CompTIA SY0-401 Free Practice Questions

Answer: C 

Explanation: 

One way to recover a user’s forgotten password on a password protected file is to guess it. A brute force attack is an automated attempt to open the file by using many different passwords. 

A brute force attack is a trial-and-error method used to obtain information such as a user password or personal identification number (PIN). In a brute force attack, automated software is used to generate a large number of consecutive guesses as to the value of the desired data. Brute force attacks may be used by criminals to crack encrypted data, or by security analysts to test an organization's network security. A brute force attack may also be referred to as brute force cracking. For example, a form of brute force attack known as a dictionary attack might try all the words in a dictionary. Other forms of brute force attack might try commonly-used passwords or combinations of letters and numbers. An attack of this nature can be time- and resource-consuming. Hence the name "brute force attack;" success is usually based on computing power and the number of combinations tried rather than an ingenious algorithm. 

Answer: D 

Explanation: 

Patch management is the process of maintaining the latest source code for applications and operating systems by applying the latest vendor updates. This helps protect a systems from newly discovered attacks and vulnerabilities. A part of patch management is testing the effects of vendor updates on a test system first to ensure that the updates do not have detrimental effects on the system, and, should the updates have no detrimental effects on the test systems, backing up the production systems before applying the updates on a production system. 

Answer: C 

Explanation: 

Answer: C 

Explanation: 

Answer: D 

Explanation: 

Ransomware is a type of malware which restricts access to the computer system that it infects, and demands a ransom paid to the creator(s) of the malware in order for the restriction to be removed. Some forms of ransomware encrypt files on the system's hard drive), while some may simply lock the system and display messages intended to coax the user into paying. Ransomware typically propagates as a trojan like a conventional computer worm, entering a system through, for example, a downloaded file or a vulnerability in a network service. The program will then run a payload: such as one that will begin to encrypt personal files on the hard drive. More sophisticated ransomware may hybrid-encrypt the victim's plaintext with a random symmetric key and a fixed public key. The malware author is the only party that knows the needed private decryption key. Some ransomware payloads do not use encryption. In these cases, the payload is simply an application designed to restrict interaction with the system, typically by setting the Windows Shell to itself, or even modifying the master boot record and/or partition table (which prevents the operating system from booting at all until it is repaired) 

Ransomware payloads utilize elements of scareware to extort money from the system's user. The payload may, for example, display notices purportedly issued by companies or law enforcement agencies which falsely claim that the system had been used for illegal activities, or contains illegal content such as pornography and pirated software or media. Some ransomware payloads imitate Windows’ product activation notices, falsely claiming that their computer's Windows installation is counterfeit or requires re-activation. These tactics coax the user into paying the malware's author to remove the ransomware, either by supplying a program which can decrypt the files, or by sending an unlock code that undoes the changes the payload has made. 

Answer: B 

Explanation: 

Explanation: 

Regarding digital security, the cryptological meaning and application of non-repudiation shifts to 

mean: 

*

 A service that provides proof of the integrity and origin of data. 

*

 An authentication that can be asserted to be genuine with high assurance. 

Answer: D 

Explanation: 

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a DoS attack from multiple computers whereas a DoS attack is from a single computer. In terms of the actual method of attack, DDoS and DoS attacks are the same. One common method of attack involves saturating the target machine with external communications requests, so much so that it cannot respond to legitimate traffic, or responds so slowly as to be rendered essentially unavailable. Such attacks usually lead to a server overload. A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack occurs when multiple systems flood the bandwidth or resources of a targeted system, usually one or more web servers. Such an attack is often the result of multiple compromised systems (for example a botnet) flooding the targeted system with traffic. When a server is overloaded with connections, new connections can no longer be accepted. The major advantages to an attacker of using a distributed denial-of-service attack are that multiple machines can generate more attack traffic than one machine, multiple attack machines are harder to turn off than one attack machine, and that the behavior of each attack machine can be stealthier, making it harder to track and shut down. These attacker advantages cause challenges for defense mechanisms. For example, merely purchasing more incoming bandwidth than the current volume of the attack might not help, because the attacker might be able to simply add more attack machines. This after all will end up completely crashing a website for periods of time. Malware can carry DDoS attack mechanisms; one of the better-known examples of this was MyDoom. Its DoS mechanism was triggered on a specific date and time. This type of DDoS involved hardcoding the target IP address prior to release of the malware and no further interaction was necessary to launch the attack. 

Answer: C 

Explanation: 

A virtual local area network (VLAN) is a hardware-imposed network segmentation created by switches. VLANs are used for traffic management. Communications between ports within the same VLAN occur without hindrance, but communications between VLANs require a routing function. 

Answer: C 

Explanation: 

False positives are essentially events that are mistakenly flagged and are not really events to be concerned about. This causes a significant administrative overhead because the reporting is what results in the false positives. 

Answer: D 

Explanation: 

Answer: B 

Explanation: 

SSH uses TCP port 22. All protocols encrypted by SSH, including SFTP, SHTTP, SCP, SExec, and slogin, also use TCP port 22. 

Answer: B 

Explanation: 

Data loss prevention (DLP) systems monitor the contents of systems (workstations, servers, and networks) to make sure that key content is not deleted or removed. They also monitor who is using the data (looking for unauthorized access) and transmitting the data. A USB presents the most likely device to be used to steal data because of its physical size. 

Answer: B 

Explanation: 

A host-based firewall is installed on a client system and is used to protect the client system from the activities of the user as well as from communication from the network or Internet. These firewalls manage network traffic using filters to block certain ports and protocols while allowing others to pass through the system. 

Answer: A 

Explanation: 

An armored virus is a type of virus that has been designed to thwart attempts by analysts from examining its code by using various methods to make tracing, disassembling and reverse engineering more difficult. An Armored Virus may also protect itself from antivirus programs, making it more difficult to trace. To do this, the Armored Virus attempts to trick the antivirus program into believing its location is somewhere other than where it really is on the system. 

Answer: B 

Explanation: 

Telnet is a terminal-emulation network application that supports remote connectivity for executing commands and running applications but doesn’t support transfer of fi les. Telnet uses TCP port 23. Because it’s a clear text protocol and service, it should be avoided and replaced with SSH.