours. Which of the following is most likely occurring?
A. A worm is propagating across the network.
B. Data is being exfiltrated.
C. A logic bomb is deleting data.
D. Ransomware is encrypting files.
Answer: B
307
NO.308 Which of the following methods would most likely be used to identify legacy systems?
A. Bug bounty program
B. Vulnerability scan
C. Package monitoring
D. Dynamic analysis
Answer: B
Vulnerability scan assess an organization's network and systems for known vulnerabilities, including outdated or unsupported software (i.e., legacy systems) that may pose a security risk.
308
NO.309 Employees located off-site must have access to company resources in order to complete their assigned tasks. These employees utilize a solution that allows remote access without interception concerns. Which of the following best describes this solution?
A. Proxy server
B. NGFW
C. VPN
D. Security zone
Answer: C
309
NO.310 A security analyst locates a potentially malicious video file on a server and needs to identify both the creation date and the file's creator. Which of the following actions would most likely give the security analyst the information required?
A. Obtain the file's SHA-256 hash.
B. Use hexdump on the file's contents.
C. Check endpoint logs.
D. Query the file's metadata.
Answer: D
Metadata is data that describes other data, such as its format, origin, creation date, author, and other attributes.
310
NO.311 Which of the following threat actors is the most likely to use large financial resources to attack critical systems located in other countries?
A. Insider
B. Unskilled attacker
C. Nation-state
D. Hacktivist
Answer: C
311
NO.312 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
Answer: A
312
NO.313 A company is planning a disaster recovery site and needs to ensure that a single natural disaster would not result in the complete loss of regulated backup data. Which of the following
should the company consider?
A. Geographic dispersion
B. Platform diversity
C. Hot site
D. Load balancing
Answer: A
313
NO.314 Which of the following describes an executive team that is meeting in a board room and testing the company's incident response plan?
A. Continuity of operations
B. Capacity planning
C. Tabletop exercise
D. Parallel processing
Answer: C
314
NO.315 Which of the following risk management strategies should an enterprise adopt first if a legacy application is critical to business operations and there are preventative controls that are not yet implemented?
A. Mitigate
B. Accept
C. Transfer
D. Avoid
Answer: A
The enterprise should adopt the mitigate strategy first to address the existing
vulnerabilities and gaps in the application. This could involve applying patches, updates, or configuration changes to the application, or adding additional layers of security controls around the application.
315
NO.316 Several employees received a fraudulent text message from someone claiming to be the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The message stated:
"I'm in an airport right now with no access to email. I need you to buy gift cards for employee recognition 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.
Answer: B C
316
NO.317 Which of the following describes the understanding between a company and a client about what will be provided and the accepted time needed to provide the company with the resources?
A. SLA
B. MOU
C. MOA
D. BPA
Answer: A
317
NO.318 A security manager created new documentation to use in response to various types of security incidents.
Which of the following is the next step the manager should take?
A. Set the maximum data retention policy.
B. Securely store the documents on an air-gapped network.
C. Review the documents' data classification policy.
D. Conduct a tabletop exercise with the team.
Answer: D
A tabletop exercise is a good way to validate the documentation created by the security manager and ensure that the team is prepared for various types of security incidents.
318
NO.319 Which of the following is the most likely to be included as an element of communication in a security awareness program?
A. Reporting phishing attempts or other suspicious activities
B. Detecting insider threats using anomalous behavior recognition
C. Verifying information when modifying wire transfer data
D. Performing social engineering as part of third-party penetration testing
Answer: A
A security awareness program should include various elements of communication, such as newsletters, posters, videos, webinars, quizzes, games, simulations, and feedback mechanisms, to deliver the security messages and reinforce the security culture.
319
NO.320 A technician wants to improve the situational and environmental awareness of existing users as they transition from remote to in-office work. Which of the following is the best option?
A. Send out periodic security reminders.
B. Update the content of new hire documentation.
C. Modify the content of recurring training.
D Implement a phishing campaign
Answer: C
Modifying the content of recurring training can ensure that the users are aware of the current security landscape and the expectations of their roles.
320
NO.321 Which of the following considerations is the most important for an organization to evaluate as it establishes and maintains a data privacy program?
A. Reporting structure for the data privacy officer
B. Request process for data subject access
C. Role as controller or processor
D. Physical location of the company
Answer: C
The most important consideration when establishing a data privacy program is defining the organization's role as a controller or processor. These roles, as outlined in privacy regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), determine the responsibilities regarding the handling of personal data. A controller is responsible for determining the purpose and means of data processing, while a processor acts on behalf of the controller. This distinction is crucial for compliance with data privacy laws.
321
NO.322 A security administrator needs a method to secure data in an environment that includes some form of checks so that the administrator can track any changes. Which of the following should the administrator set up to achieve this goal?
A. SPF
B. GPO
C. NAC
D. FIM
Answer: D
FIM stands for File Integrity Monitoring, which is a method to secure data by detecting any changes or modifications to files, directories, or registry keys.
322
NO.323 A network administrator deployed a DNS logging tool that logs suspicious websites that are visited and then sends a daily report based on various weighted metrics. Which of the following best describes the type of control the administrator put in place?
A. Preventive
B. Deterrent
C. Corrective
D. Detective
Answer: D
323
NO.324 Which of the following would best explain why a security analyst is running daily vulnerability scans on all corporate endpoints?
A. To track the status of patching installations
B. To find shadow IT cloud deployments
C. To continuously the monitor hardware inventory
D. To hunt for active attackers in the network
Answer: A
Daily vulnerability scans help identify any missing security patches or vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers.
324
NO.325 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
Answer: A
325
NO.326 In a rush to meet an end-of-year business goal, the IT department was told to implement a new business application. The security engineer reviews the attributes of the application and decides the time needed to perform due diligence is insufficient from a cybersecurity perspective. Which of the following best describes the security engineer's response?
A. Risk tolerance
B. Risk acceptance
C. Risk importance
D. Risk appetite
Answer: D
Risk appetite refers to the level of risk that an organization is willing to accept in order to achieve its objectives.
326
NO.327 Which of the following describes effective change management procedures?
A. Approving the change after a successful deployment
B. Having a backout plan when a patch fails
C. Using a spreadsheet for tracking changes
D. Using an automatic change control bypass for security updates
Answer: B
327
NO.328 Visitors to a secured facility are required to check in with a photo ID and enter the facility through an access control vestibule Which of the following but describes this form of security control?
A. Physical
B. Managerial
C. Technical
D. Operational
Answer: A
328
NO.329 A technician needs to apply a high-priority patch to a production system. Which of the following steps should be taken first?
A. Air gap the system.
B. Move the system to a different network segment.
C. Create a change control request.
D. Apply the patch to the system.
Answer: C
329
NO.330 During an investigation, an incident response team attempts to understand the source of an incident. Which of the following incident response activities describes this process?
A. Analysis
B. Lessons learned
C. Detection
D. Containment
Answer: A
Analysis involves collecting and examining evidence, identifying the root cause, determining the scope and impact, and assessing the threat actor's motives and capabilities.
330
NO.331 An organization wants a third-party vendor to do a penetration test that targets a specific device. The organization has provided basic information about the device. Which of the following best describes this kind of penetration test?
A. Partially known environment
B. Unknown environment
C. Integrated
D. Known environment
Answer: A
331
NO.332 A security practitioner completes a vulnerability assessment on a company's network and finds several vulnerabilities, which the operations team remediates. Which of the following should be done next?
A. Conduct an audit.
B. Initiate a penetration test.
C. Rescan the network.
D. Submit a report.
Answer: C
332
NO.333 Select the appropriate attack and remediation from each drop-down list to label the corresponding attack with its remediation.
INSTRUCTIONS
Not all attacks and remediation actions will be used. If at any time you would like to bring back the initial state of the simulation, please click the Reset All button.
See simulation
