CompTIA Security+ Question L-89

Peter, an administrator, installs a web server on the Internet that performs credit card transactions for customer payments. Peter also sets up a second web server that looks like the first web server.
However, the second server contains fabricated files and folders made to look like payments were processed on this server but really were not. Which of the following is the second server?

A. DMZ
B. Honeynet
C. VLAN
D. Honeypot

Answer: D

Explanation:
In this scenario, the second web server is a ‘fake’ webserver designed to attract attacks. We can then monitor the second server to view the attacks and then ensure that the ‘real’ web server is secure against such attacks. The second web server is a honeypot.

A honeypot is a system whose purpose it is to be attacked. An administrator can watch and study the attack to research current attack methodologies.

According to the Wepopedia.com, a Honeypot luring a hacker into a system has several main purposes:

The administrator can watch the hacker exploit the vulnerabilities of the system, thereby learning where the system has weaknesses that need to be redesigned. The hacker can be caught and stopped while trying to obtain root access to the system. By studying the activities of hackers, designers can better create more secure systems that are potentially invulnerable to future hackers.

There are two main types of honeypots: Production – A production honeypot is one used within an organization’s environment to help mitigate risk. Research – A research honeypot add value to research in computer security by providing a

platform to study the threat.

CompTIA Security+ Question L-53

Peter, the security administrator, has determined that one of his web servers is under attack. Which of the following can help determine where the attack originated from?

A. Capture system image
B. Record time offset
C. Screenshots
D. Network sniffing

Answer: D

Explanation:
Network sniffing is the process of capturing and analyzing the packets sent between systems on the network. A network sniffer is also known as a Protocol Analyzer.

A Protocol Analyzer is a hardware device or more commonly a software program used to capture network data communications sent between devices on a network. Capturing and analyzing the packets sent to the web server will help determine the source IP address of the system sending the packets. Well known software protocol analyzers include Message Analyzer (formerly Network Monitor) from Microsoft and Wireshark (formerly Ethereal).

CompTIA Security+ Question L-34

Which of the following is the MOST intrusive type of testing against a production system?

A. White box testing
B. War dialing
C. Vulnerability testing
D. Penetration testing

Answer: D

Explanation:
Penetration testing is the most intrusive type of testing because you are actively trying to circumvent the system’s security controls to gain access to the system. Penetration testing (also called pen testing) is the practice of testing a computer system, network or Web application to find vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit. Pen tests can be automated with software applications or they can be performed manually. Either way, the process includes gathering information about the target before the test (reconnaissance), identifying possible entry points, attempting to break in (either virtually or for real) and reporting back the findings. The main objective of penetration testing is to determine security weaknesses. A pen test can also be used to test an organization’s security policy compliance, its employees’ security awareness and the organization’s ability to identify and respond to security incidents. Penetration tests are sometimes called white hat attacks because in a pen test, the good guys are attempting to break in.

Pen test strategies include:

Targeted testing Targeted testing is performed by the organization’s IT team and the penetration testing team working together. It’s sometimes referred to as a “lights-turned-on” approach because everyone can see the test being carried out.

External testing This type of pen test targets a company’s externally visible servers or devices including domain name servers (DNS), e-mail servers, Web servers or firewalls. The objective is to find out if an outside attacker can get in and how far they can get in once they’ve gained access.

Internal testing This test mimics an inside attack behind the firewall by an authorized user with standard access privileges. This kind of test is useful for estimating how much damage a disgruntled employee could cause.

Blind testing A blind test strategy simulates the actions and procedures of a real attacker by severely limiting the information given to the person or team that’s performing the test beforehand. Typically, they may only be given the name of the company. Because this type of test can require a considerable amount of time for reconnaissance, it can be expensive.

Double blind testing Double blind testing takes the blind test and carries it a step further. In this type of pen test, only one or two people within the organization might be aware a test is being conducted. Double-blind tests can be useful for testing an organization’s security monitoring and incident identification as well as its response procedures.

CompTIA Security+ Question L-22

Users are unable to connect to the web server at IP 192.168.0.20. Which of the following can be inferred of a firewall that is configured ONLY with the following ACL?
PERMIT TCP ANY HOST 192.168.0.10 EQ 80
PERMIT TCP ANY HOST 192.168.0.10 EQ 443

A. It implements stateful packet filtering.
B. It implements bottom-up processing.
C. It failed closed.
D. It implements an implicit deny.

Answer: D

Explanation:
Implicit deny is the default security stance that says if you aren’t specifically granted access or privileges for a resource, you’re denied access by default. Implicit deny is the default response when an explicit allow or deny isn’t present.

CompTIA Security+ Question L-10

A small company can only afford to buy an all-in-one wireless router/switch. The company has 3 wireless BYOD users and 2 web servers without wireless access. Which of the following should the company configure to protect the servers from the user devices? (Select TWO).

A. Deny incoming connections to the outside router interface.
B. Change the default HTTP port
C. Implement EAP-TLS to establish mutual authentication
D. Disable the physical switch ports
E. Create a server VLAN
F. Create an ACL to access the server

Answer: E,F

Explanation:
We can protect the servers from the user devices by separating them into separate VLANs (virtual local area networks).

The network device in the question is a router/switch. We can use the router to allow access from devices in one VLAN to the servers in the other VLAN. We can configure an ACL (Access Control List) on the router to determine who is able to access the server.

In computer networking, a single layer-2 network may be partitioned to create multiple distinct broadcast domains, which are mutually isolated so that packets can only pass between them via one or more routers; such a domain is referred to as a virtual local area network, virtual LAN or VLAN. This is usually achieved on switch or router devices. Simpler devices only support partitioning on a port level (if at all), so sharing VLANs across devices requires running dedicated cabling for each VLAN. More sophisticated devices can mark packets through tagging, so that a single interconnect (trunk) may be used to transport data for multiple VLANs. Grouping hosts with a common set of requirements regardless of their physical location by VLAN can greatly simplify network design. A VLAN has the same attributes as a physical local area network (LAN), but it allows for end stations to be grouped together more easily even if they are not on the same network switch. The network described in this question is a DMZ, not a VLAN.

CompTIA Security+ Question L-8

A server with the IP address of 10.10.2.4 has been having intermittent connection issues. The logs show repeated connection attempts from the following IPs:
10.10.3.16
10.10.3.23
212.178.24.26
217.24.94.83
These attempts are overloading the server to the point that it cannot respond to traffic. Which of the following attacks is occurring?

A. XSS
B. DDoS
C. DoS
D. Xmas

Answer: B

Explanation:
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is an attack from several different computers targeting a single computer. One common method of attack involves saturating the target machine with external communications requests, so much so that it cannot respond to legitimate traffic, or responds so slowly as to be rendered essentially unavailable. Such attacks usually lead to a server overload.

A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack occurs when multiple systems flood the bandwidth or resources of a targeted system, usually one or more web servers. Such an attack is often the result of multiple compromised systems (for example a botnet) flooding the targeted system with traffic. When a server is overloaded with connections, new connections can no longer be accepted. The major advantages to an attacker of using a distributed denial-of-service attack are that multiple machines can generate more attack traffic than one machine, multiple attack machines are harder to turn off than one attack machine, and that the behavior of each attack machine can be stealthier, making it harder to track and shut down. These attacker advantages cause challenges for defense mechanisms. For example, merely purchasing more incoming bandwidth than the current volume of the attack might not help, because the attacker might be able to simply add more attack machines. This after all will end up completely crashing a website for periods of time. Malware can carry DDoS attack mechanisms; one of the better-known examples of this was MyDoom. Its DoS mechanism was triggered on a specific date and time. This type of DDoS involved hardcoding the target IP address prior to release of the malware and no further interaction was necessary to launch the attack.

CompTIA Security+ Question L-4

An administrator is investigating a system that may potentially be compromised, and sees the following log entries on the router.
*Jul 15 14:47:29.779:%Router1: list 101 permitted tcp 192.10.3.204(57222) (FastEthernet 0/3) ->
10.10.1.5 (6667), 3 packets.
*Jul 15 14:47:38.779:%Router1: list 101 permitted tcp 192.10.3.204(57222) (FastEthernet 0/3) ->
10.10.1.5 (6667), 6 packets.
*Jul 15 14:47:45.779:%Router1: list 101 permitted tcp 192.10.3.204(57222) (FastEthernet 0/3) ->
10.10.1.5 (6667), 8 packets.
Which of the following BEST describes the compromised system?

A. It is running a rogue web server
B. It is being used in a man-in-the-middle attack
C. It is participating in a botnet
D. It is an ARP poisoning attack

Answer: C

Explanation:
In this question, we have a source computer (192.10.3.204) sending data to a single destination IP address 10.10.1.5. No data is being received back by source computer which suggests the data being sent is some kind of Denial-of-service attack. This is common practice for computers participating in a botnet. The port used is TCP 6667 which is IRC (Internet Relay Chat). This port is used by many Trojans and is commonly used for DoS attacks.

Software running on infected computers called zombies is often known as a botnet. Bots, by themselves, are but a form of software that runs automatically and autonomously. (For example, Google uses the Googlebot to find web pages and bring back values for the index.) Botnet, however, has come to be the word used to describe malicious software running on a zombie and under the control of a bot-herder. Denial-of-service attacks—DoS and DDoS—can be launched by botnets, as can many forms of adware, spyware, and spam (via spambots). Most bots are written to run in the background with no visible evidence of their presence. Many malware kits can be used to create botnets and modify existing ones.

CompTIA Security+ Question K-95

A new web server has been provisioned at a third party hosting provider for processing credit card transactions. The security administrator runs the netstat command on the server and notices that ports 80, 443, and 3389 are in a `listening’ state. No other ports are open. Which of the following services should be disabled to ensure secure communications?

A. HTTPS
B. HTTP
C. RDP
D. TELNET

Answer: B

Explanation:
* HTTP uses port 80. HTTP does not provide encrypted communications. Port 443 is used by HTTPS which provides secure encrypted communications. Port 3389 is used by RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) which does provide encrypted communications.

CompTIA Security+ Question K-85

Four weeks ago, a network administrator applied a new IDS and allowed it to gather baseline data. As rumors of a layoff began to spread, the IDS alerted the network administrator that access to sensitive client files had risen far above normal. Which of the following kind of IDS is in use?

A. Protocol based
B. Heuristic based
C. Signature based
D. Anomaly based

Answer: D

Explanation:
Most intrusion detection systems (IDS) are what is known as signature-based. This means that they operate in much the same way as a virus scanner, by searching for a known identity – or signature – for each specific intrusion event. And, while signature-based IDS is very efficient at sniffing out known methods of attack, it does, like anti-virus software, depend on receiving regular signature updates, to keep in touch with variations in hacker technique. In other words, signature-based IDS is only as good as its database of stored signatures. Any organization wanting to implement a more thorough – and hence safer – solution, should consider what we call anomaly-based IDS. By its nature, anomaly-based IDS is a rather more complex creature. In network traffic terms, it captures all the headers of the IP packets running towards the network. From this, it filters out all known and legal traffic, including web traffic to the organization’s web server, mail traffic to and from its mail server, outgoing web traffic from company employees and DNS traffic to and from its DNS server.

There are other equally obvious advantages to using anomaly-based IDS. For example, because it detects any traffic that is new or unusual, the anomaly method is particularly good at identifying sweeps and probes towards network hardware. It can, therefore, give early warnings of potential intrusions, because probes and scans are the predecessors of all attacks. And this applies equally to any new service installed on any item of hardware – for example, Telnet deployed on a network router for maintenance purposes and forgotten about when the maintenance was finished. This makes anomaly-based IDS perfect for detecting anything from port anomalies and web anomalies to mis-formed attacks, where the URL is deliberately mis-typed.

CompTIA Security+ Question K-58

An achievement in providing worldwide Internet security was the signing of certificates associated with which of the following protocols?

A. TCP/IP
B. SSL
C. SCP
D. SSH

Answer: B

Explanation:
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is used for establishing an encrypted link between two computers, typically a web server and a browser. SSL is used to enable sensitive information such as login credentials and credit card numbers to be transmitted securely.