CS0-002 Sample Questions Answers

The security analyst should review the message in a secure environment first. This will help determine if the message is indeed spam or if it contains any malicious content, such as malware attachments or phishing links. Reviewing the message in a secure environment means using a sandbox or an isolated system that can prevent any potential harm to the analyst’s system or network. If the message is confirmed to be spam or malicious, then the analyst can take further actions, such as blocking the sender, deleting the email, or notifying the users3.

System timeline reconstruction is a forensic analysis technique that involves creating a chronological record of events that occurred on a system based on various sources of evidence such as log files, registry entries, file timestamps, network traffic, etc. System timeline reconstruction can provide information about when and how the machine was compromised and where the malware is located by showing when suspicious activities or changes took place on the system, such as unauthorized access attempts, file creation or modification, process execution, network connections, etc.

Operational security controls are security measures that are implemented and executed by people rather than by systems. Operational security controls are needed to supplement areas that other controls, such as technical or physical controls, cannot address. For example, operational security controls can include policies, procedures, training, awareness, audits, reviews, testing, etc. These controls can help ensure that employees follow best practices, comply with regulations, detect and report incidents, and respond to emergencies. The other options are not specific to operational security controls or are too narrow in scope. References: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) Certification Exam Objectives (CS0-002), page 14; https://www.isaca.org/resources/isaca-journal/issues/2016/volume-3/operational-security-controls

 Indicator enrichment and research pivoting are steps in the threat intelligence process that involve gathering additional information and context about the indicators of compromise (IoCs) that are related to an incident, and using them to identify other potential sources of threat data or evidence. For example, an analyst can enrich an IoC such as an IP address by looking up its geolocation, reputation, or associated domains, and then pivot to other sources of threat intelligence that may have more information about the IP address or its activities.

A blacklist is a list of domains, IP addresses, email addresses, or other identifiers that are known or suspected to be malicious or harmful. A blacklist can be used to block or filter unwanted or dangerous traffic from reaching a network or system2 Updating the blacklist can help prevent phishing campaigns by adding the domains or email addresses of the phishing sources to the list and preventing them from sending emails to the company’s employees.

This control would best help to reduce the number of software vulnerabilities introduced by this situation because it ensures that code quality and security standards are met before deploying to production. Senior-level developers can provide feedback, guidance, and corrections to junior-level developers and catch any errors or flaws in their code.

Change management is a process that ensures changes to systems or processes are introduced in a controlled and coordinated manner. Change management helps to minimize the impact of changes on the business operations and avoid unintended consequences or errors1 Change management can help resolve the issue of Group Policy Object updates affecting multiple services by ensuring that the updates are properly planned, tested, approved, documented, communicated, and monitored.

Data Sovereignty means that data is subject to the laws and regulations of the geographic location where that data is collected and processed. Data sovereignty is a country-specific requirement that data must remain within the borders of the jurisdiction where it originated. At its core, data sovereignty is about protecting sensitive, private data and ensuring it remains under the control of its owner. You're only worried about that if you're in multiple locations. . https://www.virtru.com/blog/gdpr-data-sovereignty-matters-globally

Geographic access requirements are an appropriate technical control to implement to mitigate data sovereignty issues. Data sovereignty issues arise when data is subject to different laws and regulations depending on where it is stored or processed. For example, some countries may have stricter data protection or privacy laws than others, or may impose restrictions on cross-border data transfers. Geographic access requirements can help ensure that data is only accessed from locations that comply with the applicable laws and regulations, and prevent unauthorized access from locations that do not.

The analyst should disclose details regarding the findings of the vendor’s latest penetration test summary as the first recommendation, as this can help assess the vendor’s security posture and identify any potential risks or issues that may affect the organization. The analyst should review the findings and ask for more information about the scope, methodology, and remediation actions of the penetration test, as well as any evidence or artifacts that support the findings.

A cipher suite is a set of algorithms that defines how the encryption, authentication, and integrity of data are performed during a secure communication session. Some cipher suites are considered vulnerable or weak because they use outdated or insecure algorithms that can be easily broken or compromised by attackers. The vulnerability scan results show that the web server accepts several vulnerable cipher suites, such as RC4, MD5, or DES. The best action for the analyst to recommend to developers is to change the web server so it no longer accepts the vulnerable cipher suites and only accepts the secure ones. Changing the web server so it only accepts TLSv1.2, only accepts cipher suites using AES and SHA, or offloading SSL/TLS to a WAF and load balancer are other possible actions, but they are not as specific or effective as changing the web server so it no longer accepts the vulnerable cipher suites. Reference: https://www.acunetix.com/blog/articles/tls-ssl-cipher-hardening/

Output encoding is a technique that converts user-generated input in a web form before it is displayed by the browser. Output encoding is a form of data sanitization that prevents cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, which occur when malicious scripts are injected into web pages and executed by unsuspecting users4. Output encoding works by replacing special characters in user input, such as <, >, ", ', &, etc., with their HTML-encoded equivalents, such as <, >, ", ', &, etc. This prevents the browser from interpreting the user input as HTML or JavaScript code and executing it.

Modbus is a communication protocol that is widely used in industrial control systems (ICS). Modbus does not have any built-in security features, such as authentication or encryption, which makes it vulnerable to various attacks. One of the most common and effective attack techniques against Modbus assets is to send unauthenticated commands to manipulate or disrupt the operation of the devices. Remote code execution, buffer overflow, and certificate spoofing are other attack techniques, but they have less likelihood of quick success against Modbus assets. Reference: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405959517300045

Reverse engineering is a process of analyzing a system or a component to understand how it works and how it was made. Reverse engineering can be used to examine malicious processes captured from memory and determine their functionality, origin, and purpose. Reverse engineering can help identify the type of malware, its infection vector, its capabilities, its communication methods, and its indicators of compromise2

The suspicious event was able to accomplish establishing persistence by creating a registry change that runs a command shell process every time a user logs on. The registry change modifies the Userinit value under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon key, which specifies what programs should run when a user logs on to Windows. By appending “cmd.exe,” to the existing value, the event ensures that a command shell process will be launched every time a user logs on, which can allow the attacker to maintain access to the system or execute malicious commands. The other options are not related to the registry change. References: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) Certification Exam Objectives (CS0-002), page 10; https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/sysinfo/userinit-entry

A risk assessment is a process of identifying, analyzing, and evaluating the potential threats and vulnerabilities that may affect an organization’s assets, operations, or objectives. A risk assessment matrix is a tool that can help prioritize the risks based on their likelihood and impact1.

The CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) is a standard framework for rating the severity of vulnerabilities in software systems. The CVSS provides a numerical score from 0 to 10, as well as a qualitative rating from Low to Critical, based on the characteristics and consequences of the vulnerability2.

However, the CVSS score alone may not be sufficient to determine the priority of mitigation and remediation actions for each vulnerability. Other factors that may influence the decision include:

• Patch availability: This metric indicates whether there is a fix or update available for the vulnerability from the vendor or developer. Patch availability can affect the urgency and feasibility of remediation, as well as the risk exposure and potential damage of exploitation. For example, a vulnerability with a high CVSS score but with a readily available patch may be less critical than a vulnerability with a lower CVSS score but with no patch available3.
• Mission criticality: This metric reflects the importance and value of the asset or system affected by the vulnerability to the organization’s mission, goals, or functions. Mission criticality can affect the impact and priority of remediation, as well as the risk tolerance and acceptance level of the organization. For example, a vulnerability with a high CVSS score but affecting a non-essential system may be less critical than a vulnerability with a lower CVSS score but affecting a core system4.
• OS type: This metric indicates the operating system (OS) of the asset or system affected by the vulnerability. OS type can affect the likelihood and complexity of exploitation, as well as the availability and compatibility of patches or mitigations. For example, a vulnerability with a high CVSS score but affecting an uncommon or unsupported OS may be less critical than a vulnerability with a lower CVSS score but affecting a widely used or supported OS3.
• OS or application versions: This metric indicates the specific version of the OS or application affected by the vulnerability. OS or application versions can affect the applicability and relevance of the vulnerability, as well as the availability and compatibility of patches or mitigations. For example, a vulnerability with a high CVSS score but affecting an outdated or obsolete version may be less critical than a vulnerability with a lower CVSS score but affecting a current or popular version3.
• System architecture: This metric indicates the design and configuration of the asset or system affected by the vulnerability. System architecture can affect the exposure and accessibility of the vulnerability, as well as the effectiveness and efficiency of patches or mitigations. For example, a vulnerability with a high CVSS score but affecting an isolated or segmented system may be less critical than a vulnerability with a lower CVSS score but affecting an interconnected or integrated system3.

Therefore, to best enable the organization to prioritize its efforts based on impact, patch availability is one of the most important metrics to consider in addition to the CVSS score for each CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures). Patch availability can directly influence the risk level and remediation strategy for each vulnerability.

PII stands for personally identifiable information, and it is any data that can be used to identify, contact, or locate a specific individual, such as name, address, phone number, email, social security number, or biometric data. PII data is considered critical because it can be used by attackers to commit identity theft, fraud, or other crimes. PII data is also subject to various laws and regulations that require organizations to protect it from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure1.

Prowler is a tool that can scan AWS environments for security issues and compliance violations. The Prowler report shows that there are two access keys for CloudDev user: access key 1 and access key 2. Access key 1 has not been used in more than 90 days, which violates the AWS CIS benchmark 1.4 (Ensure access keys are rotated every 90 days or less). Therefore, the best recommendation is to delete access key 1 and use access key 2 instead. Deleting CloudDev access key 1, deleting BusinessUsr access key 1, or deleting access key 2 are not appropriate recommendations based on the Prowler report. Reference: https://github.com/toniblyx/prowler

Based on the output of the “netstat -an” command, it seems that the web server is listening on port 80 for HTTP traffic and port 443 for HTTPS traffic. The anomalous traffic from 9.9.9.9 is accessing the web server on port 443, which means it is using a secure connection.

The best method to accomplish the task of restricting improper traffic from 9.9.9.9 is D. Adjusting the firewall. A firewall is a device or software that controls the flow of network traffic based on predefined rules. By adjusting the firewall rules, you can block or allow specific IP addresses, ports, protocols, or domains from accessing your web server.

The correct answer is A. Cloud WAF. A cloud WAF stands for a cloud-based web application firewall, and it is a service that protects web applications from common attacks, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, or denial-of-service. A cloud WAF can inspect and filter HTTP requests and responses between the web application and the internet, and block or allow them based on predefined or custom rules. A cloud WAF can also generate logs with details regarding the threat actor’s requests, such as the source IP address, the destination URL, the payload, the rule triggered, and the action taken1.

B. Internal proxy is not correct. An internal proxy is a server that acts as an intermediary between internal clients and external servers. An internal proxy can provide various functions, such as caching, filtering, authentication, or encryption. An internal proxy can also generate logs with details regarding the client’s requests, such as the source IP address, the destination URL, the protocol used, and the response received2. However, an internal proxy would not have logs with details regarding the threat actor’s requests, as they are directed to the web application, not to the internal proxy.

C. TAXII server is not correct. TAXII stands for Trusted Automated eXchange of Intelligence Information, and it is a standard that defines how to exchange cyber threat intelligence (CTI) between different systems or organizations. TAXII uses a client-server model, where a TAXII client can request or send CTI to a TAXII server using predefined services and messages. A TAXII server can store and provide CTI in a structured and standardized format3. However, a TAXII server would not have logs with details regarding the threat actor’s requests, as they are not related to CTI exchange.

D. Hardware security module is not correct. A hardware security module (HSM) is a physical device that provides secure storage and processing of cryptographic keys and operations. An HSM can protect sensitive data and transactions, such as encryption, decryption, signing, or verification, from unauthorized access or tampering. However, an HSM would not have logs with details regarding the threat actor’s requests, as they are not related to cryptographic operations.

1: What Is a Cloud-Based Web Application Firewall (WAF)? 2: What Is a Proxy Server? 3: What Is TAXII? : [What Is a Hardware Security Module (HSM)?]

A risk-based cybersecurity framework is a set of guidelines and best practices that helps an organization identify, assess, prioritize, and mitigate cyber risks. By using a risk-based approach, an organization can allocate its resources more efficiently and effectively to address the most critical and likely cyber risks. A risk-based approach does not always require quantifying each cyber risk, nor is it driven by regulatory compliance or prioritizes vulnerability remediation by threat hunting. Reference: https://www.nist.gov/cyberframework/risk-management

This command would most likely indicate if the email attachment is malicious, as it would display any JavaScript code embedded in the PDF file. JavaScript code can be used by attackers to execute malicious commands or scripts on the victim’s system when the PDF file is opened1. The strings command extracts the printable characters from a binary file, such as a PDF file, and the grep -i “

Third-party assessment. A third-party assessment is a process that explores the risk posed to your organization by third-party vendors along the supply chain. This process evaluates the likelihood that your business is exposed to different third-party risks such as compliance risk, operational risk, financial risk, security risk and cybersecurity risk1.

A third-party assessment can help the CSO gain a better understanding of the prospective company’s cybersecurity posture by:

• Providing an independent and objective evaluation of the vendor’s security policies, controls, and practices.
• Identifying any gaps or weaknesses in the vendor’s security posture that could compromise your organization’s data, systems, or reputation.
• Recommending actions or improvements to mitigate or reduce the identified risks and enhance the vendor’s security performance.

A third-party assessment can also help the CSO identify risks in the supply chain by:

• Mapping and tracing the data flow and dependencies among the vendor and its subcontractors or suppliers.
• Assessing how the vendor and its subcontractors or suppliers safeguard data and comply with relevant regulations and standards.
• Detecting any signs of malicious or negligent behavior by the vendor or its subcontractors or suppliers that could harm your organization or its customers.

A vulnerability scan is a process of identifying and assessing known vulnerabilities in a system or network using automated tools or software1 A vulnerability scan can help improve the security posture of a vulnerability management program by detecting and prioritizing potential weaknesses that could be exploited by attackers. To increase the security posture of a vulnerability scan, the following actions can be taken:

• Expand the ports being scanned to include all ports: This means scanning all possible ports on a system or network, not just the well-known or commonly used ones. This can help discover more vulnerabilities that may be hidden or overlooked on less frequently used ports.
• Increase the scan interval to a number the business will accept without causing service interruption: This means scanning more frequently or regularly, but not so often that it causes performance issues or downtime for the system or network. This can help keep up with new vulnerabilities that may emerge over time and reduce the window of opportunity for attackers.
• Enable authentication and perform credentialed scans: This means using login credentials or SSH keys on an asset to get deeper access to its data, processes, configurations, and vulnerabilities2 This can help discover more vulnerabilities that cannot be seen from the network, such as insecure versions of software or poor security permissions.

Checking the server logs to evaluate which emails were sent to is the first action the analyst should do to evaluate the potential impact of this security incident. Server logs are records of events or activities that occur on a server, such as email transactions, web requests, or authentication attempts. Checking the server logs can help to determine how many emails were sent to , when they were sent, who sent them, and what they contained. This can help to assess the scope and severity of the incident and plan further actions .

The correct answer is C. eFUSE. An eFUSE is a type of electronic fuse that can be programmed to permanently alter the functionality or configuration of a chipset. An eFUSE can be used to prevent security weaknesses that could be reintroduced by downgrading the firmware version on the chipset, by locking the firmware to a specific version or preventing unauthorized modifications. An eFUSE can also provide other benefits, such as anti-tampering, anti-counterfeiting, and device authentication1.

A. UEFI is not correct. UEFI stands for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, and it is a standard that defines the software interface between an operating system and a platform firmware. UEFI can provide security features, such as secure boot, which verifies the integrity of the boot loader and prevents unauthorized code execution during the boot process. However, UEFI does not prevent security weaknesses that could be reintroduced by downgrading the firmware version on the chipset2.

B. A hardware security module is not correct. A hardware security module (HSM) is a physical device that provides secure storage and processing of cryptographic keys and operations. An HSM can protect sensitive data and transactions, such as encryption, decryption, signing, or verification, from unauthorized access or tampering. However, an HSM does not prevent security weaknesses that could be reintroduced by downgrading the firmware version on the chipset3.

D. Certificate signed updates are not correct. Certificate signed updates are a method of ensuring the authenticity and integrity of firmware updates by using digital certificates and signatures. Certificate signed updates can prevent malicious or corrupted firmware updates from being installed on the chipset, but they do not prevent security weaknesses that could be reintroduced by downgrading the firmware version on the chipset.

1: What Is an eFUSE? 2: What Is UEFI? 3: What Is a Hardware Security Module (HSM)?

Potential data loss to external users is a threat that applies to this situation, where the accounting department is hosting an accounts receivable form on a public document service. Anyone with the link can access it. Data loss is an event that results in the destruction, corruption, or unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or confidential data. Data loss can occur due to various reasons, such as human error, hardware failure, malware infection, or cyberattack. In this case, hosting an accounts receivable form on a public document service exposes the data to potential data loss to external users who may access it without authorization or maliciously modify or delete it .

Once the SDLC reached the development phase, code starts to be generated. That means that the ability to control the version of the software or component that your team is working on, combined with check-in/check-out functionality and revision histories, is a necessary and powerful tool when developing software.

The question refers to a "new" product so I believe that is key. However, it also makes it seem that it is about the development of a product that could be in production.

Regression testing focuses on testing to ensure that changes that have been made do not create new issues, and ensure that no new vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, or other issues have been introduced.

A code review is a process that involves examining and evaluating the source code of a software application or system for security deficiencies, errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities. A code review can help improve the quality and security of the software product by identifying and fixing issues before they become operational problems. A code review is part of the evaluation and validation of a new product’s security capabilities. User acceptance testing, stress testing, or security regression testing are other types of testing that can be used to evaluate and validate a new product’s security capabilities, but they do not involve reviewing design changes at specific intervals for security deficiencies. Reference: https://www.synopsys.com/blogs/software-security/code-review/

 IPS and SIEM are technologies that can help secure sensitive data on critical networks by implementing controls to mitigate APTs. IPS stands for Intrusion Prevention System, and it is a device or software that monitors network traffic and blocks or prevents malicious packets or activities based on predefined rules or signatures. IPS can help detect and stop APTs that may try to exploit vulnerabilities or bypass security controls on critical networks. SIEM stands for Security Information and Event Management, and it is a system that collects, correlates, analyzes, and reports security data from various sources, such as logs, alerts, events, etc. SIEM can help identify and respond to APTs that may exhibit anomalous or suspicious behavior patterns on critical networks.

The analyst should request a configuration change on the company’s public DNS as the next step, as this can help resolve the issue of marketing campaigns being filtered by the customer’s email servers. The issue is caused by SPF validation failures, which indicate that the marketing partner’s email address is not authorized to send emails on behalf of the company’s domain. SPF stands for Sender Policy Framework, and it is a mechanism that allows domain owners to specify which IP addresses or hosts are allowed to send emails using their domain name. SPF validation is done by checking the SPF record of the sender’s domain in the public DNS, and comparing it with the IP address or host name of the sender’s email server. To fix this issue, the analyst should request a configuration change on the company’s public DNS to add or update the SPF record to include the marketing partner’s email address or IP address as a valid sender.

Use data-at-rest scans to locate and identify sensitive data. This option is the best DLP consideration for addressing the sensitive data on the file servers. Data-at-rest scans are performed on data that is stored on a device or a network, such as file servers, and can help identify and classify sensitive data based on predefined policies or rules. The other options are not relevant for this scenario, as they either deal with data in transit (network DLP appliances), data in use (endpoint DLP agents), or cloud-based data (CASB device).

The correct answer is B. Extract the server’s system timeline, verifying hashes and network connections during a certain time frame. A system timeline is a chronological record of the events and activities that occurred on a system, such as file creation, modification, or deletion, process execution, registry changes, or network connections. A system timeline can help an analyst to understand how an attacker compromised a server by showing the sequence of actions and artifacts left by the attacker. An analyst can also verify the hashes of the files and processes involved in the compromise and compare them with known malware signatures or databases. Additionally, an analyst can check the network connections made by the server during the compromise and identify the source and destination IP addresses, ports, and protocols used by the attacker1.

DNS sinkholing is a mechanism that can prevent internal network ranges from communicating with a list of IP addresses of known command-and-control domains by returning a false or controlled IP address for those domains. This can reduce the load on the firewall by intercepting the DNS requests before they reach the firewall and diverting them to a sinkhole server. The other options are not relevant or effective for this purpose. References: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) Certification Exam Objectives (CS0-002), page 9; https://www.enisa.europa.eu/topics/incident-response/glossary/dns-sinkhole

Data loss prevention (DLP) is a set of policies and tools that aim to prevent unauthorized disclosure of sensitive data. DLP transport rules are rules that apply to email messages that are sent or received by an organization’s mail server. These rules can provide deep content analysis, which means they can scan the content of email messages and attachments for sensitive data patterns, such as client lists or contact information. If a rule detects a violation of the DLP policy, it can take actions such as blocking, quarantining, or notifying the sender or recipient. This would improve security and help prevent sales team members from sending sensitive client lists to their personal accounts. References: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) Certification Exam Objectives (CS0-002), page 14; https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/security-and-compliance/mail-flow-rules/data-loss-prevention

The correct answer is C. Detection and monitoring. Detection and monitoring is a function that involves collecting, analyzing, and correlating data from various sources, such as threat feeds, logs, alerts, or events, to identify and respond to potential or ongoing threats. Detection and monitoring can help the organization to consume multiple threat feeds simultaneously and to provide actionable intelligence to various teams, such as security operations center (SOC) analysts, incident responders, or threat hunters. Detection and monitoring can also help the organization to leverage the intelligence to enrich security event data, such as adding context, severity, or priority to the events1.

A. Vulnerability management is not correct. Vulnerability management is a function that involves identifying, assessing, and mitigating the weaknesses or flaws in systems, applications, or networks that could be exploited by attackers. Vulnerability management can help the organization to reduce its attack surface and prevent potential breaches, but it does not directly involve consuming multiple threat feeds simultaneously or providing actionable intelligence to various teams.

B. Risk management is not correct. Risk management is a function that involves identifying, analyzing, and evaluating the risks that could affect the organization’s assets, operations, or objectives. Risk management can help the organization to prioritize and implement appropriate controls or mitigation strategies to reduce the likelihood or impact of the risks, but it does not directly involve consuming multiple threat feeds simultaneously or providing actionable intelligence to various teams.

D. Incident response is not correct. Incident response is a function that involves preparing for, detecting, containing, analyzing, and recovering from security incidents that compromise the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of the organization’s assets or operations. Incident response can help the organization to minimize the damage and restore normal operations as quickly as possible, but it does not directly involve consuming multiple threat feeds simultaneously or providing actionable intelligence to various teams.

1: Cybersecurity Analyst+ - CompTIA

Implementing an air gap for the legacy systems is the best solution to improve their security posture. An air gap is a physical separation of a system or network from any other system or network that may pose a threat. An air gap can prevent any unauthorized access or data transfer between the isolated system or network and the external environment. Implementing an air gap for the legacy systems can help to protect them from being exploited by attackers who may take advantage of their unpatched vulnerabilities .

The best recommendation based on the Prowler report is to delete Cloud Dev access key 1. This is because the report shows that this access key has not been used for more than 90 days, which violates the AWS security best practice of rotating access keys every 90 days or less. Deleting unused or inactive access keys can reduce the risk of unauthorized access or compromise of AWS resources.

Blocking third-party applications would be the best way to mitigate future attacks on company-owned mobile devices that are used by employees to collect data from clients in the field. Third-party applications are applications that are not developed or authorized by the device manufacturer or operating system provider1. Third-party applications can pose a security risk for mobile devices, as they may contain malware, spyware, or other malicious code that can compromise the device or its data2. Blocking third-party applications can help prevent employees from installing unauthorized or untrusted applications on company-owned mobile devices and reduce the attack surface.

Server-side input validation is a solution that can prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities by checking and filtering any user input that is sent to the server before rendering it on a web page. Server-side input validation can help to ensure that the user input conforms to the expected format, length and type, and does not contain any malicious characters or syntax that may alter the logic or behavior of the web page. Server-side input validation can also reject or sanitize any input that does not meet the validation criteria .

Disabling the Telnet service would harden the server by removing an insecure protocol that transmits data in cleartext and could allow unauthorized access to the server. Changing the SSH port to a non-standard port would harden the server by reducing the exposure to brute-force attacks or port scans that target the default SSH port (22). Uninstalling the DNS service, performing a vulnerability scan, changing the server’s IP to a private IP address, or blocking port 80 with the host-based firewall would not harden the server or could affect its functionality as a web server. Reference: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/ip/access-lists/13608-21.html

PII (Personally Identifiable Information) is any information that can be used to identify, contact, or locate a specific individual, either by itself or when combined with other information1. PII by itself is information that can uniquely identify an individual without any additional information. Examples of PII by itself are:

• Government ID. A government ID is a number or code that is issued by a government authority to an individual for identification purposes. Examples of government IDs are social security numbers, passport numbers, driver’s license numbers, etc. A government ID can uniquely identify an individual without any additional information.
• Birth certificate. A birth certificate is a document that records the birth of an individual and contains information such as name, date of birth, place of birth, parents’ names, etc. A birth certificate can uniquely identify an individual without any additional information.

Other examples of PII by itself are biometric data, DNA profile, fingerprints, etc. Examples of information that are not PII by themselves are:

• Job title. A job title is a name or description of a position or role in an organization. A job title does not uniquely identify an individual without any additional information, as many individuals can have the same job title.
• Employment start date. An employment start date is the date when an individual began working for an organization. An employment start date does not uniquely identify an individual without any additional information, as many individuals can have the same employment start date.
• Employer address. An employer address is the location of an organization where an individual works. An employer address does not uniquely identify an individual without any additional information, as many individuals can work at the same employer address.
• Mother’s maiden name. A mother’s maiden name is the surname that a woman had before she married. A mother’s maiden name does not uniquely identify an individual without any additional information, as many individuals can have the same mother’s maiden name.

Other examples of information that are not PII by themselves are gender, race, ethnicity, age, etc.

Lime-based cookies are a type of cookies that use lime encoding to store data in a web browser. Lime encoding is a simple substitution cipher that replaces each character in a string with another character based on a fixed key. Lime-based cookies are easy to decode because the key is publicly available and the encoding algorithm is simple. Anyone who intercepts or accesses the lime-based cookies can easily decode them and read the data stored in them. This is a security concern because lime-based cookies are often used for session management, which means they store information about the user’s identity and preferences on a web application. If an attacker can decode the lime-based cookies, they can impersonate the user or access their sensitive information.

MFA stands for multi-factor authentication, which is a method of verifying a user’s identity by requiring two or more pieces of evidence, such as something the user knows (e.g., password), something the user has (e.g., token), or something the user is (e.g., fingerprint). MFA is the best control to help prevent credential stuffing attacks from being successful, because even if an attacker obtains a valid username and password from a breached site, they would still need another factor to access the target site. SIEM, IDS, and TLS are other security controls, but they are not as effective as MFA for preventing credential stuffing attacks. Reference: https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/bots/what-is-credential-stuffing/

The output shows the result of using OWASP ZAP’s Spider tab after a vulnerability scan was completed. The Spider tab allows users to crawl web applications and discover pages and resources that can be assessed for vulnerabilities. The output shows that the scanner discovered various pages under different directories, such as /admin/, /blog/, /contact/, etc., as well as some parameters and forms that can be used for testing inputs and outputs. References: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) Certification Exam Objectives (CS0-002), page 9; https://www.zaproxy.org/docs/desktop/start/features/spider/

A forensic analyst is conducting an investigation on a compromised server. The first step that the analyst should do to preserve evidence is to back up all log files and audit trails. This will ensure that the analyst has a copy of the original data that can be used for analysis and verification. Backing up the log files and audit trails will also prevent any tampering or modification of the evidence by the attacker or other parties. The other options are not the first steps or may alter or destroy the evidence. References: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) Certification Exam Objectives (CS0-002), page 16; https://www.nist.gov/publications/guide-collection-and-preservation-digital-evidence

An incident communications process is a set of procedures that defines how to communicate with internal and external stakeholders during and after an incident, such as customers, employees, management, regulators and media. An incident communications process can help to provide accurate, timely and consistent information about the incident, its impact and the actions taken to resolve it. An incident communications process can also help to maintain trust and reputation, comply with legal obligations and prevent misinformation or confusion3 .

Implementing a secure supply chain program with governance would be the best way to ensure the third-party service provider meets the requirement of only sourcing talent from its own country. A secure supply chain program is a set of policies, procedures, and controls that aim to protect the integrity and security of the products and services delivered by third-party vendors. A secure supply chain program can help mitigate the risks of geopolitical and national security interests by verifying the origin, identity, and trustworthiness of the vendors and their employees1. Governance is a key component of a secure supply chain program, as it provides oversight, accountability, and enforcement of the policies and procedures.

"CASB solutions generally offer their own DLP policy engine, allowing you to configure DLP policies in a CASB and apply them to cloud services." https://www.mcafee.com/blogs/enterprise/cloud-security/how-a-casb-int egrates-with-an-on-premises-dlp-solution/

CASB stands for Cloud Access Security Broker, which is a solution that monitors and controls the access and usage of cloud services by an organization’s users. DLP stands for Data Loss Prevention, which is a solution that prevents unauthorized disclosure or leakage of sensitive data. Utilizing the CASB to enforce DLP data-in-motion protection for financial information moving to the cloud is the best recommendation for a security analyst to mitigate the threat of financial data leakage into the cloud, because it would prevent users from uploading or transferring financial information to cloud services that are not authorized or secure. Utilizing the CASB to enforce DLP data-at-rest protection for financial information that is stored on premises, not utilizing the CASB solution for this purpose but adding DLP on premises for data in motion or data at rest are other possible recommendations, but they are not as effective or relevant as utilizing the CASB to enforce DLP data-in-motion protection for financial information moving to the cloud. Reference: https://www.csoonline.com/article/3200344/what-is-a-casb-and-why-do-you-need-one.html

An active scan is a type of system vulnerability scan that involves sending probes or packets to the target system, and analyzing the responses or behaviors of the system. An active scan can help obtain critical information about the system, such as open ports, running services, operating system, software versions, etc. An active scan can also use OVAL XML language to review and calculate the discovered risk. OVAL stands for Open Vulnerability and Assessment Language, and it is a standard for describing and exchanging information about system vulnerabilities and configurations.

Threat modeling is a process that helps identify and analyze the potential threats and vulnerabilities of a system or process. It can help evaluate the security risks and mitigation strategies of a new business process that would use existing infrastructure to process and store sensitive data. A black-box penetration testing engagement, a tabletop exercise, or a business impact analysis are other methods that can be used to assess the security or resilience of a system or process, but they are not as appropriate as threat modeling for coordinating the right training and testing methodology to respond to new business initiatives or significant changes to existing ones. Reference: https://owasp.org/www-community/Application_Threat_Modeling

Segmenting the network to include all legacy systems is a strategy that can prevent the propagation of the malware throughout the network, by isolating the systems that cannot be patched from the rest of the network. Segmenting the network can also reduce the exposure and impact of the malware, by limiting its access to other resources or systems.

The CySA+ exam outline calls out “trusted firmware updates,” but trusted firmware itself is more commonly described as part of trusted execution environments (TEEs). Trusted firmware is signed by a chip vendor or other trusted party, and then used to access keys to help control access to hardware. TEEs like those used by ARM processors leverage these technologies to protect the hardware by preventing unsigned code from using privileged features."

Trusted firmware updates provide organizations with secure code signing, distribution, installation, and attestation for embedded devices. Embedded devices are devices that have a dedicated function and are part of a larger system or network, such as routers, cameras, sensors, etc. Embedded devices often run on firmware, which is a type of software that controls the device’s hardware and functionality. Firmware updates are essential for improving the performance, security, and reliability of embedded devices. However, firmware updates also pose risks of introducing vulnerabilities or malware into the devices if they are not properly secured. Trusted firmware updates are firmware updates that use cryptographic techniques to ensure the integrity, authenticity, and confidentiality of the firmware code and data. Trusted firmware updates typically involve four steps1:

• Code signing: The firmware code is digitally signed by the firmware developer or provider using a private key. The digital signature proves that the firmware code is from a trusted source and has not been tampered with.
• Distribution: The signed firmware code is securely transmitted to the embedded device or a trusted intermediary (such as a cloud service or a gateway) using encryption or other methods. The transmission ensures that the firmware code is not intercepted or modified by unauthorized parties.
• Installation: The embedded device verifies the digital signature of the firmware code using a public key that is stored in a secure location (such as a trusted platform module or TPM). The verification ensures that the firmware code is from a trusted source and has not been tampered with. The embedded device then installs the firmware code and reboots to apply the update.
• Attestation: The embedded device reports its firmware status and configuration to a trusted verifier (such as a cloud service or a gateway) using a cryptographic proof. The proof ensures that the embedded device has installed the correct firmware update and has not been compromised.

Trusted firmware updates provide organizations with several benefits for hardware assurance, such as2:

• Preventing unauthorized or malicious firmware updates that could compromise the security or functionality of embedded devices
• Detecting and mitigating firmware attacks or incidents that could affect the availability or performance of embedded devices
• Complying with regulatory or industry standards or best practices for firmware security
• Enhancing customer trust and satisfaction with embedded devices

Trusted firmware updates do not provide organizations with development, compilation, remote access, or customization for embedded devices (A), as these are software engineering tasks that are not directly related to firmware security. Trusted firmware updates do not provide organizations with security specifications, open-source libraries, or custom tools for embedded devices (B), as these are software resources that are not directly related to firmware security. Trusted firmware updates do not provide organizations with remote code execution, distribution, maintenance, or extended warranties for embedded devices ©, as these are software features or services that are not directly related to firmware security.

References: 1: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24771/technical-controls  2: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/25888/security-development-lifecycle-sdl

The security analyst should review the IDS rule set first. The IDS (Intrusion Detection System) is a tool that monitors network traffic and alerts on any suspicious or malicious activity. The IDS rule set is a set of conditions or patterns that define what constitutes normal or abnormal behavior on the network. The IDS rule set can affect the number of security incidents being reported, as it determines what triggers an alert or not3. The security analyst should review the IDS rule set to check if it is up to date, accurate, and comprehensive. If the IDS rule set is outdated, inaccurate, or incomplete, it may miss some incidents or generate false positives or negatives.

This solution is the best to accomplish the goal of blocking all non-corporate managed machines from connecting to the internal network. NAC stands for network access control, which is a method of enforcing policies and rules on network devices based on their identity, role, location, and other attributes. 802.1X is a standard for port-based network access control, which authenticates devices before granting them access to a network port or wireless access point.

A service level agreement (SLA) and a contract are documents that define the roles and responsibilities of the parties involved in a public cloud relationship. Logging and monitoring are important security activities that should be clearly specified in the SLA and contract, such as who will perform them, what data will be collected, how long will it be stored, and how will it be accessed or shared. Logging and monitoring are still needed in a public cloud environment, but they are not done solely by the data owners or the service provider. Reference: https://www.csoonline.com/article/2121595/what-to-look-for-in-a-cloud-security-sla.html

The security analyst should implement port security with one MAC address per network port of the switch. This will help prevent possible physical attacks on the network access layer, such as MAC flooding or MAC spoofing. Port security is a feature that allows a switch to limit the number of MAC addresses that can be learned on a specific port. By setting the limit to one MAC address per port, the switch will only allow traffic from the device that is connected to that port, and drop any traffic from other devices that try to use that port. This will prevent attackers from connecting unauthorized devices to the network or impersonating legitimate devices by changing their MAC addresses3.

A change management process is a set of procedures that ensures that any changes to a system or service are planned, tested, approved, implemented and documented in a controlled and consistent manner. A change management process can prevent an interruption of service caused by a Group Policy Object (GPO) by ensuring that the GPO is properly configured, tested and authorized before applying it to the servers. A change management process can also provide a way to roll back or undo the changes if they cause any problems.

A CI/CD pipeline is a method of delivering software applications that involves continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD). CI is the process of merging code changes from multiple developers into a shared repository and testing them automatically. CD is the process of deploying the code changes to different environments (such as testing, staging and production) and releasing them to customers. A CI/CD pipeline does not prevent an interruption of service caused by a GPO, but rather helps to deliver software applications faster and more reliably.

An impact analysis and reporting is a process of assessing the potential effects of a change on a system or service, such as performance, availability, security and compatibility. An impact analysis and reporting can help to identify and mitigate any risks or issues associated with a change. However, an impact analysis and reporting does not prevent an interruption of service caused by a GPO, but rather helps to evaluate and communicate the consequences of a change.

Appropriate network segmentation is a practice of dividing a network into smaller subnetworks or segments based on different criteria, such as function, location or security level. Appropriate network segmentation can improve the performance, security and manageability of a network by reducing congestion, isolating threats and controlling access. However, appropriate network segmentation does not prevent an interruption of service caused by a GPO, but rather helps to protect and optimize a network.

The Controller Area Network - CAN bus is a message-based protocol designed to allow the Electronic Control Units (ECUs) found in today’s automobiles, as well as other devices, to communicate with each other in a reliable, priority-driven fashion. Messages or “frames” are received by all devices in the network, which does not require a host computer.

CAN bus stands for Controller Area Network bus, which is a communication protocol that allows different devices and components in a vehicle to communicate and exchange data. The vulnerability within the new fleet of vehicles is most likely targeting the CAN bus, because it could allow an attacker to manipulate or disrupt the operation of the vehicle. SCADA, Modbus, and IoT are other terms related to communication protocols or systems, but they are not specific to vehicles. Reference: https://www.csoonline.com/article/3218104/what-is-a-can-bus-and-how-can-it-be-hacked.html

VDI means virtual desktop interface. Using VDI, you can maintain a standard image and remove the threat of an infected machine plugging into your network.

A firewalled environment for client devices and a secure VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) for BYOD users would be the most likely recommendation for securing the proposed solution. A firewalled environment can help isolate and protect the client devices from unauthorized network access or attacks. A secure VDI can provide a virtualized desktop environment for BYOD users that can be centrally managed and controlled by the organization. A VDI can also prevent data leakage or malware infection from BYOD devices, as the data and applications are stored on the server side rather than on the device itself5.

A data minimization plan is a strategy that aims to reduce the amount and type of data that an organization collects, stores, and processes. It can help improve data privacy and protection by limiting the exposure and impact of a data breach or loss. Creating a data minimization plan is the best recommendation for a security officer who needs to find the most cost-effective solution to the current data privacy and protection gap. Requiring users to sign NDAs, adding access control requirements, or implementing a data loss prevention solution are other possible solutions, but they are not as cost-effective as creating a data minimization plan. Reference: https://www.csoonline.com/article/3603898/data-minimization-what-is-it-and-how-to-implement-it.html

The strings command is a Linux utility that can extract human-readable content from any file or partition3. It can be used to analyze a Linux swap partition by finding text strings that may indicate malicious activity or compromise4. The head command (B) can only display the first few lines of a file or partition, which may not contain any useful information. The fsstat command © can only display file system statistics such as size, type, and layout, which may not reveal any human-readable content. The dd command (D) can only copy or convert a file or partition, which may not extract any human-readable content.

References: 3: https://linux.die.net/man/1/strings  4: https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/using-strings-command

Static analysis is a method of analyzing software code without executing it, by using tools or techniques that check for syntax errors, logic errors, vulnerabilities, coding standards, and other quality issues. Static analysis can help software developers to correct the error-handling capabilities of an application before pushing it to production, as it can detect potential errors and bugs at an early stage of development. A web-application vulnerability scan (A) is a method of testing web applications for security flaws by simulating attacks and analyzing responses. It can be useful for finding vulnerabilities in web applications, but not for validating the error-handling capabilities of an application. A packet inspection © is a method of monitoring network traffic by examining the data packets that are sent and received over a network. It can be useful for detecting malicious or unauthorized activity on a network, but not for validating the error-handling capabilities of an application. A penetration test (D) is a method of evaluating the security of a system or network by simulating real-world attacks and exploiting vulnerabilities. It can be useful for assessing the overall security posture of a system or network, but not for validating the error-handling capabilities of an application.

References: : https://www.techopedia.com/definition/14436/static-analysis : https://www.techopedia.com/definition/4160/web-application-security-scanner-was : https://www.techopedia.com/definition/4010/packet-inspection : https://www.techopedia.com/definition/13493/penetration-testing

The correct answer is B. Document exceptions with compensating controls to demonstrate the risk mitigation efforts. Compensating controls are alternative or additional controls that are implemented when the primary or required controls are not feasible or effective. Compensating controls can help to reduce the risk to an acceptable level and satisfy the regulatory requirements, as long as they are documented and justified1.

A. Manually review the baselines daily and document the results in a change history log is not correct. This option would not prevent the recurrence of the problem, as it does not address the root cause of why the remote units did not recover after scans were performed. Moreover, this option would create an unsustainable process, as it would require a lot of time and resources to manually review and document the baselines of all assets on a daily basis.

C. Implement a new scanning technology to satisfy the monitoring requirement and train the team is not correct. This option would not guarantee that the problem would not recur, as it is possible that the new scanning technology would also cause issues with the remote units or other assets. Furthermore, this option would incur additional costs and efforts to acquire, deploy, and maintain the new scanning technology and train the team on how to use it.

D. Purchase new remote units from other vendors with a proven ability to support scanning requirements is not correct. This option would not be feasible or cost-effective, as it would require replacing all the remote units with new ones from different vendors. This option would also introduce new risks and challenges, such as compatibility, interoperability, or vendor lock-in.

Data enrichment is a process that adds event and non-event contextual information to security event data in order to transform raw data into meaningful insights123. Geolocation is one example of contextual information that can be used to enrich security event data, such as IP addresses, and provide more information about the physical locations of threat actors. Data enrichment can help security analysts perform threat detection, threat hunting, and incident response more effectively and efficiently.

A CASB, or Cloud Access Security Broker, is a software tool or service that acts as an intermediary between an organization’s cloud services and its users. A CASB can provide various security functions, such as visibility, compliance, threat protection, and data security2 A CASB can help protect the company’s data stored in the cloud by preventing certain types of data from being downloaded to a workstation, such as sensitive or confidential information. This can reduce the risk of data leakage, theft, or loss if a workstation is compromised or stolen.

The tasklist command is used to display a list of all running processes on a system. In this output, the security analyst should recognize the high memory usage (1302103K) of vscode.exe * 32, which is an indication that this process is consuming a large amount of system resources. This could be a sign that the system has been compromised, as malware often uses system resources to perform malicious activities.

Deidentifying a data subject means removing or obscuring any data that can be used to identify, locate, or contact an individual, such as names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, social security numbers, etc. Deidentifying a data subject throughout the organization’s applications can help comply with the new regulation that requires only retaining the minimum amount of data on a person to perform the organization’s necessary activities.

The Nmap command given in the question performs a TCP SYN scan (-sS), a service version detection scan (-sV), an OS detection scan (-O), and a port scan for ports 1-1024 (-p 1-1024) on the host 192.168.1.1. This command will reveal information about the host’s operating system, open ports, and running services, which can be used by an attacker to launch a brute-force attack against the host. A brute-force attack is a method of guessing passwords or encryption keys by trying many possible combinations until finding the correct one. An attacker can use the information from the Nmap scan to target specific services or protocols that may have weak or default credentials, such as FTP, SSH, Telnet, or HTTP.

Sinkholing is a technique for manipulating data flow in a network; you redirect traffic from its intended destination to a server of your choosing. It can be used maliciously, to steer legitimate traffic away from its intended recipient, but security professionals more commonly use sinkholing as a tool for research and reacting to attacks1.

For example, sinkholing can be used to redirect traffic from a botnet or a malware-infected host to a server under the control of the defender, where the traffic can be analyzed, blocked, or neutralized. This can help identify and isolate compromised devices, prevent command-and-control communication, and disrupt malicious activities2.

The other options are not the best solutions for the following reasons:

• Blocklisting is a technique for preventing access to or communication with certain IP addresses, domains, or applications that are known or suspected to be malicious. Blocklisting can be implemented using firewalls, routers, proxies, or software tools. Blocklisting can protect a network from unwanted or harmful traffic, but it does not redirect the traffic to a different destination.
• Geoblocking is a technique for restricting access to or communication with certain IP addresses, domains, or applications based on their geographic location. Geoblocking can be implemented using firewalls, routers, proxies, or software tools. Geoblocking can protect a network from unauthorized or undesirable traffic from specific regions or countries, but it does not redirect the traffic to a different destination.
• Sandboxing is a technique for isolating and executing potentially malicious code or applications in a separate and secure environment. Sandboxing can be implemented using virtual machines, containers, or software tools. Sandboxing can protect a network from malware infection or damage, but it does not redirect the network traffic to a different destination.

IaC stands for infrastructure as code, which is a practice of using code or configuration files to automate the provisioning and management of cloud resources. IaC templates can help ensure consistency, repeatability, and scalability of cloud deployments, as well as reduce human errors and misconfigurations. However, IaC templates need to be validated and tested before deployment, and any changes to the templates should be controlled and monitored. This can help minimize the occurrence of vulnerabilities introduced by unintentional misconfigurations in the cloud

Implementing input validation is the best way to locate and prevent the issue of manipulation of the public-facing web form used by customers to order products. Input validation is a technique that checks and filters any user input that is sent to an application before processing it. Input validation can help to ensure that the user input conforms to the expected format, length and type, and does not contain any malicious characters or syntax that may alter the logic or behavior of the application. Input validation can also reject or sanitize any input that does not meet the validation criteria .

 A security information and event management (SIEM) system is a tool that collects and analyzes log data from various sources and provides alerts and reports on security incidents and events. A security analyst can create a custom rule on a SIEM system to automate the incident response process for malware infections. For example, the analyst can create a rule that triggers an alert email when the SIEM system detects logs that match the criteria of malware infection, such as process name, file name, file hash, etc. The alert email can be sent within 30 minutes or any other desired time frame. The other options are not suitable or sufficient for this purpose. References: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) Certification Exam Objectives (CS0-002), page 15; https://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/analyst/security-information-event-management-siem-implementation-33969

A memory dump is a snapshot of the contents of the random access memory (RAM) of a system at a given point in time. A memory dump can provide valuable information for a forensic examiner who is investigating possible malware compromise on an active endpoint device, such as running processes, open files, network connections, encryption keys, or malware artifacts. Creating a memory dump from RAM should be the first step that the examiner performs, as it preserves the volatile data that could be lost or altered if the system is powered off or rebooted1.

Scanning the network is what the user is attempting to do based on the log entries. The log entries show that the user is sending ping requests to various IP addresses on different ports using a proxy server. Ping requests are a common network diagnostic tool that can be used to test network connectivity and latency by sending packets of data and measuring their response time. However, ping requests can also be used by attackers to scan the network and discover active hosts, open ports, or potential vulnerabilities .

"Technical controls enforce confidentiality, integrity, and availability in the digital space. Examples of technical security controls include firewall rules, access control lists, intrusion prevention systems, and encryption."

A technical control is a type of control that uses technology or software to protect data and systems from unauthorized access or misuse3. A technical control can include encryption, authentication, firewalls, antivirus software, and other mechanisms that rely on hardware or software. Placing an ACL (access control list) on a file folder is an example of a technical control. An ACL is a list of permissions that specifies who can access or modify a file or folder4. An ACL can help to enforce confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data by restricting access to authorized users only.

Disabling error messaging for authentication would be the best recommendation to decrease the likelihood that a malicious attacker will receive helpful information. Error messaging for authentication is a feature that displays an error message when a user enters an incorrect username or password. However, this feature can also provide useful information to an attacker who is trying to guess or brute-force valid credentials. For example, if the error message says “incorrect password for given username”, then the attacker knows that the username is valid and only needs to focus on cracking the password. Disabling error messaging for authentication can help reduce this information leakage and make it harder for an attacker to succeed.

Resource exhaustion occurs when a system runs out of resources such as memory, CPU, disk space, or network bandwidth due to excessive demand or poor management1. In this case, the server statistics show that the CPU usage is 100%, the memory usage is 99%, and the disk usage is 98%, indicating that the system is suffering from resource exhaustion. This can affect the performance and availability of the system and its applications. A race condition (A) is a condition where the system’s behavior depends on the sequence or timing of other uncontrollable events2. Privilege escalation (B) is a situation where an attacker gains unauthorized access to higher privileges or permissions on a system3. VM escape (D) is a technique where an attacker breaks out of a virtual machine and interacts with the host operating system.

References: 1: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/31686/resource-exhaustion  2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_condition  3: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/4111/privilege-escalation : https://www.techopedia.com/definition/32088/vm-escape

The analyst decided to include a custom lookup for these files on the endpoint’s log-in script as a mechanism to improve existing detection capabilities, by checking if any of these files are present on the endpoints during log-in. This can help identify any compromised endpoints that may have been infected by the zero-day vulnerability, and alert the analyst for further investigation or response.

mstsc.exe is the process name for Remote Desktop Connection, a program that allows users to connect to remote computers or servers over a network or the Internet12. mstsc.exe is an indicator of system compromise if the user did not initiate or authorize a remote connection, as it may mean that an attacker has gained access to the system and is using it to connect to other systems or exfiltrate data3.

Investing in a failover and redundant system, as necessary, is the best solution to improve the availability of the organization’s systems based on past incidents. A failover system is a backup system that automatically takes over the operation of a primary system in case of a failure or outage. A redundant system is a duplicate system that runs simultaneously with the primary system and provides backup functionality if needed. Investing in a failover and redundant system can help to ensure that the organization’s systems are always available and can handle the workload without interruption or degradation .

A hypothesis is a statement that can be tested by threat hunters to establish a framework for threat assessment. A hypothesis is based on situational awareness and threat intelligence information, and describes a possible attack scenario that may affect the organization. A hypothesis can help to guide threat hunters in their investigation by providing a clear and specific question to answer, such as “Is there any evidence of lateral movement within our network?” or “Are there any signs of data exfiltration from our servers?”.

This is a technique that is commonly used by malware to evade detection and blocking by security tools. The malware generates random domain names that are used to communicate with the command and control server, which can change its IP address frequently. The domain names are usually long and nonsensical, such as www.uewiryfajfchfaerwfj.co in the log.  The malware uses a predefined algorithm or a seed value to generate the same domain names as the server, so that they can find each other on the internet12.

The correct answer is D. Encryption. Encryption is a technical control that transforms data into an unreadable format using a secret key or algorithm. Encryption can protect data at rest by preventing unauthorized access, modification, or exfiltration of the data. Encryption can also protect data in transit and in use, depending on the type and level of encryption applied1.

Processing and exploitation is the step in the intelligence cycle that involves converting raw data into a format that can be used for analysis and producing intelligence products that can be disseminated to consumers. The security analyst is performing this step by correlating, ranking, and enriching raw data into a report. Analysis and production, dissemination and evaluation, data collection, and planning and direction are other steps in the intelligence cycle, but they do not match the description of the security analyst’s task. Reference: https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2010-featured-story-archive/intelligence-cycle.html

Communicate the security incident to the threat team for further review and analysis. This would allow the threat team to investigate the source and nature of the malicious traffic and create appropriate alerts or signatures to detect it in the future. Sharing details with human resources, noting the incident, or reporting it to a manager would not increase the chance of detection.

The best practice for establishing a digital certificate for a new application is to ensure the certificate is requested from a trusted CA. A CA stands for Certificate Authority, and it is an entity that issues and verifies digital certificates, which are electronic documents that contain a public key and a digital signature that prove the identity and authenticity of an application, a website, or a person. Requesting a certificate from a trusted CA can help ensure that the certificate is valid, secure, and recognized by other parties.

Deploying whitelisting to the identified workstations would be the best method to protect these workstations from threats. Whitelisting is a technique that allows only authorized applications, processes, or users to run or access a system or resource. Whitelisting can help limit the attack surface and prevent malware or unauthorized software from running on a system3. Deploying whitelisting to the workstations that are at the end of life can help mitigate the risk of exploitation due to lack of patches or support from the vendor.

Credentialed scanning is a method of vulnerability scanning that uses valid user credentials to access the target systems and perform a more thorough and accurate assessment of their security posture. Credentialed scanning can help to reduce the number of false positives by allowing the scanner to access more information and resources on the systems, such as configuration files, registry keys, installed software, patches, and permissions .

Segregation of duties is a security control that requires multiple people to be involved with completing a task. This helps prevent fraud, as it ensures that no one individual has the ability to commit fraud or make mistakes without other people being aware of it

A custom script is a piece of code that can be written to perform a specific task or automate a process. A custom script can be used to gather patch information on a specific server by querying the server’s operating system, registry, or patch management software and retrieving the relevant data. A custom script can be more flexible and efficient than other methods, such as Event Viewer, SCAP software, or CI/CD, which may not provide the exact information needed or may require additional steps or tools.

The security analyst should set up a PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) between Company A and Company B and exchange shared certificates between the two entities. This will allow them to establish a more automated approach to secure data transfers between their ERP systems. A PKI is a system that provides encryption and authentication services using public key cryptography. A PKI consists of certificates, certificate authorities (CAs), and other components that enable users to securely exchange data over untrusted networks. By exchanging shared certificates between Company A and Company B, they can verify each other’s identity and encrypt their data using public and private keys.

A good approach for modeling the client’s attack surface is to look at attacks against similar industry peers and assess the probability of the same attacks happening. This can help the consultant to identify the most relevant and likely threats for the client based on their industry sector, size, location, and other factors. This can also help the consultant to prioritize the most critical risks and recommend appropriate mitigation strategies. Asking for external scans from industry peers (A) may not be feasible or reliable, as industry peers may not share their scan results or have different security configurations and vulnerabilities than the client. Discussing potential tools the client can purchase (B) may not be effective, as tools alone cannot reduce the likelihood of an attack without proper implementation and management. Meeting with senior management team (D) may not be helpful, as funding is not directly related to modeling the attack surface and may depend on other factors such as budget constraints and risk appetite.

This best describes the utility of the structured loC data contributed by other members of the information sharing and analysis center (ISAC) for its sector. loC stands for indicator of compromise, which is a piece of information that suggests a potential intrusion or attack, such as an IP address, a file hash, a domain name, or a malware signature. By sharing loC data, the ISAC members can benefit from each other’s threat intelligence and improve their security defenses.

Adding TXT @ “v=spfl mx include:_spf.comptia. org -all” to the DNS record can help to prevent outside entities from spoofing the company’s email domain, which is comptia.org. This is an example of a Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record, which is a type of DNS record that specifies which mail servers are authorized to send email on behalf of a domain. SPF records can help to prevent spoofing by allowing the recipient mail servers to check the validity of the sender’s domain against the SPF record. The “-all” at the end of the SPF record indicates that any mail server that is not listed in the SPF record is not authorized to send email for comptia.org .

Automated security controls testing is a method that uses tools or scripts to verify that the security controls of a system or device are configured correctly and comply with the organization’s policies and standards. Performing automated security controls testing of expected configurations prior to production would help prevent a recurrence of the risk exposure caused by missing antivirus, unnecessary ports enabled, and insufficient password complexity. Performing password-cracking attempts, Nmap scans, or antivirus scans on all devices before they are released to production are other methods that can help detect some security issues, but they are not as comprehensive or efficient as automated security controls testing. Reference: https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2017/04/28/sp800-115.pdf

The most secure states for the certificate authority server when it is not in use are powered off and air gapped. Powering off the server will prevent any unauthorized access or tampering with the server while it is idle. Air gapping the server will isolate it from any network connections, making it inaccessible to remote attackers or malware. These measures will help to protect the integrity and confidentiality of the certificate authority server and its keys.

 UEFI, or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, is a specification that defines the software interface between an operating system and platform firmware. UEFI replaces the legacy BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) interface that was used to boot and configure computers. UEFI provides several advantages over BIOS, such as faster boot times, better security features, larger disk support, graphical user interface, etc. One of the security features that UEFI supports is Secure Boot, which is a mechanism that ensures that only authorized software can run during the boot process. Secure Boot prevents unauthorized or malicious code from loading or executing before the operating system starts. Secure Boot works by verifying the digital signature of each piece of boot software against a database of trusted keys stored in UEFI firmware. If the signature is valid, the software is allowed to run; otherwise, it is blocked or rejected.

A port scan generated the output. A port scan is a type of attack that probes a host or a network for open ports or services. A port scan can help an attacker discover potential vulnerabilities or entry points for further exploitation. The output shows that tcpdump captured packets with different flags, such as SYN, ACK, RST, and FIN, which indicate different stages of the TCP three-way handshake or connection termination. The output also shows that the source IP address 192.168.1.100 sent packets to different destination ports on the target IP address 192.168.1.101, such as 22, 23, 25, 80, and 443. These are common ports that an attacker would scan to find out what services are running on the target.

SCAP is a protocol designed to assess the security compliance of computers and other devices. It works by scanning systems against security policies, and can help verify that the scanned device meets security requirements. Here is a link to the CompTIA CySA+ Guide's Chapter 5 - Access Controls for more information: https://certification.comptia.org/docs/default-source/exam-objectives/cs0-002.pdf

Requiring support teams to develop a corrective control that ensures security failures are addressed once they are identified is the best step to prevent future issues from being remediated. Corrective controls are actions or mechanisms that are implemented after a security incident or failure has occurred to fix or restore the normal state of the system or network. Corrective controls can include patching, updating, repairing, restoring, or reconfiguring systems or components that were affected by the incident or failure .

Credential vaulting is a solution that would best satisfy the organization’s goal of implementing a privileged access management solution. Credential vaulting is a technique that securely stores and manages the credentials of privileged accounts, such as emergency and service accounts. Credential vaulting can help prevent unauthorized or accidental use of privileged accounts by enforcing strict access policies, such as requiring approval, authentication, or auditing for each access request. Credential vaulting can also help rotate or expire the passwords of privileged accounts to reduce the risk of compromise3.

This is the primary reason why financial institutions may share up-to-date threat intelligence information on a secure feed that is dedicated to their sector. Threat intelligence is the collection, analysis, and dissemination of information about current or potential threats to an organization’s assets, operations, or reputation. By sharing threat intelligence information, financial institutions can benefit from the collective knowledge, experience, and capabilities of their peers and partners, and enhance their situational awareness, threat detection, and incident response. Sharing threat intelligence information can also help financial institutions identify common attack patterns, trends, and techniques, as well as the malicious actors and indicators of compromise (IOCs) associated with them. IOCs are pieces of forensic data that can be used to identify potentially malicious activities or intrusions on a network or system, such as IP addresses, domains, URLs, file hashes, or email addresses

In this scenario, the issue is related to manipulation of the public-facing web form, indicating that attackers might be altering the prices before submitting the form. One of the best ways to prevent such attacks is to implement input validation, which can help ensure that the data submitted to the web form is correct, complete, and in the expected format. Input validation can also help prevent SQL injection and other types of web-based attacks.

Implementing privileged access management (PAM) would be the best countermeasure to prevent the loss of customers’ sensitive data due to a rise in cyberattackers seeking PHI (Protected Health Information). PAM is a solution that helps to control and monitor the access and use of privileged accounts, such as administrator or root accounts, that have elevated permissions or access to sensitive data. PAM can help prevent unauthorized or accidental use of privileged accounts by enforcing strict access policies, such as requiring approval, authentication, or auditing for each access request. PAM can also help rotate or expire the passwords of privileged accounts to reduce the risk of compromise2. PAM can help protect PHI from cyberattackers who may try to exploit privileged accounts to access or exfiltrate sensitive data.

 The security analyst should implement a control that uses built-in functions from libraries to check and handle long numbers properly. This will help prevent integer overflow vulnerabilities, which occur when a value is moved into a variable type too small to hold it. For example, if an integer variable can only store values up to 255, and a value of 256 is assigned to it, the variable will overflow and wrap around to 0. This can cause unexpected program behavior or lead to buffer overflow vulnerabilities if the overflowed value is used as an index or size for memory allocation1. Built-in functions from libraries can help avoid integer overflow by performing checks on the input values and the resulting values, and throwing exceptions or errors if they exceed the limits of the variable type2.

A compensating control, also called an alternative control, is a mechanism that is put in place to satisfy the requirement for a security measure that is deemed too difficult or impractical to implement at the present time.

"Compensating controls are additional security measures that you take to address a vulnerability without remediating the underlying issue."

A compensating control is a control that reduces the risk of an existing or potential control weakness2 In this case, the lack of segregation of duties in the accounting department is a control weakness that increases the risk of fraud or error. The quarterly reviews by a different officer are a compensating control that reduces this risk by providing an independent verification of the transactions recorded by the controller.

 According to the CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) Certification Exam Objectives1, one of the skills required for the exam is to “apply incident response procedures and analyze potential indicators of compromise (IOCs)”. The document also states that “the first step in incident response is to contain the incident and prevent further damage” (page 14).

Based on this information, the best answer to your question is C. Remove the malware from the host. This would prevent the malware from spreading to other machines or exfiltrating data from the infected host.

Encapsulated traffic may evade security monitoring and defenses by hiding or obfuscating the actual content or source of the traffic. Encapsulation is a technique that wraps data packets with additional headers or protocols to enable communication across different network types or layers. Encapsulation can be used for legitimate purposes, such as tunneling, VPNs, or NAT, but it can also be used by attackers to bypass security controls or detection mechanisms that are not able to inspect or analyze the encapsulated traffic .