A+ 1002 (Dion 1)

Your company failed a recent security audit. The IT Directory has issued a new policy dictating that all workstations must be locked when not in use for more than 2 minutes, that a password must be entered prior to booting up the operating system, and that the hard drive is fully encrypted. You have been asked to configure the corporate workstations to enforce these new security measures. Which THREE of the following should you configure FIRST?

(1) Enable BitLocker, (2) Enable a UEFi password, (3) Enable a screen lock Explanation: These requirements can be met by enabling BitLocker to encrypt the hard drive, enable a UEFI password to require a password to be entered prior to booting an operating system, and enabling a screen lock that turns on after 2 minutes of inactivity.

What is the FIFTH step of the seven step malware removal process?

(5) Schedule. Scans and run updates.

You have just run an antivirus scan on a workstation, discovered about 25 different malicious items, and successfully removed them. You have scheduled a daily scan of the workstation, enabled the System Restore function, and created a new restore point. What is the NEXT step in the malware removal process?

(7) Educate. The end user.

SecureCorp is worried about the security of the data on their corporate smartphones in case they are lost or stolen. The Chief Security Officer has instructed the devices be configured so that they data cannot be accessed by unauthorized users. Which TWO of the following settings would provide the BEST security and protection for the data contained on the corporate smartphones?

- Configure the ability to perform a remote wipe - Enable full device encryption Explanation: The BEST protection for the data would involve enabling full disk encryption and configuring the ability to perform a remote wipe. Even if the device is lost or stolen, the data on the device would be unreadable if it was using full disk encryption. Additionally, by configuring the ability to remotely wipe the device's storage, the data would be able to be erased prior to a thief being able to access it.

Long time to boot up? What 2 quick things should you do?

- Defrag the hard drive - remove unnecessary apps from auto-starting on startup boot

What items should have grounding wire?

- Server rack - UPS

When Jonathan opens the web browser on his computer, the initial page loads up to a search engine that he does not recognize. Jonathan attempts to use the search engine, but the results are extremely poor and numerous pop-ups are created by the browser. Jonathan asks for your assistance in fixing this issue. Which TWO of the following actions do you recommend Jonathan perform first?

- reset the web browser to default settings and configs - uncheck any unapproved apps from MSCONFIG (startup tab) Explanation: Browser redirection and pop-ups are a common symptom of malware being installed on a computer. It is recommended that the web browser be reset to its default settings and configurations in order to remove any redirection settings that the malware may have made to the browser. Additionally, any unapproved applications should be unchecked from the Startup tab in MSCONFIG to ensure the malware isn't reloaded during the next reboot.

A co-worker is creating a file containing a script. You look over their shoulder and see "!#/bin/bash" as the first line in the file. Based on this, what type of file extension should this script use?

.sh Explanation: A .sh file is used for a shell script in Linux, macOS (OS X), and Unix. Since the first line says !#/bin/bash, it is a bash script.

What is the minimum amount of hard drive space needed to install Windows 8.1 on a 32-bit system?

16GB. For the Windows 8.1 (32-bit) operating system, the minimum requirements are a 1 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM, and at least 16 GB of hard drive space.

What is the minimum amount of RAM needed to install Windows 8.1 on a 64-bit system?

2GB. For the Windows 8.1 (64-bit) operating system, the minimum requirements are a 1 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, and at least 20 GB of hard drive space.

what is a Botnet?

A botnet is a number of Internet-connected devices, each of which is running one or more bots. Botnets can be used to perform distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack), steal data, send spam, and allows the attacker to access the device and its connection. A zombie (also known as a bot) is a computer or workstation that a remote attacker has accessed and set up to forward transmissions (including spam and viruses) to other computers on the Internet.

Just installed a new second OS. Error says "OS not found"

An incompatible partition is marked as active. Explanation: This issue may occur if one or more of the following conditions are true: (1) the basic input/output system (BIOS) does not detect the hard disk, (2) the hard disk is damaged, (3) sector 0 of the physical hard disk drive has an incorrect or malformed master boot record (MBR), (4) an incompatible partition is marked as Active, or (5) a partition that contains the MBR is no longer active. The only option provided in this question from this list is that an incompatible partition is marked as active.

What is an open license?

An open license or free license is the legal statement that allows free content and free software to be free. Since the customer doesn't want to pay for a license, it is important that the user get a word processing program that uses an open license so that they do not have to pay for their software. For example, OpenOffice is an open license based software that provides a word processor that can be used on Windows, Linux, or OS X for free.

The customer had no backups and all of the hardware associated with the small business was destroyed during the flooding. As part of the rebuilding process, the small business contracts with your company to help create a disaster recovery plan to ensure this never reoccurs again. Which of the following recommendations should you include as part of the disaster recovery plan?

Backing up data to cloud-based storage solution.

Which of the following plans should be implemented to revert back to the most recent working version of the firmware on the webserver?

Backout plan. Explanation: Since the intended change or upgrade has failed, the backout plan should be initiated. A backout plan is an IT governance integration approach that specifies the processes required to restore a system to its original or earlier state, in the event of failed or aborted implementation. Any installation or upgrade should include a backout plan as part of the change request and change plan. That way, if something goes wrong with the installation then the team can "backout" and restore service on the legacy/previous system (or older version of the firmware in this case).

Your company wants to increase the security of its server room. Which TWO of the following should they install or use?

Badge reader & Biometric lock. A badge reader and biometric lock can be used on a server room door in order to provide multifactor authentication. Cable locks are used for laptops, not servers or server rooms. A bollard is used in the parking lot or in the front of a building. Strong passwords and privacy windows shades could be used, but they are not the BEST choices for increased security of a server room.

You are concerned that your servers could be damaged during a blackout or brownout. Which TWO devices have protection against blackouts and brownouts?

Battery backup & Line conditioner. Explanation: A blackout is a total loss of power in a particular area. A brownout is a reduction in or restriction on the availability of electrical power in a particular area. The irregular power supply during the brownout can ruin your computer and other electronic devices. Electronics are created to operate at specific voltages, so any fluctuations in power (both up and down) can damage them. To protect against a brownout, you can use either a battery backup or a line conditioner. To protect against a blackout, a battery backup should be used.

Multiple OSs on Mac?

Boot Camp. Boot Camp is used to allow dual booting on a Macintosh computer. It allows the user to boot into either macOS (OS X) or Windows as the computer is rebooted.

Printer not working today, but was working yesterday. We don't notice any errors. Try first?

Check the status of the print server queue. It might've become stuck. This server can then be emptied or reset if it was stuck.

Two users are having the same issue with a specific application on their Android devices. Both users work for LearnCorp and have the exact same model of smartphone issued by the company. Whenever the users attempt to launch the application, the app fails and generates an error message. Which of the following should the technician attempt FIRST to solve this issue?

Clear the local application cache. Explanation: To solve an issue with a mobile application, you should normally attempt the following steps. First, clear the application cache since this locally stored information can become glitchy and cause an app to crash. But, since this scenario has two exactly the same smartphones having the same issue, it is unlikely to be the application cache causing the issue. Second, the technician should attempt to update the OS of the smartphones. Updating the operating system can minimize compatibility issues and fix crashing applications. Since the issue is occurring on both smartphones, the issue is most likely being caused by the OS and not the app itself. Third, you can try reinstalling the application if the other two options don't work.

Battery draining fast?

Close apps using the most battery. If your battery is dying faster than in the past, see whether apps are using too much battery. You can force stop or uninstall problem apps. If your device is infected with malware, this can also drastically reduce your battery life and the malware should be removed.

A user reports that every time they try to access https://www.diontraining.com, they receive an error stating "Invalid or Expired Security Certificate". The technician attempts to connect to the same site from other computers on the network and no errors or issues are observed. Which of the following settings needs to be changed on the user's workstation to fix the "Invalid or Expired Security Certificate" error?

Date and time. Explanation: There are two causes of the "Invalid or Expired Security Certificate". The first is a problem with your computer and the second occurs if the certificate itself has an issue. Since the technician can successfully connect to the website from other computers, it shows that the error is on the user's computer. One of the common causes of an Invalid or Expired Security Certificate error is the clock on the user's computer being wrong since the website security certificates are issued to be valid within a given date range. If the date of the certificate is too far outside the date on the computer, the web browser will give you an invalid security certificate error because the browser thinks something is wrong. To fix this, simply set the computer's clock to the correct date and time.

Your company's wireless network was recently compromised by an attacker who utilized a brute force attack against the network's PIN to gain access. Once connected to the network, the attacker modified the DNS settings on the router and used that to spread additional malware across the entire network. Which TWO of the following configurations was most likely used to allow the attack to occur?

Default admin login credentials & WPS enabled. Wireless networks that rely on a PIN to connect devices are using the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS). It is a wireless network security standard that tries to make connections between a router and wireless devices faster and easier. WPS relies on an 8-digit PIN, but due to poor design, it is easily defeated using a brute force attack. Once connected to the network using the WPS PIN, the attacker may have logged into the router using the default administrative login credentials and then modified the DNS of the router/gateway. It is common that many network administrators forget to change the default username/password of their devices, leaving this an easy vulnerability for an attacker to exploit.

Whenever you reboot your domain controller, you notice it takes a very long time to boot up. As the server is booting, you hear noises that sound like a steady series of clicks coming from the hard drive. Which of the following is the BEST action to help speed up the boot time of the server?

Defrag the hard drive By defragmenting the hard drive, the server doesn't have to spend as much time accessing the information and it can boot up faster. Based on the series of clicking noises, it sounds like the system is having to access many parts of the drive in order to load the files.

Slow boot up?

Disable auto-starting apps. the BEST (and first) thing to attempt is to disable unnecessary applications from automatically starting up. This can be configured from the MSCONFIG tool under the Startup tab.

Contractors stopping by company every now and then. What should you do with their user accounts?

Disable the user accounts. (don't delete them) Then, just re-enable them when they're back.

You have been asked to install a new hard drive in a Windows 10 system. You have already installed the hard drive and booted the system up. Which tool should you use to create the new partitions on the hard drive?

Disk Management. The Disk Management tool is used to display the drive status, mount the drive, initialize the drive, and create/split/extend/shrink drive partitions.

You have been asked to help a user upgrade their laptop from Windows 8 to Windows 10. The user has asked that all of their applications, user profiles, documents, and PST files be preserved during the upgrade. Which of the following types of upgrades or installations should you perform on this laptop?

In-Place Upgrade

Which of the following is used to communicate data and preferences to child processes within a script or batch file?

Environmental Variables Explanation: Shell scripts and batch files use environment variables to communicate data and preferences to child processes. They can also be used to store temporary values for reference later in a shell script.

A customer runs frantically into your computer repair store. He says that is smartphone fell into a puddle and now it won't turn on. He excitedly tells you that he needs the smartphone working again "right now" and cannot wait. What should you do?

Explain to the customer that the repair may take several days. Explanation: It is important to set and meet expectations and timelines when dealing with a customer. If you are unable to meet the timeline needed, you should offer different repair/replacement options (if applicable).

Least privilege

Least privilege is the concept and practice of restricting access rights for users, accounts, and computing processes to only those resources absolutely required to perform routine, legitimate activities. Privilege itself refers to the authorization to bypass certain security restraints.

Your company is expanding its operations in the European Union and is concerned about additional governmental regulations that may apply. Which of the following regulations applies when processing personal data within the European Union?

GDPR. Explanation: GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a regulation that applies to companies who do business in the European Union. The four forms of regulated data covered by the CompTIA A+ (220-1002) exam are PII (Personally Identifiable Information), PCI (Payment Card Industry), GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), and PHI (Protected Health Information).

Sally is checking her email and she noticed that she has several automated replies from emails she doesn't remember sending. What type of attack was Sally MOST likely the victim of?

Hijacked email.

Barbara received a phone call from a colleague asking why she sent him an email with lewd and unusual content. Barbara doesn't remember sending the email to the colleague. What is Barbara MOST likely the victim of?

Hijacked email. (Again)

Touchscreen is unresponsive. What should you try first?

If a smartphone's touchscreen is unresponsive, the first step is to restart (or reboot) the device. This will cause the operating system and its device drivers to be reloaded and will normally restore the functionality of the touchscreen if it is a software issue.

A user is complaining about slow data speeds when they are at home in a large apartment building. The user uses WiFi when they get home, and the device works fine on other wireless networks they connect to. Which of the following actions should the user take to increase their data speeds?

Increase the WiFi signal being transmitted by the WAP. Slow data speeds can be caused by too much interference or a weak signal. Try changing the channel on Wi-Fi routers to less-used channels or boost the signal being transmitted and the performance should increase. Alternatively, if the cellular signal is too low, you can install a signal booster or microcell in the home or office.

You have been asked to recycle 20 of your company's old laptops. The laptops will be donated to a local community center for underprivileged children. Which of the following data destruction and disposal methods is MOST appropriate to allow the data on the drives to be fully destroyed and the drives to be reused by the community center?

Low level formatting. Explanation: Low-level formatting is a hard disk operation that should make recovering data from your storage devices impossible once the operation is complete. It sounds like something you might want to do if giving away a hard disk or perhaps discarding an old computer that may have contained useful and important, private information. Standard formatting of the drives could allow for the data to be restored and could make the data vulnerability to exposure. Drilling or hammers the HDD platters would physically destroy the drives and the data, but it would make the laptops useful for the community center. Degaussing the drives would also render the drives useless to the community center. Therefore, the safest method is a low-level format since it fully destroys the data and allows the drives to be reused by the community center.

Which of the following commands would you use to disable the program from starting up each time Windows reboots?

MSCONFIG. The MSCONFIG utility has 5 tabs: General, Boot, Ser ices, Startup, and Tools. If you click on the Startup tab, you will see every program that is configured to start up when Windows is booted up. This can be used to disable unwanted programs from launching during the boot-up process.

You are cleaning out the closet in your office and find several bottles of cleaner that need to be disposed of. Which of the following should you consult to determine the proper method of disposal?

MSDS

You have discovered that an employee has been conducting illegal activities using his workplace computer. You have taken possession of the employee's laptop according to your company's procedures and are waiting to give it law enforcement authorities. What should you do when turning over the laptop to the police?

Maintain the chain of custody Explanation: Chain of custody (CoC), in legal contexts, is the chronological documentation or paper trail that records the sequence of custody, control, transfer, analysis, and disposition of physical or electronic evidence. It is important that the chain of custody be maintained from the time you arrived at the laptop until you turn it over to law enforcement officials.

Several users have contacted the help desk to report that they received an email from a well-known bank stating that their accounts have been compromised and they need to "click here" to reset their banking password. Some of these users are not even customers of this particular bank, though. Which of the following best describes this type of attack?

Phishing Explanation: This is an example of a phishing attack. Phishing is the fraudulent practice of sending emails and 'pretending' to be from a reputable company in order to trick users into revealing personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers. This email appears to be untargeted since it was sent to both customers and non-customers of this particular bank, it is best classified as phishing. Spear phishing requires the attack to be more targeted and less widespread.

A smartphone user notices that their phone gets very hot and their battery is draining quickly. Even when the phone is in their pocket, the phone gets hot to the touch. What is likely the problem?

Phone is infected with malware and using much processor power. Explanation: When a smartphone is being heavily used (runaway processes, GPS, heavy data transfer), the device generates more heat. If the device is generating a lot of heat and the battery is draining quickly even with the phone in "sleep mode" in your pocket, this could be an indication that the phone is infected with malware. If the phone is powered down and still generates a lot of heat, this could be a faulty battery.

Your network administrator has handed you some documentation showing you which switch ports on a patch panel you need to connect with a CAT 5e patch cable for an upcoming network upgrade. What type of document are you MOST likely holding?

Physicsl network diagram. A physical network diagram shows the actual physical arrangement of the components that make up the network, including cables and hardware. Typically, the diagram gives a bird's eye view of the network in its physical space, like a floorplan. (Extra) A logical network diagram describes the way information flows through a network. Therefore, logical network diagrams typically show subnets (including VLAN IDs, masks, and addresses), network devices like routers and firewalls, and routing protocols.

Your company is concerned about the possibility of power fluctuations that may occur and cause a small increase in the input power to their server room. That condition is known as?

Power surge. Explanation: A power surge is basically an increase in your electrical current. A power surge often has levels of 10-30% above the normal line voltage and last from 15 milliseconds up to several minutes.

David is a brand new help desk technician. To perform his job, he needs to be able to install programs and printers, but should not have full access to change everything on a Windows workstation. Which of the following types of user accounts should David be given to perform his job as a help desk technician?

Power user. (not- Guest, Admin, Remote user) By default, the rights and permissions that are granted to the Power Users group include those rights and permissions that are required to allow members of the Power Users group to modify computer-wide settings, to install drivers, and to run (or install) non-certified programs. They have many of the permissions of an administrator but without the ability to change everything in a Windows workstation.

You have just completed a repair for a customer's smartphone that took you three days. The customer is complaining that the repair took too long and begins to question you about the steps you took to repair the device. What should you do NEXT?

Provide documentation of repair and thank customer for their patience Explanation: When dealing with a difficult customer or situation, you should follow five key principles. (1) Do not argue with customers and/or become defensive. (2) Avoid dismissing customer problems. (3) Avoid being judgmental. (4) Clarify customer statements (ask open-ended questions to narrow the scope of the problem, restate the issue, or question to verify understanding). (5) Do not disclose experiences via social media outlets. The only option provided that follows these principles is to "provide documentation of the repair to the customer and thank them for their patience." The other three options all violate these principles.

Matt has identified that a user's system contains malware. According to the malware removal procedures, what should Matt do NEXT?

Quarantine (by removing network connectivity). The seven steps of the malware removal procedures are (1) Identify and research malware symptoms, (2) Quarantine the infected systems, (3) Disable System Restore (in Windows), (4) Remediate the infected systems, update the anti-malware software, scan the system, and use removal techniques (safe mode, pre-installation environment), (5) Schedule scans and run updates, (6) Enable System Restore and create a restore point (in Windows), and (7) Educate the end user.

Your company wants to provide a secure SSO solution for accessing both the corporate wireless network and its network resources. Which of the following technologies should be used?

RADIUS. (not- WPA2, WPS, WEP) Explanation: With RADIUS and SSO configured, users on the network can provide their user credentials one time (when they initial connect to the wireless access point or another RADIUS client) and they are automatically authenticated to all of the network's resources.

Users unable to access shared files that are placed on a new server?

Re-map them. Since the data is moved from one network share to another, the users will need to remap their network drive letters to the new file paths. If they are using the existing drive mapping, they will still be pointing to the old server (which no longer has the files and is presenting an "Access Denied" error message).

One of your Windows services is failing to start when you boot up your laptop. You have checked the service in the Windows Services tool and verified it is set to Automatic. What should you attempt to do NEXT to get the service to start up?

Reboot into safe mode and see if the service started. Windows Services are applications that typically start when the computer is booted and run quietly in the background until it is shut down. For the Windows operating system to run smoothly, it is imperative Windows Services start when they are required to. Many times, non-Microsoft services or Drivers can interfere with the proper function of System Services.

You are going to replace a power supply in a desktop computer. Which of the following actions should you take FIRST?

Remove jewelry.

Susan is installing several updates on a Windows computer. Nine of the updates installed without any issues, but one update produces an error and failed to install. Susan restarts the computer as part of the troubleshooting process and the computer automatically attempts to install the failed update again. Again, the update fails to install. What should Susan do NEXT?

Research the error number for the failed update and determine and determine if there's a known issue with this update. If an automated system update fails to install, you should research the error number for the failed update to determine if the issue is a known error. Based on the error code, you can then determine the best method to overcome the issue. For example, a common cause of errors is inadequate drive space on the hard disk. If a technician needs to determine how to best solve this issue, researching the error code at Microsoft.com can help.

A macOS user is browsing the internet on Google Chrome when they see a notification that says "Windows Enterprise Defender: Your computer is infected with a virus, please click here to remove it!" What type of threat is this user experiencing?

Rogue antivirus. Explanation: Rogue antivirus is a form of malicious software and Internet fraud that misleads users into believing there is a virus on their computer, and to pay money for a fake malware removal tool (that actually introduces malware to the computer). It is a form of scareware that manipulates users through fear, and a form of ransomware. Since the alert is being displayed on a macOS system but appears to be meant for a Windows system, it is obviously a scam or fake alert and most likely a rogue antivirus attempting to infect the system.

A computer is infected with a piece of malware that has infected the Windows kernel in an effort to hide itself. Which type of malware MOST likely infected this computer?

Rootkit. A rootkit is a clandestine computer program designed to provide continued privileged access to a computer while actively hiding its presence. A rootkit is generally a collection of tools that enabled administrator-level access to a computer or network. They can often disguise themselves from detection by the operating system and antimalware solutions. If a rootkit is suspected on a machine, it is best to reformat and reimage the system.

A Windows laptop is malfunctioning and you believe that some system files are missing or corrupted. Which of the following commands should you use to verify this and, if needed, repair the files?

SFC (system file checker)

Which attack method is MOST likely to be used by a malicious employee or insider who is trying to obtain another user's passwords?

Shoulder surfing. While all of the methods listed could be used by a malicious employee or insider to obtain another user's passwords, shoulder surfing is the MOST likely to be used. Shoulder surfing is a type of social engineering technique used to obtain information such as personal identification numbers (PINs), passwords and other confidential data by looking over the victim's shoulder. Since a malicious employee or insider can work in close proximity to their victims (other users), they could easily use this technique to collect the passwords of the victimized users.

What security method can you use? Using open network with unchanging devices.

Since the instructors need to keep the wireless network open, the BEST option is to implement MAC filtering to prevent the students from connecting to the network while still keeping the network open. Since the instructors would most likely use the same devices to connect to the network, it would be relatively easy to implement a MAC filtering based whitelist of devices that are allowed to use the open network and reject any other devices not listed by the instructors (like the student's laptops or phones). Reducing the signal strength would not solve this issue since students and instructors are both in the same classrooms. Using Network Address Translation and Quality of Service will not prevent the students from accessing or using the open network.

Maria is trying to log in to her company's webmail and is asked to enter her username and password. Which type of authentication method is Maria using?

Single factor. Single-factor authentication (SFA) is a process for securing access to a given system, such as a network or website, that identifies the party requesting access through only one category of credentials (something you know, something you have, something you are, or something you do). The most common example of single-factor authentication occurs when a user is prompted to enter their username and password in order to authenticate.

SSO

Single sign-on (SSO) is an authentication process that allows a user to access multiple applications with one set of login credentials. SSO is a common procedure in enterprises, where a client accesses multiple resources connected to a local area network (LAN).

A technician wants to conduct a vulnerability scan on a server every morning at 3:00 am. Which of the following tools should the technician use?

Task Scheduler. The Task Scheduler is a tool included with Windows that allows predefined actions to be automatically executed whenever a certain set of conditions is met. For example, you can schedule a task to run a backup script every night, or send you an e-mail whenever a certain system event occurs.

You are working for a government contractor who requires all users to use a PIV device when sending digitally signed and encrypted emails. Which of the following physical security measures is being implemented?

Smart card A smart card is used in applications that need to protect personal information and/or deliver fast, secure transactions, such as transit fare payment cards, government, and corporate identification cards, documents such as electronic passports and visas, and financial payment cards. Often, smart cards are used as part of a multifactor authentication system where the smart card and a PIN needs to be entered for system authentication to occur.

You are writing a script that will take an employee's name as the input. Which of the following data types would the employee's name be store in?

String Explanation: A string is a data type used in programming used to represent text rather than numbers. It is comprised of a set of characters that can also contain spaces and numbers. For example, the word "hamburger" and the phrase "I ate 3 hamburgers" are both strings.

Which of the following types of remote access technologies should NOT be used in a network due to its lack of security?

Telnet. Explanation: Telnet should not be used in a network due to its weak security posture. Telnet transmits all of the data in plain text (without encryption), including usernames, passwords, commands, and data files. For this reason, it should NEVER be used in a production networks and has been replaced by SSH in most corporate networks.

LTS

The LTS (Long-Term Support) release is well-supported and will be regularly updated by the Linux distribution to support new hardware, performance, and security improvements. These LTS releases are supported for a long time (approximately 10 years), so they are great to use in production systems like servers.

Your company has just installed a new proxy server and has asked you to configure all of the Windows workstations to use it. Which of the following Internet Options tabs in the Windows Control Panel should you configure?

The [Connections tab] in the Internet Options is used to set up the dial-up and VPN settings, as well as the LAN settings. Under the LAN settings, you can configure the proxy server settings for the system.

chmod (Linux command)

The chmod command is used to change the permissions of a file or directory from the command line or terminal. The chown command is used to change the owner of the file, but not its permissions. The sudo command allows a command to be executed as the super user (root) instead of as the current user. The pwd is used to display the path to the present working directory (current directory) to the terminal or display.

4 forms of regulated data

The four forms of regulated data covered by the CompTIA A+ (220-1002) exam are (1) PII (Personally Identifiable Information), (2) PCI (Payment Card Industry), (3) GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), and (4) PHI (Protected Health Information).

A customer is complaining that her laptop is too slow. You have thoroughly checked the device but cannot find anything wrong with it. Which of the following is the best thing to say NEXT?

The only option provided that follows these principles is to ask the customer a more clarifying, open-ended question.

How to test server backup method?

The only way to fully ensure that a backup will work when needed is to 'attempt, to restore the files from the backups. To do that, it is best to restore them to a 'test' server since this will not affect your production environment.

Minimum requirements: Windows 10 (64 bit)

Windows 10 (64-bit) minimum requirements: -1 GHz processor, -2 GB of RAM, and -at least 20 GB of hard drive space. Since the virtual machine only has 15 GB of hard drive space allocated, this is causing the errors with the installation and must be increased.

Why use a fingerprint 'lock' on a device?

This would ensure that only the user who owns the phone can unlock it since the swipe, PIN, or passcode lock could be compromised since they rely only on the knowledge of a secret pattern or code. By requiring a fingerprint, it ensures the user is present with the device in order to unlock it.

Which type of installation would require an answer file in order to install the operating system?

Unattended

What's a term for app collecting GPS data without your knowledge?

Unauthorized location tracking

What's the term for an unwelcomed device connecting to your phone vie Bluetooth? (Ex. Headphones)

Unintended Bluetooth pairing.

Connecting to office on public WiFi? What should you use?

VPN. Our goal is to connect remotely through a VPN to access the company's shared drive and shared resources. To do this, it is necessary to use a VPN connection. The VPN connection can be established over a wired, wireless, cellular, or dial-up connection, but without the VPN connectivity established Jason will be unable to access the corporate resources.

A customer brought in a computer that has been infected with a virus. You quarantined the system, disabled the system restore, and then perform the remediation to remove the malware. You have scanned the machine with several antivirus and antimalware programs and determined it is now cleaned of all of the malware. You attempt to test the web browsers again, but a small number of valid websites are still being redirected to a malicious website. Luckily, the updated antivirus you installed blocked any new malware from infecting the system. Which action should you perform NEXT to fix the virus issue?

Verify that the hosts.ini file has not been maliciously modified. Explanation: Browser redirection usually occurs if the browser's proxy is modified or the hosts.ini file is modified. If the redirection occurs only for a small number of sites or is occurring in all web browsers on a system, then it is most likely a maliciously modified hosts.ini file. The hosts.ini file is a local file that allows a user to specify specific domain names to map to particular addresses. It works like a very basic DNS server and can be used to redirect a system's internet connection. For example, if your children are overusing YouTube, you can change YouTube.com to resolve to YourSchool.edu for just your child's laptop.

Which of the following is the LEAST secure wireless security and encryption protocol?

WEP Explanation: Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a security protocol, specified in the IEEE Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) standard, 802.11b, that is designed to provide a wireless local area network (WLAN) with a level of security and privacy comparable to what is usually expected of a wired LAN. It is the oldest form of wireless security and the weakest form. WEP can be cracked with brute force techniques in less than 5 minutes with a normal end-user computer.

Why is WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) a bad security option nowadays?

WPS was created to ease the setup and configuration of new wireless devices by allowing the router to automatically configure them after a short eight-digit PIN was entered. Unfortunately, WPS is vulnerable to brute-force attack and is easily compromised. Therefore, WPS should be disabled on all wireless networks. If Bob was able to enter your apartment and press the WPS button, he could have configured his laptop to use your wireless network without your WPA2 password.

A cybersecurity analyst from BigCorp contacts your company to notify them that several of your computers were seen attempting to create a denial of service condition against their servers. They believe your company has become infected with malware and those machines were part of a larger botnet. Which of the following BEST describes your company's infected computers?

Zombie. A zombie is a computer connected to the Internet that has been compromised by a hacker, computer virus or trojan horse program and can be used to perform malicious tasks of one sort or another under remote direction. Botnets of zombie computers are often used to spread e-mail spam and launch denial-of-service attacks (DOS attacks).

Can't connect to VPN to access shared company documents?

an inactive VPN connection Explanation To connect from Bradley's home to the corporate internal network, Bradley would need to use a VPN connection. A VPN connection will create a secure tunnel from Bradley's laptop over the internet to the corporate internal network, which will make his laptop act as if he is connected directly to the office network. If the VPN connection is inactive, then Bradley's laptop is simply connecting directly to the internet and is then unable to access any of the company's internal network resources (like the network shares).

Which of the following command-line tools should you use to install a Group Policy (GPO) to all workstations across the network to disable the use of USB storage devices?

gpupdate

You are troubleshooting an issue with a Windows desktop and need to display the active TCP connections on the machine. Which of the following commands should you use?

netstat. The netstat command is used to display active TCP connections, ports on which the computer is listening, Ethernet statistics, the IP routing table, IPv4 statistics (for the IP, ICMP, TCP, and UDP protocols), and IPv6 statistics (for the IPv6, ICMPv6, TCP over IPv6, and UDP over IPv6 protocols) on a Windows machine. This is a useful command when trying to determine if any malware has been installed on the system and may be maintaining a remote connection with a command and control server.