200-201 Security Concepts Practice Test 6 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A security engineer is implementing controls to meet compliance requirements. Which TWO of the following frameworks are specifically designed for protecting personal data?

Accepted Answer

HIPAA. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is a U.S. federal law that mandates specific safeguards for protecting individually identifiable health information (PHI). It directly addresses the privacy and security of personal health data, making it a framework specifically designed for protecting personal data in the healthcare context.

Answer

NIST Cybersecurity Framework

Answer

PCI DSS

Answer

ISO 27001

Question 2

Which element of the CIA triad ensures that data cannot be modified by unauthorized parties?

Accepted Answer

Integrity. Integrity ensures that data is not altered by unauthorized individuals or processes.

Answer

Non-repudiation

Answer

Confidentiality

Answer

Availability

Question 3

A security analyst is notified that an employee's laptop was stolen. The laptop contains sensitive customer data. Which type of threat does this incident represent?

Accepted Answer

Threat. The threat is the potential compromise of confidentiality due to physical theft of a device containing sensitive data.

Answer

Exploit

Answer

Risk

Answer

Vulnerability

Question 4

An attacker sends a fraudulent email that appears to come from the company's IT department, requesting that the recipient click a link and enter their login credentials. Which type of social engineering attack is this?

Accepted Answer

Phishing. This is a phishing attack because the attacker uses a fraudulent email that impersonates a trusted entity (the IT department) to trick the recipient into clicking a malicious link and entering sensitive login credentials. Phishing is a broad category of social engineering that relies on deceptive electronic communications, typically email, to harvest credentials or deliver malware.

Answer

Vishing

Answer

Pretexting

Answer

Spear phishing

Question 5

Which type of malware is designed to encrypt files on a victim's system and demand payment for the decryption key?

Accepted Answer

Ransomware. Ransomware is the correct answer because it is specifically designed to encrypt files on a victim's system using a symmetric or asymmetric encryption algorithm (e.g., AES-256, RSA-2048) and then demand a ransom payment, typically in cryptocurrency, in exchange for the decryption key. This type of malware directly targets data availability, a core component of the CIA triad, by rendering files inaccessible until the ransom is paid.

Answer

Rootkit

Answer

Worm

Answer

Trojan horse

Question 6

A security analyst is reviewing logs and notices that an attacker has intercepted and modified communications between two devices without their knowledge. Which type of attack is this?

Accepted Answer

Man-in-the-middle (MitM). This scenario describes an attacker intercepting and modifying communications between two devices without their knowledge, which is the defining characteristic of a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack. In a MitM attack, the attacker positions themselves between the two communicating parties, allowing them to eavesdrop, capture, and alter data in transit while both endpoints believe they are communicating directly with each other.

Answer

ARP spoofing

Answer

DNS poisoning

Answer

Denial of Service (DoS)

Question 7

Which encryption method uses a single key for both encryption and decryption of data?

Accepted Answer

Symmetric encryption. Symmetric encryption uses a single shared key for both encryption and decryption of data. This is the defining characteristic of symmetric algorithms like AES, DES, and 3DES, where the same secret key must be known to both sender and receiver to protect confidentiality.

Answer

Asymmetric encryption

Answer

Digital signature

Answer

Hashing

Question 8

An organization wants to ensure that a received email genuinely came from the claimed sender and has not been altered. Which cryptographic mechanism provides both authentication and integrity?

Accepted Answer

Digital signature. A digital signature uses the sender's private key to sign the message, and the recipient verifies it with the sender's public key. This process provides authentication (proving the sender's identity) and integrity (detecting any alteration) because any change to the message invalidates the signature. Hash functions alone provide integrity but not authentication, while PKI is the infrastructure that supports digital signatures but is not the mechanism itself.

Answer

Hash function

Answer

Public key infrastructure (PKI)

Answer

Symmetric encryption

Question 9

Which compliance standard specifically applies to organizations that handle credit card information?

Accepted Answer

PCI DSS. PCI DSS is the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard for credit card data.

Answer

HIPAA

Answer

GDPR

Answer

ISO 27001

Question 10

A security analyst needs to verify that a downloaded software update has not been tampered with. The update's publisher provides a file containing a hash value. Which process should the analyst use to verify integrity?

Accepted Answer

Compute the file's hash and compare it with the provided hash. Verifying file integrity involves computing a cryptographic hash (e.g., SHA-256) of the downloaded file and comparing it to the hash provided by the publisher. If the hashes match, the file has not been altered; any tampering would produce a different hash value. This is a standard integrity check, not a confidentiality or authentication mechanism.

Answer

Decrypt the file using the publisher's public key

Answer

Use a digital signature to sign the file

Answer

Encrypt the file using the publisher's private key

Question 11

An attacker uses a tool to scan all IP addresses in a range to identify which hosts are online and what services are running. Which type of reconnaissance is this?

Accepted Answer

Active reconnaissance. Active reconnaissance involves direct interaction with the target, such as port scanning and ping sweeps.

Answer

Denial of Service

Answer

Passive reconnaissance

Answer

Social engineering

Question 12

An organization wants to ensure that a user cannot deny having sent an email. Which security goal does this address?

Accepted Answer

Non-repudiation. Non-repudiation ensures that a party cannot deny having performed a specific action, such as sending an email. This is typically achieved through digital signatures using asymmetric cryptography (e.g., RSA or ECDSA) and public key infrastructure (PKI), where the sender's private key creates a signature that can be verified by anyone with the sender's public key. The goal is to provide irrefutable proof of origin and integrity, preventing the sender from later claiming they did not send the message.

Answer

Availability

Answer

Integrity

Answer

Confidentiality

Question 13

Which component of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework involves taking action to stop an ongoing attack?

Accepted Answer

Respond. The Respond function includes activities to contain and mitigate incidents.

Answer

Identify

Answer

Detect

Answer

Protect

Question 14

A security analyst is investigating a potential data breach. The analyst identifies that the attacker used a technique to impersonate a legitimate user by spoofing the MAC address and IP address. Which TWO types of network attacks could involve these techniques? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

ARP spoofing. ARP spoofing is correct because it involves an attacker sending forged ARP messages over a local network to associate their MAC address with the IP address of a legitimate user. This allows the attacker to intercept, modify, or redirect traffic intended for that user, effectively impersonating them at Layer 2.

Answer

Denial of Service

Answer

DNS poisoning

Answer

Phishing

Question 15

An organization wants to protect sensitive data at rest and in transit. Which THREE cryptographic methods can provide confidentiality? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Transport Layer Security (TLS). Symmetric encryption, asymmetric encryption, and TLS (which uses both) provide confidentiality. Hashing does not.

Answer

Digital signature

Answer

Hashing