Security Midterm
In a security review meeting, you proposed a demilitarized zone for one of your company's data centers. You were then asked to explain the objective of having a DMZ in the data centers. Which of the following should be your answer?
A DMZ will separate the secure facilities from unknown and potentially hostile outsiders.
Which of the following best describes a faraday cage?
A Faraday cage is an enclosure used to block electromagnetic fields.
Which of the following correctly differentiates between a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack and a man-in-the-browser (MITB)?
A MITM attack occurs between two endpoints, whereas a MITB attack occurs between a browser and underlying computer.
Which of the following is a characteristic of a potentially unwanted program (PUP)?
A PUP interferes and obstructs the user with web browsing and pop-up windows.
Ian, a systems administrator, was checking systems on Monday morning when he noticed several alarms on his screen. He found many of the normal settings in his computer and programs changed, but he was sure no one had physically entered his room since Friday. If Ian did not make these changes, which of the events below is the most likely reason for the anomalies?
A backdoor was installed previously and utilized over the weekend to access the computer and the programs.
Which of the following statements correctly describes the disadvantage of a hardware-based keylogger?
A hardware-based keylogger must be physically installed and removed without detection.
Which of the following best describes a mantrap?
A mantrap is a small space with two separate sets of interlocking doors.
Which of the following statements describe a quantum computer?
A quantum computer is a computer that relies on qubits that can be both 0 and 1 at the same time.
Which of the following is a characteristic of a vulnerability scan that is not a characteristic of a penetration test?
A vulnerability scan is usually automated.
Zero-day vulnerabilities and configuration vulnerabilities can heavily impact a system if exploited. How should you differentiate between a zero-day vulnerability and a configuration vulnerability?
A zero-day vulnerability is an unknown vulnerability in released software that is found and exploited by a threat actor, whereas a configuration vulnerability is caused by improper settings in hardware or software.
Wilson has requested your help to suggest an encryption method that will provide the highest security against attacks. Which encryption process should you suggest?
AES
Which of the following can be used to mitigate a limitation of public sharing centers in OSINT?
AIS
Which of the following is a layer 2 attack?
ARP poisoning
Which of the following mobile device features senses movements that it then uses to ensure the screen is always oriented upright?
Accelerometer
What are the primary features of a security information event management (SIEM) tool?
Aggregation, correlation, event deduplication, time synchronization, and alerting
You oversee your company's physical security, and you are asked to protect their CCTV cameras. The cameras are installed along the pathway, mounted on poles. They need protection from being physically handled by potential intruders. Which of the following fencing deterrents should you use?
Anti-climb collar
Sara is asked to create a controller for light sensors. When the light falls on the sensor, it needs to indicate when a particular object is moved from its original position. For this, she needs a credit card-sized motherboard with a microcontroller on it. Which option should she select?
Arduino
Which of the following devices is similar to Raspberry Pi?
Arduino
Which of the following is a major objective of packet analysis?
Assess and secure networks
Which cryptographic method should Susanne use to ensure that a document can be encrypted with a key and decrypted with a different key?
Asymmetric
John needs to add an algorithm for his company communication process, in which encryption uses two keys. One is the public key, and the other one is a private key. Which algorithm will be suitable to achieve this?
Asymmetric cryptographic
What is the primary goal of penetration testing?
Attempt to uncover deep vulnerabilities and then manually exploit them
You have been assigned to decide the process used for software application development at your company. Since the products need to be developed and deployed as each module is completed, you chose to go with agile application development. Your manager has requested you consider SecDevOps. Which of the following is a significant and key feature of using SecDevOps that can be considered for selecting this project's development model?
Automation
Which of the following sensors help generate security alerts to physicians regarding patient health?
BAN
Which of the following is an external perimeter defense method?
Barrier
Which of the following best describes bash?
Bash is a command language interpreter.
Which penetration testing consultants are not given any knowledge of the network nor any elevated privileges?
Black box
Which threat actors violate computer security for personal gain?
Black hat hackers
A new e-commerce startup with global operations is looking for a method to manage its supply-chain data for production. Instead of using bar codes, scanners, paper forms, and individual databases, making the system difficult to use, which method should be used to quickly track shipments?
Blockchain
Harry works at an automobile parts manufacturer. They sell these parts to retailers and deposit the proceeds in their bank. Using these funds, Harry pays the suppliers and employees. The Accounts Department maintains a ledger of all transactions of materials bought and sold. Similarly, the quality department and operations department also maintain a ledger of all transactions. Over the years, this process has become quite cumbersome, as growing data create confusion. Harry is looking at simplifying the process and has contacted you for a solution. Using which technology can this process be simplified and confusions avoided?
Blockchain
Dillip is assigned the role of a SOC developer who must build different teams under the SOC. He must build a new team that will put security defenses in place to prevent another team from penetrating the network. Which team should he build to monitor the other team's attacks and shore up security defenses as necessary?
Blue team
Japan's cybercrime control center noticed that around 200,000 Tokyo computers are infected by bots, and all these bots are remotely controlled by a single attacker. What is this attacker referred to as?
Bot herder
Jane, an IT security expert whose services are sought by XYZ Company, has recommended implementing CTR mode in the network. What is one requirement that needs to be fulfilled for computers to communicate when the CTR mode is implemented?
Both sender and receiver should have access to a counter.
Sigma Technology is a company based in Singapore, with branches in 24 countries. It needs multiple CAs in different locations to verify and sign digital certificates for the company. They are looking for an option where, even in the absence of a CA, other CAs can issue the certificates. Additionally, they are also looking for CAs who will overlook other CAs in different locations. In such a scenario, which PKI trust model should they use?
Bridge trust mode
Which threat actors sell their knowledge to other attackers or governments?
Brokers
Star Technology is working on a project that needs a communication mode specializing in encryption, where only authorized parties should understand the information. The company also requires accuracy, completeness, and reliability of data throughout the project. The company has contacted you for an ideal cipher mode solution without using a counter. Which mode should you suggest?
CBC
Which of the following is an example of a request forgery malware?
CSRF
While Andel is logging into his email through a browser, the login window disappears. Andel attempts to log in again and is successful. Days later, he goes to log into his email, and his attempt fails. He receives a message indicating that his username and/or password are invalid. What is Andel likely a victim of?
CSRF
Shanise is an IT security professional for a large private bank. She got an alert that the bank website received a funds transfer request that was correctly credentialed but flagged as being out of the account owner's usual pattern. If the alert is correct, what type of attack has likely occurred?
CSRF attack
In which of the following mobile device connectivity methods are transmitters connected through a mobile telecommunication switching office (MTSO) that controls all of the transmitters in the cellular network and serves as the link between the cellular network and the wired telephone world?
Cellular
Sigma solutions use hash algorithms in the communications between departments while transferring confidential files. A human resource employee informed you that one of the employees' salary statements sent from her end looks tampered with and requested your help. Which of the following tasks would enable you to identify whether the file is tampered with or not, and how will you make the determination?
Check the digest of the file with the original digest. If the values are different, it can be confirmed that the file has been tampered with.
A company has its network compromised. As an expert professional, the organization has hired you to identify the probable cause of the attack and fix it. As a security professional, you have noticed the pattern of compromise is unlike anything previously seen. You are looking to find new information on vulnerabilities like the attack that occurred. Which of the following actions would help achieve this objective?
Checking the dark web
Which of the following mobile device enterprise deployment models are implemented so that employees in an organization are offered a suite of security, reliability, and durability choices that the company has already approved?
Choose your own device (CYOD)
Zyan works for ABC Technology. The enterprise wants to provide smartphones to all its employees. They can choose from a limited list of approved mobile devices. But they need to pay for the device themselves. The company will pay them a monthly stipend. Which deployment method should Zyan suggest to meet his company's needs?
Choose your own device (CYOD)
Which of the following is a combination of encryption, authentication, and MAC algorithms, like a collection of instructions on securing a network?
Cipher suite
Wireless data networks are particularly susceptible to which type of attack?
Ciphertext attack
What is another term commonly used to define cross-site request forgery (CSRF):
Client-side request forgery
James is a black hat hacker employed as an authorized officer at Apple. He has credentials and signed a non-disclosure agreement to perform advanced penetration testing on the iOS 6.1.6 operating system, and has already gained low-level access to the mobile device using a backdoor. Which of the following actions should James take to design/create his own custom firmware to exploit underlying vulnerabilities and gain a higher level of access to a UNIX shell with root privileges, essentially allowing them to do anything on the device?
Clone and inherit the source code of the open-source software "P0sixspwn"
Which attack sees an attacker attempt to determine the hash function's input strings that produce the same hash result?
Collision attack
Which type of threat actor would benefit the most from accessing your enterprise's new machine learning algorithm research and development program?
Competitors
A learning management system application has been written in Python. While running the application code, the specific program or application that converts the program into machine language is called what?
Compiler
In an interview, the interviewer introduced the following scenario: An enterprise is hosting all its computing resources on a cloud platform, and you need to identify which vulnerability is most likely to occur. Which of the following should you choose?
Configuration vulnerability
Your company recently purchased routers with new and updated features and deployed them in the highly secure enterprise network without changing the default settings. A few days later, the enterprise network suffered a data breach, and you are assigned to prepare a report on the data breach. Which of the following vulnerabilities should you identify as the source of the breach?
Configuration vulnerability
Marcus is an information security architect at a product-based IT firm. He is responsible for developing policies for the most-secure mobile device enterprise-deploying model. The company will decide the level of choice and freedom for employees. Employees are supplied company-chosen and paid-for devices that they can use for both professional and personal activities. This action is performed under which enterprise deployment model?
Corporate-owned, personally enabled (COPE)
What is the primary difference between credentialed and non-credentialed scans?
Credentialed scans use valid authentication credentials to mimic threat actors, while non-credentialed scans do not provide authentication credentials.
Blockchain relies on which cryptographic algorithm to make it computationally infeasible to try to replace a block or insert a new block of information without the approval of all entities involved?
Cryptographic hash algorithms
ABC Enterprise is a global operation. As such, it needs to send regular, confidential messages and data between offices to communicate important market information, employee decisions, financial decisions, etc., for management consideration and senior-level decision making. Since these decisions impact the local employees and global businesses, they suspect that these data may be prone to attacks from threat actors internally and externally. While one of the senior systems administrators suggested implementing steganography to achieve this objective, the IT Department head at another branch suggested implementing cryptography. The management team has now called you for expert advice to select the best method to implement in the enterprise. What should your advice be, and why?
Cryptography should be implemented because it allows information to be viewed only by authorized users and checks whether the information has been altered or changed by anybody. It also makes the information unclear, even if other users see it. Cryptography is a more advanced technology than steganography. These features make cryptography the right choice for the enterprise to implement.
During an interview, you are provided the following scenario:The enterprise that you recently joined is using the ISP DNS server to resolve domain names. You are asked which specific attack will need to be mitigated first to secure the enterprise network. Which of the following attacks should you choose?
DNS hijacking
Tyler is a cybersecurity expert assigned to look after the security of a public DNS server. One day, during his usual inspection of the DNS server, he found that the DNS table has been altered, resulting in URL redirection for some users. What type of attack has Tyler discovered?
DNS hijacking
Which specific type of attack occurs when a threat actor redirects network traffic by modifying the local host file to send legitimate traffic anywhere they choose?
DNS poisoning
Which of the following is a state of data, where data is transmitted across a network?
Data in transit
John has been appointed as a product manager at a large mobile device manufacturing company. He is designing the core features included in their flagship mobile device that will be launched during the holiday shopping season. Which of the following features should he primarily include?
Data synchronization with a remote server or separate device
You are a security expert asked to protect the webservers hosted in your building from exposure to anyone other than server admins. Which of the following physical security method should you implement to achieve this?
Demilitarized zones
Sean is an information security architect at a financial firm. As his first project, he must design and build an efficient, sure-shot, yet cost-effective solution to detect and prevent bank credit card fraud. How should Sean proceed?
Design a solution that keeps track of dates, times, locations of transactions, and geolocation of the authorized cell phone. When a user makes a purchase at a store, the bank can immediately check that the cell phone and the bank card are in the same place. If they are, the purchase is considered legitimate. But if they are not, then the payment is rejected.
Which issue can arise from security updates and patches?
Difficulty patching firmware
Alex needs to find a method that can change a single character of plaintext into multiple characters of ciphertext. Which method should Alex use?
Diffusion
John and Sarah are working for Star Alliance. John had to send certain confidential data and messages to Sarah online. The use of which of the following will ensure that the message's sender is, in fact, John?
Digital certificate
Malik and Chris are shopping for shoes on an e-commerce website and need to enter their credit card details. Which of the following can assure them that they are using the retailer's authentic website and not an imposter's look-alike site that will steal their credit card details?
Digital certificate
John receives an encrypted document using asymmetric cryptography from Alex. Which process should Alex use along with asymmetric cryptography so that John can be sure that the received document is real, from Alex, and unaltered?
Digital signature algorithm
Which of the following is part of the OS security configuration?
Disabling default passwords and unnecessary ports
A company has multiple CAs and intermediate CAs issuing digital certificates in different departments, with no one cross-checking their work. Which PKI trust model should the company use?
Distributed trust model
Which of the following statements about domain reputation is correct?
Domain reputation will be low if the domain is used for distributing malware or launching attacks.
Which of the following is a physical social engineering technique?
Dumpster diving
Under which of the following modes does the ciphertext depend only on the plaintext and the key, independent of the previous ciphertext blocks?
ECB
ABC Enterprises plans to upgrade its internal confidential communication channel for the senior management team, which is geographically spread out, to enhance communication speed and security. They have decided to use cryptography to achieve this but can't decide on which model. The CEO has come to you for your suggestion on whether to use RSA or ECC. What should you recommend to the CEO, and why?
ECC, as it uses sloping curves to generate keys. This makes it very secure for smaller key sizes making it secure and the communication exchange extremely fast.
Which of the following is NOT an automated vulnerability scanning tool?
ELK Stack
What is meant by "the chain of trust" in boot security?
Each step in the boot sequence relies on the confirmation from the previous boot sequence step.
Which of the following is an attack vector used by threat actors to penetrate a system?
Which of the following is the most common method for delivering malware?
Which of the following is a process where a private key is split into two halves, encrypted, and stored separately for future use?
Escrow
You are a cyber forensic expert wanting to protect devices retrieved from a crime scene from being remotely wiped of evidence. Which of the following physical security equipment should you use so that inbound and outbound signals cannot be sent or received?
Faraday bags
Which of the following is physical security equipment for computer hardware?
Faraday cage
Amaya is looking for a hardware chip or integrated circuit (IC) that can be programmed by the user to carry out one or more logical operations, can be reprogrammed when needed, and can be configured by either the user or designer. Which option should Amaya select?
Field-programmable gate array (FPGA)
Which of the following is the most secure encryption solution to adopt for a Google Android mobile device?
File-based encryption
Which of the following is a feature of a fileless virus?
Fileless viruses are easy to detect.
Which cookie is created by the website a user is currently browsing to store the customer's browsing preference information?
First-party cookie
Why was the BIOS framework relocated to flash memory from a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) in later development?
Flash memory provides stability to the BIOS framework and makes update installation much easier than with CMOS.
What is NOT a principle of agile development?
Follow rigid sequential processes
Kile is assigned a role as a grey box penetration tester in the financial sector. He has to conduct a pen testing attack on all the application servers in the network. Which of the following tasks should he perform first while conducting a penetration testing attack on a network?
Footprinting
Which encryption method in BitLocker prevents attackers from accessing data by booting from another OS or placing the hard drive in another computer?
Full disk encryption
Makayla has created software for automating the accounting process at ABL Manufacturing. She completed the software development, with testing done during development at individual stages. Before putting the software into production, Mary, who is in charge of the testing software, ran the application using tools and generated a report giving the various inputs and corresponding exceptions generated by the application. What process did Mary use?
Fuzzing
You have been asked to implement a block cipher mode of operation that requires both the sender and receiver of the message to have access to a synchronous counter that adds an AAD to the transmission. Which operating block cipher mode should you use?
GCM
Which of the following sets only lists additional features of a mobile device or a computing device?
Global positioning system (GPS), microphone and/or digital camera, wireless cellular connection for voice communications, wireless personal area network interfaces such as Bluetooth or near-field-communications (NFC), removable storage media
Which of the following penetration testing consultants have limited knowledge of the network and some elevated privileges?
Gray box
Photoplethysmography uses which type of light to measure heart rate on a wearable device?
Green
Which endpoint application runs on an endpoint device that only detects an attack in an endpoint device?
HIDS
Your enterprise has played fast and loose with customer information for years. While there has been no significant breach of information that could damage the organization and/or their customers, many in the enterprise feel it is only a matter of time before a major leak occurs. Which type of threat actor is an employee who wishes to personally ensure that the enterprise is exposed and blocked from accessing their customers' information until they ensure more secure protocols?
Hacktivist
A federal appeals court recently made a judgment that caused significant public outrage. Soon after the ruling, the court's website was hacked, and the content was replaced with the text "Equal justice for all." Which of the following type of threat actors attacked the court's site?
Hacktivists
Hacktivists and state actors are huge threats to government systems. What is the main difference between hacktivists and state actors?
Hacktivists misuse a computer system or network for socially or politically motivated reasons, whereas state actors are covertly sponsored by a government to attack its foes.
Which of the following is considered an industry-specific cybersecurity regulation?
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
While going through the network log, Sarah, a network security administrator, noticed substantial outbound network traffic. Which activity did Sarah perform?
IOC
Which of the following protocols is embedded in a computer's operating system or communication hardware to secure internet communications?
IPsec
XYZ University wants to set up a VPN network to connect to the internet and ensure that all their data is safe. They have asked you to recommend the correct communication protocol to use. Which of the following protocols should you recommend and why?
IPsec, because it authenticates that the packets received were sent from the source and ensures that no other party can view the contents. It manages the keys to ensure that they are not intercepted or used by unauthorized parties.
An unauthorized person recently accessed your enterprise network. The security team had received a call from the threat actor claiming to be a higher official. They followed the attacker's instructions to log them onto a specific webpage, leading to the exposure of enterprise network credentials. Which of the following social engineering techniques was used here?
Impersonation and phishing
What additional measure should be enacted to increase the security on a computer network after secure boot, protective measures from attacks like antimalware, and intrusion detection systems are implemented in all the computers on the network?
Implement hardening at endpoints with patch management and operating system safeguards
An organization is planning a revamp of the existing computer hardware with new ones. The IT manager has informed department heads that some computers have faced BIOS attacks in the past. He has requested help in preventing future BIOS attacks. As an expert, which of these solutions can you use to effectively improve boot security when the new computers are implemented in the network?
Implement measured boot with UEFI
John is asked to design a specialized device that does not have any security features but operates on the basis of trust that assumes all other devices or users can be trusted. Which security constraint for the embedded system should John use?
Implied trust
Which of the following describes a memory leak attack?
In a memory leak attack, the threat actor takes advantage of the programming error of not freeing the memory after executing a process, taking advantage of the device's low memory conditions to attack.
Threat actors focused on financial gain often attack which of the following main target categories?
Individual users
In which of the following mobile device connectivity methods are light waves used as a communication channel?
Infrared
Jordan has been asked by his organization to help them choose a mobile device communication channel for their new mobile device build. Which of the following mobile device communication channels should Jordan NOT suggest to his company?
Infrared
How can a configuration review reduce the impact of a vulnerability scan on the network's overall performance?
It ensures the scan is designed to meet its intended goals by defining scope and sensitivity levels.
Which of the following is a disadvantage of the secure boot process?
It makes third party non-vendor-approved software difficult to implement.
A company monitors the network activity of the organization and stores the logs in a database. You have been asked to identify whether there are any malicious activities in the network. Which of the following can denote the upper and lower bounds of their various network activities?
KRI
Kate decides to download an extension to her favorite browser to quickly store links on her spreadsheet software. While downloading the software, she ignores the opt-out check box that allows the extension to download a search toolbar. What has occurred here?
Kate has installed a potentially unwanted program (PUP).
Kia recently noticed that when she browses her favorite online shopping site, she is immediately redirected to a competitor's site. What is happening here, and what is the best option for Kia to fix this situation?
Kia must uninstall the toolbar software and the accompanying components she has recent installed on her browser.
Which of the following computing platforms is highly vulnerable to attacks?
Legacy
Which of the following types of platforms is known for its vulnerabilities due to age?
Legacy Platform
Terrence, an executive VP of IT at Sigma Bank, noticed that yesterday, there was a major attack on several thousands of bank employees' computers located at geographically different locations where files and data from the computers got deleted. It was also noticed that several confidential files containing customer data were deleted from the bank's server in multiple locations, and the CEO's emails were deleted from the mail server. Since the bank was compliant with cybersecurity measures, Terrence suspects an internal hand in this activity. While going through the records of all employees working in the IT security of the bank, both past and present, he notices that there is an employee, Chris, who has enough experience to launch this attack, was unhappy with his annual review last year, and had left the bank three months ago. If Terrence were able to single Chris out as the one responsible for the attack, what kind of an attack would this be?
Logic-bomb
Alice, a vulnerability assessment engineer at a bank, is told to find all the vulnerabilities on an internet-facing web application server running on port HTTPS. When she finishes the vulnerability scan, she finds several different vulnerabilities at different levels. How should she proceed?
Look at the priority and the accuracy of the vulnerability
Which of the following is a process where a key is divided into a specific number of parts and distributed to multiple people, with some of them having the same parts of the key?
M-of-N control
Max found someone is impersonating him after discovering that data sent to him was always being received by someone else in his enterprise network. He informed the network administrator about the issue. While inspecting the switch, the administrator discovered that the threat actor was another employee at the same enterprise. As a senior security consultant, which of the following attacks should you mention in the charge sheet?
MAC cloning attack
Which of the following tools allow a mobile device to be managed remotely by an organization and typically involve a server sending out management commands to mobile devices?
MDM
Walter's organization is in the beginning stages of a new project. His team is tasked with finding a tool that must have the following features, allowing it to be remotely managed by the organization: 1. It must be able to apply default device settings. 2. It must be able to approve or quarantine new mobile devices. 3. It must be able to configure emails, calendars, contacts, and Wi-Fi profile settings. 4. It must be able to detect and restrict jailbroken and rooted devices. Which tool should Walter's team suggest, and why?
MDM, because it allows remote management and over the air updates
In an interview, you are given the following scenario: David sent a message to Tina saying, "There is no school today!" For some reason, the message showed up on Tina's device as, "Come to the school ASAP!" You (the candidate) are asked to name the type of attack that would cause this situation. Which of the following should you identify?
MITM
Which of the following is a subset of artificial intelligence?
Machine learning
A company has approached you for their product testing, and you agree to do it. First, you have to install the necessary plugins for the software through the browser, install the software, and run the software again. What procedure should you adopt to ensure that you don't compromise the browser and the computer's operating system?
Making sure that the OS's security options are deployed, run the antivirus/antispyware on the files downloaded, run the software on HSTS/HTTPS mode, and then send a secure cookie to the server.
Dan uses his personal laptop for writing the script for an upcoming high-budget, highly anticipated movie. To keep the script private, he decided not to connect his laptop to any network and updated his system with the latest virus definitions and security patches. Which of the following is Dan's laptop still vulnerable to?
Malicious USB
Which one of the following is the most appropriate explanation of photoplethysmography?
Measuring heart rate by tracking changes in green light absorption, since human blood absorbs green light
Which of the following offensive tools can be used by penetration testers post-exploitation or successful compromise of a user account in a network that dumps passwords from memory and hashes, PINs, and Kerberos tickets, and thus are used for privilege escalation attacks?
Mimikatz and hashcat
Spectrum Technologies uses SHA 256 to share confidential information. The enterprise reported a breach of confidential data by a threat actor. You are asked to verify the cause of the attack that occurred despite implementing secure cryptography in communication. Which type of attack should you consider first, and why?
Misconfiguration attack; the company should have configured a higher security hash algorithm rather than using the less-secure SHA 256.
Keily is a vulnerability assessment engineer. She is told to find surface vulnerabilities on all internet-facing web servers in the network. Which of the following are surface vulnerabilities that she should initially chase?
Missing patches, lack of OS hardening, network design flaw, lack of application hardening, weak passwords, and misconfigurations
Which of the following tools can be used to scan 16 IP addresses for vulnerabilities?
Nessus Essentials
What is the fastest-running vulnerability scan, and why does this type of scan run so fast?
Non-credentialed scans perform fundamental actions such as looking for open ports and finding software that will respond to requests.
A manager working in ABC Consulting shared a list of employees from his team who were eligible for an extra week off. Later, he claimed that he has never shared this list. Which principle or functionality of a secured communication can be used to substantiate or verify the manager's claim?
Nonrepudiation
Which feature of cryptography is used to prove a user's identity and prevent an individual from fraudulently reneging on an action?
Nonrepudiation
What is the secure coding technique that organizes data within the database for minimum redundancy?
Normalization
Alliance Consulting, a company based in France, is shutting down. Louis, the owner of the company, applied to revoke his digital certificate. He is very busy with the other details of shutting the company down and needs to be able to check the certificate's status quickly and easily. Which of the following will help him get a real-time lookup of the certificate's status?
OCSP
Which characteristic of cryptography makes information obscure or unclear, and by which the original information becomes impossible to be determined?
Obfuscation
Simon is working in a telecom firm. Being an HOD, he was asked to suggest a lock pattern for their mobile devices with the following features: The device should have a prerecord of its user's walking and other body movement patterns, and on sensing any change in the regular movements, should be able to lock the device. Which lock pattern should Simon suggest?
On-body detection
Sheena wants to make sure that her browser activity is safe and prevent others from intercepting her data as it is transmitted over the browser. What should Sheena do to achieve this objective?
Only visit websites that are hosted over HTTPS or HSTS
Which of the following uses hardware encryption technology to secure stored data and ensures the inseparability of SEDs among vendors?
Opal
Which of the following techniques is a method of passive reconnaissance?
Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)
You are a security administrator asked to create a certificate signing request (CSR) to secure your enterprise's website. Which of the following tools should you use to accomplish this?
OpenSSL
Which of the following compliance standards was introduced to provide a minimum degree of security to organizations who handle customer information such as debit card and credit card details daily?
PCIDSS
Which of the following is defined as a structure for governing all the elements involved in digital certificate management?
PKI
Which of the following is used to create a sequence of numbers whose output is close to a random number?
PRNG
What is an officially released software security update intended to repair a vulnerability called?
Patch
Which of the following is the advantage of penetration testing over vulnerability scanning?
Penetration testing uncovers and exploits deep vulnerabilities, while vulnerability scanning only discovers surface vulnerabilities.
John is a project manager with an IT firm, and his current project of developing an ERP application is in the development stage. Currently, the application is not yet mature or stable enough to be placed in a test environment. Which of the following secure coding review techniques is applicable for his project?
Perform static code analysis
Social engineering is a means of eliciting information by relying on the weaknesses of individuals. How should you differentiate between the social engineering techniques of phishing and pharming?
Phishing involves sending an email message or displaying a web announcement that falsely claims to be from a legitimate enterprise, whereas pharming is a redirection technique that attempts to exploit how a URL is converted into its corresponding IP.
Peter is a design engineer at a mobile device manufacturing company. He is designing the core components included in their flagship mobile device being launched during year-end 2020. Peter wants to design a tablet component that would detect vibrations and movements and determine the device's orientation so that the screen image is always displayed upright. Which of the following are materials he should use for developing this component?
Piezoelectric, piezoresistive, and capacitive components
You work for an enterprise that provides various cybersecurity services. You are assigned to examine an enterprise's network and suggest security measures modifications, if necessary. On examining the network, you find that the enterprise hosts most of its computing resources on a cloud platform and few resources on-premises, and both seem to have secure settings implemented. You also find that the enterprise computers use the Windows XP operating system. Which of the following vulnerabilities should you insist on fixing first?
Platform vulnerability
Which of the following is a social engineering method that attempts to influence the subject before the event occurs?
Prepending
Which of the following can prevent macros attacks?
Protected view
Khalid joins a security team where he is assigned an SOC developer role and has to build different teams under SOC. Which of the following teams should he build to deal with providing real-time feedback related to security incidents and threat detections, which can then be utilized to facilitate better prioritization of threats and a mature way of detecting threats?
Purple team
Which unit is used by quantum computers, making them faster and more efficient than normal computers?
Qubit
Which of the following is a form of malware attack that uses specialized communication protocols?
RAT
Kainat is asked to suggest a cipher in which the entire alphabet is rotated (as in, A=N, B=O), making it difficult to identify. Which cipher should she suggest?
ROT13
What does ransomware do to an endpoint device?
Ransomware attacks the endpoint device holding it hostage by preventing it from functioning unless the user fulfills the ransom payment demanded.
Fatima is responsible for conducting business transactions for XYZ Company, and she only had the stored private key. She is on leave and currently unavailable, and the organization needs to complete an urgent business transaction. Which of the following methods should enable the organization to access Fatima's private key and digital certificate?
Recovery
What type of attack occurs when the threat actor snoops and intercepts the digital data transmitted by the computer and resends that data, impersonating the user?
Replay
Which standardized framework was developed by NIST to be used as a guidance document designed to help organizations assess and manage risks to their information and systems, and are also used as a comprehensive roadmap that organizations can use to seamlessly integrate their cybersecurity?
Risk management framework (RMF)
Robert is a black box penetration tester who conducted pen testing attacks on all of the network's application servers. He was able to exploit a vulnerability and gain access to the system using a mimikatz tool. Which of the following activities did he perform using mimikatz, and which task should he perform next?
Robert used mimikatz for credential harvesting, and should perform privilege escalation using a high-privileged account next.
Ronald is a software architect at MindSpace Software. He has been approached to develop a critical application for a finance company. The company has asked him to ensure that the employed coding process is secure. They have also requested that the project be completed in a few months, with a minimum version of the identified functionalities provided. The other functionalities can be developed later and added to the software while the application is live. Which development process would be ideal for Ronald to employ to achieve this objective?
Ronald can employ the SecDevOps model to meet the requirements of the client.
Which of the following digital certificates are self-signed and do not depend on the higher-level certificate authority (CA) for authentication?
Root digital certificates
Which type of malware can hide its agenda inside other processes, making it undetectable, and what is it usually used for?
Rootkit, a malware that uses the lower layers of the operating system or undocumented functions to make alterations to the operating system's processes
Sarah needs to send an email with important documents to her client. Which of the following protocols ensures that the email is secure?
S/MIME
Which of the following devices can perform cryptographic erase?
SED
Which of the following technologies can be used together for data management in security infrastructure and collecting and analyzing data.
SIEM and SOAR
A web application with an SQL server database is found to be compromised by an attacker. On examination, the email IDs of the database have been found modified. This was due to improper validation in the input fields exploited by the attacker.What is the probable attack in the above scenario?
SQL Injection
Amtel University decides to keep a record of their student data in a backup server. The administrator contacts you to identify the right command interface protocol to be used in this. Which command interface protocol should you advise?
SSH
Which of the following is a Linux/UNIX-based command interface and protocol?
SSH
Which of the following protocols can be used as a tool for secure network backups?
SSH
During an investigation, it was found that an attacker did the following: Intercepted the request from the user to the server and established an HTTPS connection between the attacker's computer and the server while having an unsecured HTTP connection with the user. This gave the attacker complete control over the secure webpage. Which protocol helped facilitate this attack?
SSL
Which of the following is the earliest and most general cryptographic protocol?
SSL
Which of the following terms best describes the process in which a user believes that the browser connection they are using is secure and the data sent is encrypted when in reality, the connection is insecure, and the data is sent in plaintext?
SSL stripping
What is the name of the process where a website validates user input before the application uses the input?
Sanitizing
A cyber analyst needs to quickly do a vulnerability scan on an enterprise network with many devices. Which approach should the analyst take?
Scan the most important devices for as long as it takes for each device
In cybersecurity, a threat actor is an individual or an entity responsible for cyber incidents against the technical equipment of enterprises and users. How should you differentiate an attack by a script kiddie from that of a gray hat hacker?
Script kiddies use automated attack software created by other hackers for personal gain, whereas gray hat hackers create their own attack software to showcase vulnerabilities present in a system to the world.
What is meant by "infrastructure as code" in SecDevOps?
SecDevOps method of managing software and hardware using principles of developing code
Which of the following sets consists of only the core features of a mobile or computing device?
Small form factor, mobile operating system, wireless data network interface for internet access, app stores, local non-removable data storage
Smitha, an employee working in the accounts department, reported to the information security officer that she could not access her computer. James, the security officer, noticed the following on Smitha's system: On booting the computer, the following message was flashing on the computer screen with the IRS logo:" This computer is locked by the Internal Revenue Service. It has come to our attention that you are transferring funds to other agencies using this computer without compliance with the local income tax laws. As per section 22 of the U.S. Income Tax Act, the transmission of funds without applicable taxes is prohibited. Your IP address is identified in this fraudulent transaction and is locked to prevent further unlawful activities. This offense attracts a penalty of $400.00 for the first offense. You are hereby given 16 hours to resolve this issue, failing which you shall be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. You may make a secure payment by clicking on the following link. If you face any issues, you may reach out to us at [email protected]."The message will not close, nor is there access to applications or files on the computer; however, James can open shared files and folders on Smitha's computer through the network. What is your inference about the problem faced by Smitha on her computer?
Smitha's computer is compromised by ransomware.
Daniel accidentally installed a vulnerable application. Which of the following system exploitations would NOT be caused by the vulnerable application?
Social engineering and phishing attacks
What is a variation of a common social engineering attack targeting a specific user?
Spear phishing
Which attack embeds malware-distributing links in instant messages?
Spim
Over the last few days, several employees in your enterprise reported seeing strange messages containing links in their company's IM account. Even though no one has clicked on the messages, they are spreading throughout the network. Which type of malicious activity is this?
Spimming
Which function in cryptography takes a string of any length as input and returns a string of any requested variable length?
Sponge
Which algorithm encrypts and decrypts data using the same key?
Symmetric cryptographic algorithm
Which of the following uses vulnerable applications to modify Microsoft registry keys?
System tampering
Which of the following protocols are used to secure HTTP?
TLS and SSL
What is a risk to data when training a machine learning (ML) application?
Tainted training data for machine learning
Which alert utility can identify theft in a smart meter?
Tamper protection
Which of the following correctly differentiates between Tcpreplay and Tcpdump?
Tcpdump can only be used to analyze the packets, whereas Tcpreplay can analyze, edit, and load the edited packet back to the network.
Alpha Tech started a charitable competition in which every team is asked to submit a proposal for a public health contract asking for a new viral transmission mitigation app. Which team has selected the correct option?
Team B has selected BAN.
Which of the following sensors is best suited for fire detection?
Temperature detection sensor
Which of the following are categories of vulnerabilities in mobile device connections that can also be exploited by threat actors?
Tethering, USB-on-the-go (OTG), malicious USB cable, hotspots
Which of the following describes the action of an SQL injection into a database server?
The SQL injection inserts specially created structured query language statements to manipulate the database server, giving control of the database to the attacker, who can then manipulate the database.
Natasha, a network security administrator for an online travel portal, noticed that her website was the victim of an SQL injection. She decided to study the SQL queries to find which one made this vulnerability in the database, and she noticed the following SQL code piece executed on the database: 'whatever' AND email IS NULL; What has been accessed by the attacker running this SQL injection?
The attacker has determined the names of different types of fields in the database.
An attacker has changed the value of a variable used when copying files from one cloud server to a local drive. What is the most likely motive behind the attack?
The attacker is using an integer overflow attack to initiate a buffer overflow that can allow them to take over the machine.
ABC Technologies had its computer network compromised through a cybersecurity breach. A cybersecurity expert was employed to analyze and identify what caused the attack and the damage caused by the attack. He checked an available database for this purpose and found the threat actor behind the attack. He also found out the cybercriminal has been attempting to sell the company's valuable data on the internet. Which are the most probable methods used by the cybersecurity expert to get to this stage of the investigation?
The cybersecurity expert checked with CISCP and also investigated the dark web.
Which of the following is a primary difference between a red team and a white team?
The red team scans for vulnerabilities and exploits them manually, whereas the white team defines the rules of the penetration testing.
Robert has two cryptographic keys, and he needs to determine which of them is less prone to being attacked. The cryptoperiod is limited and equal for both the keys. The first key has a length of 2 and uses 16 characters, while the other key has a length of 3 and uses 15 characters. Which of the following is the best conclusion for Robert to come to?
The second key is more secure than the first key.
A few computers at a high-security software firm location have been compromised. The threat actor took user videos, confidential information like bank account IDs and passwords, email IDs and passwords, and computer screenshots. These confidential data have been shared every three hours from the computers to the threat actor. Which of the following is correct, based on the evaluation of the above observation?
This is a software keylogger attack, as screenshots, video captures, and keystrokes have been routinely monitored and periodically shared.
The files in James's computer were found spreading within the device without any human action. As an engineer, you were requested to identify the problem and help James resolve it. During file code inspection, you noticed that certain types of files in the computer have similar codes. You found that the problem is coming from a set of codes that are not part of the actual files, appended at the bottom of the file. You also noticed a transfer control code written at the beginning of the files giving control to the code at the bottom of the file. Which type of infection is this a characteristic of?
This is a typical characteristic of an endpoint device infected with a file-based virus attack.
Zeda Corporation provides online training solutions to global customers. To provide e-learning solutions, it integrates with multiple vendor platforms. This ensures seamless transfer to multiple operators' solutions through sign on. Joe, an IT security administrator, noticed that a threat actor has attacked the platform and stolen the user data. The source of this vulnerability was identified as one of the integrated external applications. What type of attack is this?
This is an API attack.
Which operation is carried out by proactively searching security logs for cyber threats that have thus far gone undetected.
Threat hunting
Which of the following best describes trusted location in MS Office?
Trusted location allows you to run macros-enabled files with no security restrictions.
Which encryption is a chip on the motherboard of a computer that provides cryptographic services?
Trusted platform module
Samira is developing a virtual private chat application for ABC Consulting. The following are requirements provided by the organization while making the application:1. All the communications should happen within the same network, host-to-host.2. The information shared through this app should be kept confidential. Hence, the whole IP packet should be encrypted, giving access to only authorized personnel. 3. There should be a private network for host-to-host communication Which of the following modes should Sara consider for encryption in this project?
Tunnel mode
Which of following is a characteristic of electronic code book (ECB) mode?
Two identical plaintext blocks are encrypted into two identical ciphertext blocks, making them susceptible to attacks.
Several websites use URLs similar to one of the most globally popular websites, attempting to attract traffic if a user misspells the popular website's URL. What is this social engineering technique called?
Typo squatting
Which encryption device you can use that has the following features? 1. It should allow administrators to remotely prohibit accessing the data on a device until it can verify the user status. 2. It can lock user access completely or even instruct the drive to initiate a self-destruct sequence to destroy all data.
USB device encryption
Which of the following vulnerabilities involves connecting a flash drive infected with malware to a mobile device?
USB-on-the-go (OTG)
Which of the following provides confidentiality services?
Unauthentication mode
Kelly is asked to choose a mobile management tool that provides a single management interface for all applications, content, and device management. Which of the following is the best one-step solution?
Unified environment management (UEM) tool
Alex is working for Alpha Technology as a system administrator. The enterprise's sales team uses multiple external drives, often containing confidential data, that they carry between their offices and their clients' offices. What should Alex do to ensure that data is secure if it is stolen or lost, and why?
Use encrypted USBs in the enterprise because they automatically encrypt the information and give Alex remote access to the drive to monitor and disable the user.
A vulnerability assessment engineer performed vulnerability scanning on active directory servers and discovered that the active directory server is using a lower version of Kerberos. To alert management to the risk behind using a lower version of Kerberos, he needs to explain what an attacker can do to leverage the vulnerabilities in it. Which of the following actions can the attacker perform after exploiting vulnerabilities in Kerberos?
Use privilege escalation
Maze must establish a communication channel between two data centers. After conducting a study, she came up with the idea of establishing a wired connection between them since they have to communicate in unencrypted form. Considering the security requirements, Maze proposed using an alarmed carrier PDS over a hardened carrier PDS. Why would Maze make this suggestion in her proposal?
Using a hardened carrier PDS would require someone to conduct periodic visual inspections.
What is the most accurate explanation of sentiment analysis, and what kind of a tool or product can be utilized to perform this operation?
Using text analysis techniques and IBM QRadar to interpret and classify emotions (positive, negative, and neutral) within text data
Which of the following best describes VBA?
VBA is an event-driven programming language.
Anola is the security administrator in XYZ consulting. She is asked to suggest a deployment method where the data is stored in a completely secure, centralized server and accessed by authorized employees using their own devices. Which deployment should Anola choose?
Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)
Juan, a cybersecurity expert, has been hired by an organization whose networks have been compromised by a malware attack. After analyzing the network systems, Juan submits a report to the company mentioning that the devices are infected with malware that uses a split infection technique on files. Which malware attack is Juan reporting?
Virus
Your enterprise experienced several technical issues over the last few days. There were multiple instances of passwords needing to be changed and other issues causing downtime. Management has started receiving voicemails regarding fraudulent activities on their accounts. While the voicemails sound authentic, the help desk concludes that they are fake. What type of malicious activity will this be considered?
Vishing
There is often confusion between vulnerability scanning and penetration testing. What is the best explanation of the difference between vulnerability scanning and penetration testing?
Vulnerability scanning is performed using an automated tool to scan a network for known vulnerability signatures. Penetration testing involves attempting to manually uncover deep vulnerabilities just as a threat actor would, and then exploiting them.
Which of the following is the most efficient means of discovering wireless signals?
War flying
In an application development model, which of the following uses a sequential development process?
Waterfall development
Attackers have taken over a site commonly used by an enterprise's leadership team to order new raw materials. The site is also visited by leadership at several other enterprises, so taking this site will allow for attacks on many organizations. Which type of malicious activity is this?
Watering hole
Which of the following is a configuration vulnerability?
Weak encryption
Your company is considering updating several electronic devices used in the enterprise network. The third-party service provider that your company approached says that they require access to the enterprise network in order to implement the updates. As the chief information security officer, you are asked to analyze the requirement and submit a report on potential vulnerabilities when giving a third-party access to the network. Which of the following vulnerabilities should you list as the most likely to affect the enterprise network?
Weakest link
William downloaded some free software to help him with photo editing. A few days later, William noticed several personal photographs were modified and posted to various social media pages with obscene comments. He also noticed that there were videos of him that were morphed and circulated on adult websites. The videos were obviously taken using his webcam. What should William do to fix his problem and prevent it from happening again in the future?
William should run an antimalware program and scan for all known RATs, then quarantine and remove the infected file(s). To prevent this in the future, he should only download software from trusted websites.
What is the inbuild application available to prevent threat actors from modifying the registry in a Windows 10 operating system?
Windows 10 tamper protection
A cybercriminal attempts to trick a computer's user into sharing their personal information by implementing content to discreetly capture user information over the actual webpage. What should the user implement to avoid this situation?
X-Frame
Which HTTP response header should be used to prevent attackers from displaying their content on a website?
X-Frame-Option
Which of the following is a standard format for digital certificates?
X.509
Your enterprise is hosting a web app that has limited security. As a security administrator, you are asked to take appropriate measures to restrict threat actors from hijacking users' sessions. Which of the following is the most appropriate action for you to take?
You should implement cryptography using OpenSSL.
A machine where the operating system runs an application on top of an operating system is called _______.
a virtual machine
In an interview, you are asked to change the permissions of a file on a Linux system so that the file can only be accessed by its owner. Which of the following tools should you use?
chmod
In an interview, you are asked to configure a DNS server on a Linux machine. After successfully configuring the DNS server, you are asked to examine it using a client machine. After changing the nameserver of the client's machine to a newly created server, which of the following commands should you run to validate the DNS server to ensure it is working properly?
dig www.google.com
Which of the following is a third-party network analysis tool?
nmap
A source computer's ability to reach a specified destination computer can be tested using which of the following?
ping
