Q1. Which of the following MUST Matt, a security administrator, implement to verify both the integrity and authenticity of a message while requiring a shared secret?
A. RIPEMD
B. MD5
C. SHA
D. HMAC
Answer: D
Explanation:
HMAC (Hash-Based Message Authentication Code) uses a hashing algorithm along with a symmetric key. The hashing function provides data integrity, while the symmetric key provides authenticity.
Q2. A security administrator is auditing a database server to ensure the correct security measures are in place to protect the data. Some of the fields consist of people's first name, last name, home address, date of birth and mothers last name. Which of the following describes this type of data?
A. PII
B. PCI
C. Low
D. Public
Answer: A
Explanation:
Q3. Several bins are located throughout a building for secure disposal of sensitive information.
Which of the following does this prevent?
A. Dumpster diving
B. War driving
C. Tailgating
D. War chalking
Answer: A
Explanation:
The bins in this question will be secure bins designed to prevent someone accessing the ‘rubbish’ to learn sensitive information. Dumpster diving is looking for treasure in someone else's trash. (A dumpster is a large trash container.) In the world of information technology, dumpster diving is a technique used to retrieve information that could be used to carry out an attack on a computer network. Dumpster diving isn't limited to searching through the trash for obvious treasures like access codes or passwords written down on sticky notes. Seemingly innocent information like a phone list, calendar, or organizational chart can be used to assist an attacker using social engineering techniques to gain access to the network. To prevent dumpster divers from learning anything valuable from your trash, experts recommend that your company establish a disposal policy where all paper, including print-outs, is shredded in a cross-cut shredder before being recycled, all storage media is erased, and all staff is educated about the danger of untracked trash.
Q4. Which of the following best practices makes a wireless network more difficult to find?
A. Implement MAC filtering
B. UseWPA2-PSK
C. Disable SSID broadcast
D. Power down unused WAPs
Answer: C
Explanation:
Network administrators may choose to disable SSID broadcast to hide their network from unauthorized personnel. However, the SSID is still needed to direct packets to and from the base station, so it’s a discoverable value using a wireless packet sniffer. Thus, the SSID should be disabled if the network isn’t for public use.
Q5. A recent audit has discovered that at the time of password expiration clients are able to recycle the previous credentials for authentication. Which of the following controls should be used together to prevent this from occurring? (Select TWO).
A. Password age
B. Password hashing
C. Password complexity
D. Password history
E. Password length
Answer: A,D
Explanation:
D: Password history determines the number of previous passwords that cannot be used when a user changes his password. For example, a password history value of 5 would disallow a user from changing his password to any of his previous 5 passwords.
A: When a user is forced to change his password due to a maximum password age period expiring, he could change his password to a previously used password. Or if a password history value of 5 is configured, the user could change his password six times to cycle back round to his original password. This is where the minimum password age comes in. This is the period that a password must be used for. For example, a minimum password age of 30 would determine that when a user changes his password, he must continue to use the same password for at least 30 days.
Q6. DRAG DROP
A forensic analyst is asked to respond to an ongoing network attack on a server. Place the items in the list below in the correct order in which the forensic analyst should preserve them.
Answer:
Explanation:
When dealing with multiple issues, address them in order of volatility (OOV); always deal with the most volatile first. Volatility can be thought of as the amount of time that you have to collect certain data before a window of opportunity is gone. Naturally, in an investigation you want to collect everything, but some data will exist longer than others, and you cannot possibly collect all of it once. As an example, the OOV in an investigation may be RAM, hard drive data, CDs/DVDs, and printouts.
Order of volatility: Capture system images as a snapshot of what exists, look at network traffic and logs, capture any relevant video/screenshots/hashes, record time offset on the systems, talk to witnesses, and track total man-hours and expenses associated with the investigation.
References:
Dulaney, Emmett and Chuck Eastton, CompTIA Security+ Study Guide, Sixth Edition, Sybex,
Indianapolis, 2014, p 453
Q7. Which of the following devices is BEST suited to protect an HTTP-based application that is susceptible to injection attacks?
A. Protocol filter
B. Load balancer
C. NIDS
D. Layer 7 firewall
Answer: D
Explanation:
An application-level gateway firewall filters traffic based on user access, group membership, the application or service used, or even the type of resources being transmitted. This type of firewall operates at the Application layer (Layer 7) of the OSI model.
Q8. During which of the following phases of the Incident Response process should a security administrator define and implement general defense against malware?
A. Lessons Learned
B. Preparation
C. Eradication
D. Identification
Answer: B
Explanation:
Incident response procedures involves: Preparation; Incident identification; Escalation and notification; Mitigation steps; Lessons learned; Reporting; Recover/reconstitution procedures; First responder; Incident isolation (Quarantine; Device removal); Data breach; Damage and loss control. It is important to stop malware before it ever gets hold of a system –thus you should know which malware is out there and take defensive measures - this means preparation to guard against malware infection should be done.
Q9. A security administrator notices that a specific network administrator is making unauthorized changes to the firewall every Saturday morning. Which of the following would be used to mitigate this issue so that only security administrators can make changes to the firewall?
A. Mandatory vacations
B. Job rotation
C. Least privilege
D. Time of day restrictions
Answer: C
Explanation:
A least privilege policy is to give users only the permissions that they need to do their work and no more. That is only allowing security administrators to be able to make changes to the firewall by practicing the least privilege principle.
Q10. Which of the following is a concern when encrypting wireless data with WEP?
A. WEP displays the plain text entire key when wireless packet captures are reassembled
B. WEP implements weak initialization vectors for key transmission
C. WEP uses a very weak encryption algorithm
D. WEP allows for only four pre-shared keys to be configured
Answer: B
Explanation:
The initialization vector (IV) that WEP uses for encryption is 24-bit, which is quite weak and means that IVs are reused with the same key. By examining the repeating result, it was easy for attackers to crack the WEP secret key. This is known as an IV attack.
Q11. Which of the following techniques can be used to prevent the disclosure of system information resulting from arbitrary inputs when implemented properly?
A. Fuzzing
B. Patch management
C. Error handling
D. Strong passwords
Answer: C
Explanation:
Exception handling is an aspect of secure coding. When errors occur, the system should revert back to a secure state. This must be coded into the system by the programmer, and should capture errors and exceptions so that they could be handled by the application.
Q12. Which of the following helps to establish an accurate timeline for a network intrusion?
A. Hashing images of compromised systems
B. Reviewing the date of the antivirus definition files
C. Analyzing network traffic and device logs
D. Enforcing DLP controls at the perimeter
Answer: C
Explanation:
Q13. Which of the following provides data the best fault tolerance at the LOWEST cost?
A. Load balancing
B. Clustering
C. Server virtualization
D. RAID 6
Answer: D
Explanation:
RAID, or redundant array of independent disks (RAID). RAID allows your existing servers to have more than one hard drive so that if the main hard drive fails, the system keeps functioning. RAID can achieve fault tolerance using software which can be done using the existing hardware and software thus representing the lowest cost option.
Q14. To protect corporate data on removable media, a security policy should mandate that all removable devices use which of the following?
A. Full disk encryption
B. Application isolation
C. Digital rights management
D. Data execution prevention
Answer: A
Explanation:
Full-disk encryption encrypts the data on the hard drive of the device or on a removable drive. This feature ensures that the data on the device or removable drive cannot be accessed in a useable form should it be stolen.
Q15. The security manager received a report that an employee was involved in illegal activity and has saved data to a workstation’s hard drive. During the investigation, local law enforcement’s criminal division confiscates the hard drive as evidence. Which of the following forensic procedures is involved?
A. Chain of custody
B. System image
C. Take hashes
D. Order of volatility
Answer: A
Explanation:
Chain of custody deals with how evidence is secured, where it is stored, and who has access to it. When you begin to collect evidence, you must keep track of that evidence at all times and show who has it, who has seen it, and where it has been.