CompTIA Security+ Question F-100

Peter, a technician, is tasked with finding a way to test operating system patches for a wide variety of servers before deployment to the production environment while utilizing a limited amount of hardware resources. Which of the following would provide the BEST environment for performing this testing?

A. OS hardening
B. Application control
C. Virtualization
D. Sandboxing

Answer: C

Explanation:
Virtualization is used to host one or more operating systems in the memory of a single host computer and allows multiple operating systems to run simultaneously on the same hardware, reducing costs. Virtualization offers the flexibility of quickly and easily making backups of entire virtual systems, and quickly recovering the virtual system when errors occur. Furthermore, malicious code compromises of virtual systems rarely affect the host system, which allows for safer testing and experimentation.

CompTIA Security+ Question E-70

An IT security technician needs to establish host based security for company workstations. Which of the following will BEST meet this requirement?

A. Implement IIS hardening by restricting service accounts.
B. Implement database hardening by applying vendor guidelines.
C. Implement perimeter firewall rules to restrict access.
D. Implement OS hardening by applying GPOs.

Answer: D

Explanation:
Hardening is the process of securing a system by reducing its surface of vulnerability. Reducing the surface of vulnerability typically includes removing or disabling unnecessary functions and features, removing or disabling unnecessary user accounts, disabling unnecessary protocols and ports, and disabling unnecessary services. This can be implemented using the native security features of an operating system, such as Group Policy Objects (GPOs).

CompTIA Security+ Question B-91

Which of the following solutions provides the most flexibility when testing new security controls prior to implementation?

A. Trusted OS
B. Host software baselining
C. OS hardening
D. Virtualization

Answer: D

Explanation:
Virtualization is used to host one or more operating systems in the memory of a single host computer and allows multiple operating systems to run simultaneously on the same hardware. Virtualization offers the flexibility of quickly and easily making backups of entire virtual systems, and quickly recovering the virtual system when errors occur. Furthermore, malicious code compromises of virtual systems rarely affect the host system, which allows for safer testing and experimentation.

CompTIA Security+ Question B-34

A set of standardized system images with a pre-defined set of applications is used to build end-user workstations. The security administrator has scanned every workstation to create a current inventory of all applications that are installed on active workstations and is documenting which applications are out-of-date and could be exploited. The security administrator is determining the:

A. attack surface.
B. application hardening effectiveness.
C. application baseline.
D. OS hardening effectiveness.

Answer: A

Explanation:
In this question, we have out-of-date applications that could be exploited. The out-of-date applications are security vulnerabilities. The combination of all vulnerabilities that could be exploited (or attacked) is known as the attack surface.

The attack surface of a software environment is the sum of the different points (the “attack vectors”) where an unauthorized user (the “attacker”) can try to enter data to or extract data from an environment. The basic strategies of attack surface reduction are to reduce the amount of code running, reduce entry points available to untrusted users, and eliminate services requested by relatively few users. One approach to improving information security is to reduce the attack surface of a system or software. By turning off unnecessary functionality, there are fewer security risks. By having less code available to unauthorized actors, there will tend to be fewer failures. Although attack surface reduction helps prevent security failures, it does not mitigate the amount of damage an attacker could inflict once a vulnerability is found.