Emily, a hacker, is completing a website form to request a free coupon. The site has a field that limits the request to 3 or fewer coupons. While submitting the form, Emily runs an application on her machine to intercept the HTTP POST command and change the field from 3 coupons to 30. Which of the following was used to perform this attack?
A. SQL injection B. XML injection C. Packet sniffer D. Proxy
Answer: B
Explanation: When a web user takes advantage of a weakness with SQL by entering values that they should not, it is known as a SQL injection attack. Similarly, when the user enters values that query XML (known as XPath) with values that take advantage of exploits, it is known as an XML injection attack. XPath works in a similar manner to SQL, except that it does not have the same levels of access control, and taking advantage of weaknesses within can return entire documents. The best way to prevent XML injection attacks is to filter the user’s input and sanitize it to make certain that it does not cause XPath to return more data than it should.
Peter a company’s new security specialist is assigned a role to conduct monthly vulnerability scans across the network. He notices that the scanner is returning a large amount of false positives or failed audits. Which of the following should Peter recommend to remediate these issues?
A. Ensure the vulnerability scanner is located in a segmented VLAN that has access to the company’s servers B. Ensure the vulnerability scanner is configured to authenticate with a privileged account C. Ensure the vulnerability scanner is attempting to exploit the weaknesses it discovers D. Ensure the vulnerability scanner is conducting antivirus scanning
Answer: A
Explanation: The vulnerability scanner is returning false positives because it is trying to scan servers that it doesn’t have access to; for example, servers on the Internet. We need to ensure that the local network servers only are scanned. We can do this by locating the vulnerability scanner in a segmented VLAN that has access to the company’s servers.
A false positive is an error in some evaluation process in which a condition tested for is mistakenly found to have been detected. In spam filters, for example, a false positive is a legitimate message mistakenly marked as UBE -unsolicited bulk email, as junk email is more formally known. Messages that are determined to be spam — whether correctly or incorrectly — may be rejected by a server or client-side spam filter and returned to the sender as bounce e-mail. One problem with many spam filtering tools is that if they are configured stringently enough to be effective, there is a fairly high chance of getting false positives. The risk of accidentally blocking an important message has been enough to deter many companies from implementing any anti-spam measures at all. False positives are also common in security systems. A host intrusion prevention system (HIPS), for example, looks for anomalies, such as deviations in bandwidth, protocols and ports. When activity varies outside of an acceptable range – for example, a remote application attempting to open a normally closed port — an intrusion may be in progress. However, an anomaly, such as a sudden spike in bandwidth use, does not guarantee an actual attack, so this approach amounts to an educated guess and the chance for false positives can be high. False positives contrast with false negatives, which are results indicating mistakenly that some condition tested for is absent.
Which of the following can be used by a security administrator to successfully recover a user’s forgotten password on a password protected file?
A. Cognitive password B. Password sniffing C. Brute force D. Social engineering
Answer: C
Explanation: One way to recover a user’s forgotten password on a password protected file is to guess it. A brute force attack is an automated attempt to open the file by using many different passwords.
A brute force attack is a trial-and-error method used to obtain information such as a user password or personal identification number (PIN). In a brute force attack, automated software is used to generate a large number of consecutive guesses as to the value of the desired data. Brute force attacks may be used by criminals to crack encrypted data, or by security analysts to test an organization’s network security. A brute force attack may also be referred to as brute force cracking. For example, a form of brute force attack known as a dictionary attack might try all the words in a dictionary. Other forms of brute force attack might try commonly-used passwords or combinations of letters and numbers. An attack of this nature can be time- and resource-consuming. Hence the name “brute force attack;” success is usually based on computing power and the number of combinations tried rather than an ingenious algorithm.
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.
A technician has just installed a new firewall onto the network. Users are reporting that they cannot reach any website. Upon further investigation, the technician determines that websites can be reached by entering their IP addresses. Which of the following ports may have been closed to cause this issue?
A. HTTP B. DHCP C. DNS D. NetBIOS
Answer: C
Explanation: DNS links IP addresses and human-friendly fully qualified domain names (FQDNs), which are made up of the Top-level domain (TLD), the registered domain name, and the Subdomain or hostname.
Therefore, if the DNS ports are blocked websites will not be reachable.
Peter, a network security engineer, has visibility to network traffic through network monitoring tools. However, he’s concerned that a disgruntled employee may be targeting a server containing the company’s financial records. Which of the following security mechanism would be MOST appropriate to confirm Peter’s suspicion?
A. HIDS B. HIPS C. NIPS D. NIDS
Answer: A
Explanation: A host-based IDS (HIDS) is an intrusion detection system that runs as a service on a host computer system. It is used to monitor the machine logs, system events, and application activity for signs of intrusion. It is useful for detecting attacks that originate outside the organization as well as attacks by internal users logged on to the system.
A new security analyst is given the task of determining whether any of the company’s servers are vulnerable to a recently discovered attack on an old version of SSH. Which of the following is the quickest FIRST step toward determining the version of SSH running on these servers?
A. Passive scanning B. Banner grabbing C. Protocol analysis D. Penetration testing
Answer: B
Explanation: B: Banner grabbing looks at the banner, or header information messages sent with data to find out about the system(s). Banners often identify the host, the operating system running on it, and other information that can be useful if you are going to attempt to later breach the security of it. Banners can be snagged with Telnet as well as tools like netcat or Nmap. In other words Banner grabbing looks at the banner, or header, information messages sent with data to find out about the system(s). Thus a quick way to check which version of SSH is running on your server.
During a disaster recovery planning session, a security administrator has been tasked with determining which threats and vulnerabilities pose a risk to the organization. Which of the following should the administrator rate as having the HIGHEST frequency of risk to the organization?
A. Hostile takeovers B. Large scale natural disasters C. Malware and viruses D. Corporate espionage
Answer: C
Explanation: The most common threat to an organization is computer viruses or malware. A computer can become infected with a virus through day-to-day activities such as browsing web sites or emails. As browsing and opening emails are the most common activities performed by all users, computer viruses represent the most likely risk to a business. Common examples of malware include viruses, worms, trojan horses, and spyware. Viruses, for example, can cause havoc on a computer’s hard drive by deleting files or directory information. Spyware can gather data from a user’s system without the user knowing it. This can include anything from the Web pages a user visits to personal information, such as credit card numbers.