Security Plus Questions: CompTIA Quiz!

Joe is a victim of ransomware. Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts files on a user's computer and demands a ransom in exchange for the decryption key. In this case, Joe's files were corrupted and his wallpaper was replaced with a message asking him to transfer money to a foreign country to recover his files. This is a classic example of a ransomware attack, where the attacker holds the victim's files hostage until they pay the demanded ransom.

Disabling SSID broadcast on the company's access points will prevent wireless clients from broadcasting the company's SSID. When SSID broadcast is disabled, the wireless network will not be visible to devices scanning for available networks. Clients will need to manually enter the SSID to connect to the network, which adds an extra layer of security by making the network less visible to potential attackers.

Implementing containerization of company data would be the best solution for securely storing company data on personal devices in a BYOD environment. Containerization involves creating isolated containers or partitions on the device where company data can be stored separately from personal data. This ensures that company data remains protected and isolated even if the device is lost, stolen, or compromised. It also allows for easy management and control of the company data within the container, such as implementing encryption, access controls, and remote wipe capabilities.

As part of a vulnerability scan, identifying unpatched workstations is commonly done. Vulnerability scans are conducted to identify and assess potential weaknesses in a system or network. Unpatched workstations refer to computers that have not received the latest updates or patches, which can leave them susceptible to known vulnerabilities. By identifying these unpatched workstations, organizations can take appropriate measures to apply the necessary updates and patches to mitigate potential risks and secure their systems.

Insider threats are the most important factor to consider when it comes to personnel security. Insider threats refer to the risk posed by individuals within an organization who have authorized access to sensitive information and systems but may misuse or abuse their privileges. These individuals can intentionally or unintentionally cause harm to the organization's security posture, such as leaking sensitive data, sabotaging systems, or conducting fraudulent activities. Addressing insider threats requires implementing strong access controls, monitoring employee behavior, conducting regular security awareness training, and establishing a culture of security within the organization.

This phase of the incident response process involves meeting with the involved employees to document the incident and its aftermath. It is called "Lessons learned" because the purpose is to gather information and insights from the incident in order to improve future incident response and prevent similar incidents from happening again. This phase focuses on analyzing the incident, identifying any gaps or weaknesses in the response process, and implementing corrective actions to enhance security measures.

In this situation, the term "Script kiddie" best describes the actor. A script kiddie is an individual who lacks advanced technical skills and knowledge but uses pre-existing tools or scripts to carry out hacking activities. In this case, the actor is downloading and running a program that imports a list of usernames and passwords, indicating a lack of technical expertise and reliance on ready-made tools. The term "Hacktivist" refers to someone who hacks for political or social reasons, "Cryptologist" refers to a person who studies and uses cryptography, and a "Security auditor" is a professional who assesses and evaluates the security measures of a system.

A remote exploit refers to a network-based attack where an attacker takes advantage of vulnerabilities in a system to gain complete control over a vulnerable host. This type of attack allows the attacker to remotely access and manipulate the target system, potentially compromising its security and gaining unauthorized privileges. By exploiting weaknesses in the system's software or network protocols, the attacker can execute malicious code or commands on the vulnerable host, giving them full control over its operations.

Motion-detection sensors and security guards can both help detect trespassers in a secure facility. Motion-detection sensors are designed to detect any movement within a specified area and can trigger alarms or alerts when unauthorized individuals are detected. Security guards can physically patrol the facility, monitor surveillance cameras, and respond to any suspicious activity or breaches in security. Both of these measures work together to enhance the security of the facility and ensure that any trespassers are detected and dealt with promptly.

A Faraday cage is designed to block electromagnetic signals, preventing RF devices from accessing or communicating with devices inside the cage. By enclosing the server rack in a Faraday cage, the RF device used in the breach would be rendered ineffective, as it would not be able to establish a connection with the server rack. This would effectively prevent this type of attack, as the RF device would not be able to access the air-gapped and locked server rack within the datacenter.

The most likely method used to gain access to the other host is pivoting. Pivoting refers to the technique of using an already compromised system to gain access to other systems within the network. In this scenario, the third-party penetration testing company successfully gained root access on the initial server using ARP cache poison technique. With this compromised server, they were then able to move to another server that was not in the original network, which indicates the use of pivoting to gain access to the other host.

The company transferred the risks related to its email and collaboration services by replacing its unsecured email server with a cloud-based solution managed and insured by a third party. This means that the responsibility for managing and insuring the security of the email and collaboration services now lies with the third party, reducing the company's own risk exposure.

The penetration tester is most likely using active reconnaissance. Active reconnaissance involves actively gathering information about a target system or network, often through techniques such as scanning, enumeration, and probing. In this scenario, the tester is harvesting potential usernames from a social networking site, which falls under the category of active reconnaissance. This information can then be used to launch further attacks, such as social engineering, to obtain associated passwords and gain unauthorized access to shares on a network server.

A smart card is a physical device that can store and process data. It is typically used for authentication purposes and can provide an additional layer of security in a two-factor authentication system. By requiring users to have both the smart card and their username/password, the security administrator can ensure that only authorized individuals are able to access the system. This is because the smart card contains unique information that is difficult to replicate or forge, making it a reliable authentication method.

Preserving the data is crucial in the process of capturing forensic evidence from a potentially compromised system. By securely storing the evidence, it ensures that the integrity and authenticity of the data are maintained. This is important for further investigation and analysis by the security analyst. The preservation of data also allows for the possibility of recovering any lost or deleted information at a later time if necessary. However, the other options mentioned, such as maintaining the chain of custody or obtaining a legal hold, are not directly related to the act of preserving the data itself.

An application manager should be implemented to control the types of tools the managers install on their smartphones. This tool will allow the computer resource center to have control over the applications that are installed on the devices. It can restrict certain applications from being installed or provide a list of approved applications that managers can choose from. This helps ensure that only authorized and appropriate applications are installed on the smartphones issued by the resource center.

Fuzzing is a technique used by auditors to test proprietary-software compiled code for security flaws. It involves inputting random or invalid data into a program to identify vulnerabilities or crashes. By doing so, auditors can uncover potential security weaknesses and assess the software's resilience against unexpected inputs. Fuzzing helps to identify and fix security flaws before the software is deployed, reducing the risk of exploitation by attackers.

Scalability is the correct answer because it refers to the ability of a system to handle increasing amounts of work or data by adding resources, such as storage capacity, without affecting performance or availability. By implementing scalability, a systems architect can ensure that the system can accommodate the growing storage demands and minimize the risk of availability issues caused by insufficient storage capacity.

A poor implementation is the most likely cause of the information loss breach. Even though the web server is configured to use strong encryption algorithms (TLS with AES-GCM-256, SHA-384, and ECDSA), it is possible that the implementation of these algorithms was flawed. This could include mistakes in the code, misconfigurations, or other vulnerabilities that allowed attackers to gain unauthorized access to the information. Simply having strong encryption algorithms does not guarantee security if they are not implemented correctly.

A stream cipher is a type of encryption algorithm that encrypts data one bit at a time. It uses a symmetric key, which means the same key is used for both encryption and decryption. Therefore, the security analyst should use a symmetric algorithm, as it is specifically designed for stream ciphers.

A credentialed scan is being performed in this scenario. This type of scan requires the use of valid credentials, such as usernames and passwords, to access the system being scanned. It allows the scanner to have deeper access to the system, including the ability to check files, versions, and registry values. This type of scan is more thorough and accurate in identifying vulnerabilities compared to non-intrusive or active scans. Authenticated scans, on the other hand, typically refer to scans that require user authentication but may not have the same level of access as credentialed scans.

The first step in responding to an incident involving a potentially infected workstation is to make a copy of everything in memory on the workstation. This is important because it allows the security analyst to preserve any evidence that may be present in the workstation's memory, such as running processes, network connections, and any malicious code that may be active. This will provide valuable information for further analysis and investigation. Turning off the workstation or running a virus scan may be necessary steps, but they should be done after the memory has been copied to avoid losing any critical information. Consulting the information security policy may provide guidance, but it is not the first action to take in this situation.

If the in-house penetration tester is planning to exfiltrate data through steganography, it means that they will be hiding the data within image files and sending them out as emails. Therefore, outgoing emails containing unusually large image files would be a red flag as it is not normal behavior for regular users. This would help catch the tester in the act as it indicates potential data exfiltration.

The requirement that is most likely to influence the decision of performing a credentialed scan instead of a non-credentialed scan is the ability of the scanner to audit file system permissions. Credentialed scans require the use of valid credentials (such as username and password) to access the system being scanned. This level of access allows the scanner to gather more detailed information about the system, including auditing file system permissions. This is important for assessing the security posture of the system and identifying any potential vulnerabilities or misconfigurations related to file system permissions.

To ensure credentials are encrypted in transit when implementing a RADIUS server for SSO, both a public key and a private key are needed. The public key is used to encrypt the data, while the private key is used to decrypt it. This combination of keys allows for secure communication between the RADIUS server and the clients, ensuring that sensitive information, such as credentials, cannot be intercepted and read by unauthorized individuals.

The company is looking to reduce costs and improve its IT operations, which suggests a need for flexibility and scalability. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) would be the most likely cloud model for the company to select. With IaaS, the company can outsource its infrastructure needs, including servers, storage, and networking, allowing them to scale resources up or down as needed. This would enable the company to meet customer demand more effectively and reduce the burden of maintaining aging systems.

Based on the symptoms described by Ann, the most likely type of malware that has infected her machine is a keylogger. Keyloggers are malicious programs that record keystrokes on a computer, allowing attackers to capture sensitive information such as passwords, credit card numbers, and personal messages. The slowness and input lag could be caused by the keylogger running in the background and capturing every keystroke. The discovery of text files containing pieces of her emails or online conversations further supports the presence of a keylogger, as it is likely that the malware is logging and saving her typed messages.

The correct answer is Open ID Connect. Open ID Connect is a technology based on OAuth 2.0 that provides authentication and authorization services. It allows users to authenticate themselves to multiple websites or applications using a single set of credentials. It is commonly used for single sign-on (SSO) and is widely adopted in the industry for its security and interoperability. SAML, XACML, and LDAP are also authentication and authorization technologies, but they are not specifically based on OAuth 2.0.

To determine the Annualized Loss Expectancy (ALE) of a particular risk, two factors must be calculated: the Annual Rate of Occurrence (ARO) and the Single Loss Expectancy (SLE). The ARO represents the estimated frequency at which the risk event will occur in a year, while the SLE represents the expected financial loss associated with each occurrence of the risk event. By multiplying the ARO with the SLE, the ALE can be calculated, which provides an estimate of the expected annual financial impact of the risk. The other options, ROI (Return on Investment), RPO (Recovery Point Objective), and RTO (Recovery Time Objective), are not directly related to calculating the ALE.

A differential backup would allow for the quickest restoration of a server into a warm recovery site in a case where server data mirroring is not enabled. A differential backup only includes the data that has changed since the last full backup, making it faster to restore compared to a full backup which includes all the data. Incremental backups only include the data that has changed since the last backup, which could be a full or differential backup, so it would take longer to restore. Snapshots are not typically used for server restoration.

Air gapping the desktops is the best way to accomplish the goal of isolating them as much as possible. Air gapping involves physically disconnecting the desktops from the network, ensuring that they have no connection to any external networks or devices. This prevents any potential unauthorized access or data breaches, providing a high level of security for the desktops and the product creation process.

Salting a password hash before storing it in a database helps prevent duplicate values from being stored. Salting involves adding a random string of characters to the password before hashing it, which ensures that even if two users have the same password, their hashed passwords will be different due to the unique salt. This prevents attackers from easily identifying duplicate passwords by comparing hashed values, increasing the security of the stored passwords.

SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) would be the best method to meet the developer's requirements. SAML is an XML-based open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between parties, particularly between an identity provider and a service provider. It allows for the tokenization of authentication without exposing the client's password, ensuring secure access to the company's REST API. LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is a protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information, but it does not specifically address tokenization. OAuth is an authorization framework, not specifically focused on tokenization. Shibboleth is a federated identity solution, which may not be necessary for the given requirements.

An SSL VPN would be the best choice for the engineer to implement if the design requires the client MAC address to be visible across the tunnel. SSL VPNs allow for secure remote access to network resources by using SSL/TLS protocols to encrypt the communication between the client and the VPN gateway. This means that the client MAC address can be encapsulated within the SSL VPN traffic and transmitted across the tunnel.

Antivirus software is the best choice for a security control that represents a preventive and corrective logical control at the same time. It prevents malware infections by detecting and removing malicious software before it can cause harm. Additionally, it can also correct any issues by quarantining or deleting infected files. Antivirus software acts as a proactive measure to prevent attacks and as a reactive measure to mitigate any damage caused by malware. It is a versatile security control that offers both preventive and corrective capabilities.

The POODLE attack is a man-in-the-middle (MITM) exploit that affects SSLv3.0 with CBC mode cipher. This attack takes advantage of a vulnerability in SSLv3.0 that allows an attacker to decrypt secure communications by exploiting the padding oracle vulnerability in the CBC mode cipher. By manipulating the padding in the cipher, the attacker can gradually decrypt the encrypted data. This attack does not affect TLS1.0 with CBC mode cipher or SSLv2.0 with CBC mode cipher, as they do not have the same vulnerability. Additionally, the use of ECB mode cipher does not make systems vulnerable to the POODLE attack.

When a sender encrypts the message hash with the sender's private key, it ensures both non-repudiation and message integrity. Non-repudiation means that the sender cannot deny sending the message since it can be verified using their private key. Message integrity ensures that the message has not been tampered with during transmission, as any changes to the message would result in a different hash value. Therefore, the use of PKI in this scenario provides both non-repudiation and message integrity.

The security analyst can conclude that the Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) has become faster because the time to replace a server hard drive has decreased from eight hours to two hours. Additionally, the Recovery Time Objective (RTO) has decreased because the time it takes to recover from a failure or incident has decreased.

PBKDF2 and bcrypt are both cryptographic algorithms that are specifically designed to increase the computing time it takes to brute force a password using an offline attack. They achieve this by applying a large number of iterations and incorporating a salt value into the password hashing process. This makes it significantly more time-consuming and resource-intensive for an attacker to guess the password through repeated trial-and-error attempts. XOR, HMAC, and RIPEMD, on the other hand, are not specifically designed for password hashing and do not provide the same level of protection against brute force attacks.

The correct answer is "An FACL has been added to the permissions for the file." This is because the output shows that there is a "+" symbol at the end of the permissions, indicating that there is an FACL (File Access Control List) present for the file. FACLs can override traditional Unix permissions and restrict or allow access to a file for specific users or groups. In this case, it is likely that the FACL is preventing the member of the admins group from modifying the "changes" file.

Certificate issues can cause the "Logon Failure: Access Denied" error. Certificates are used to authenticate and verify the identity of a user or system. If there is an issue with the certificate, such as it being expired, revoked, or not trusted, the system may deny access to the user. This can happen if the certificate used for authentication on the previous system is not recognized or trusted by the new system, resulting in the access denied error.

The analyst should use the backdoor as the most likely attack vector because the modification of the /etc/passwd file suggests unauthorized access to the system. To determine if the attack is still ongoing, the analyst should use netstat, which is a network utility tool that displays active network connections and listening ports. By using netstat, the analyst can identify any suspicious or unauthorized connections that may indicate ongoing malicious activity.

The design requirements state that authentication should not be dependent on enterprise directory service and should not depend on user certificates. PSK (Pre-Shared Key) authentication meets these requirements as it does not require a directory service or user certificates for authentication. Captive portals can also be used to meet the requirements as they allow background reconnection for mobile users and do not rely on enterprise directory service or user certificates. Therefore, PSK and captive portals are the appropriate choices for this wireless network design.

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The first action that should be taken is to disable the open relay on the email server. This will prevent the server from being used to send out spam and social networking requests. The second action is to enable sender policy framework, which helps to prevent email spoofing and further reduce the amount of spam being sent from the compromised accounts. By taking these actions, the security administrators can mitigate the immediate impact of the phishing attack and protect the affected users and their contacts.

When both strong and weak ciphers are configured on a VPN concentrator, it opens up the possibility of an attacker performing a downgrade attack. This means that the attacker can force the VPN connection to use the weaker cipher, making it easier for them to decrypt and manipulate the data being transmitted. Additionally, the IPSec payload may revert to 16-bit sequence numbers, which could compromise the integrity and security of the data being transmitted.

The ChrootDirectory parameter should be implemented to restrict users to their own home directories only. This parameter sets the directory that the user is restricted to when they log in. The PermitTTY parameter should also be implemented to disallow users from using interactive shell login. This parameter controls whether a TTY (terminal) is allocated for the user when they log in. By setting it to "no", the user will not be able to use interactive shell login.