CS0-003 Practice Test 3 — 25 Questions

Question 1

During a post-compromise review, a laptop may contain evidence for a legal investigation. What should the responder document during acquisition? During post-incident improvement, which decision is most defensible? which action should be prioritized before closure?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Who collected it, when, where, hash values, transfer details, and storage location. Forensic acquisition requires a complete chain of custody to ensure evidence integrity and admissibility in legal proceedings. Documenting who collected the evidence, when and where it was collected, cryptographic hash values (e.g., SHA-256) to verify data integrity, transfer details (e.g., write-blocker used, network path), and storage location provides a defensible record that meets legal and organizational standards.

Answer

Only the laptop colour

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Only the ticket priority

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Only the user's job title

Question 2

Arrange the steps for configuring a firewall rule set in the correct order.

Accepted Answer

Identify traffic, Create rule, Apply to interface, Test, Monitor. Firewall rule configuration involves identifying traffic, creating rules, applying to interface, testing, and monitoring.

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Create rule, Identify traffic, Apply to interface, Test, Monitor

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Apply to interface, Create rule, Identify traffic, Test, Monitor

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Identify traffic, Test, Create rule, Apply to interface, Monitor

Question 3

Order the steps for deploying a new security patch to a production environment.

Accepted Answer

Download/verify the patch -> Test in staging environment -> Backup production systems -> Roll out the patch to production -> Monitor for issues. Patch deployment involves download/verification, testing, backup, rollout, and monitoring.

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Backup production systems -> Download/verify the patch -> Test in staging environment -> Roll out the patch to production -> Monitor for issues

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Download/verify the patch -> Backup production systems -> Test in staging environment -> Roll out the patch to production -> Monitor for issues

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Download/verify the patch -> Roll out the patch to production -> Test in staging environment -> Backup production systems -> Monitor for issues

Question 4

A container workload unexpectedly starts a shell, mounts the host filesystem, and attempts outbound connections to an unknown IP. Which telemetry is MOST useful? In the evidence source phase, Which evidence source best supports or refutes the detection?

Accepted Answer

Container runtime events, Kubernetes audit logs, and network flow from the pod. Container runtime events (e.g., from containerd or CRI-O) capture process spawns like an unexpected shell, Kubernetes audit logs record API calls that could indicate a compromised pod mounting the host filesystem, and network flow logs from the pod (e.g., via eBPF or Calico) reveal outbound connections to an unknown IP. Together, these three telemetry sources provide direct, real-time evidence of the three suspicious behaviors described, making them the most useful for detection and investigation.

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Only monthly vulnerability scan summaries

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Only user password age reports

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Only physical datacenter access logs

Question 5

Which technology is specifically designed to detect anomalous user behavior that may indicate a compromised account?

Accepted Answer

UEBA.. User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) is specifically designed to establish baselines of normal user behavior and detect anomalous activities—such as unusual login times, impossible travel, or abnormal data access patterns—that may indicate a compromised account. Unlike signature-based tools, UEBA leverages machine learning and statistical modeling to identify deviations from established norms, making it the correct choice for detecting account compromise.

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IDS.

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SIEM.

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Antivirus.

Question 6

During a vulnerability scan, the scanner reports a high number of open ports on a server that is supposed to be a hardened web server. The analyst investigates and finds that the server is running unnecessary services. Which of the following is the MOST effective long-term solution?

Accepted Answer

Implement a configuration management baseline and enforce it. Implementing a configuration management baseline and enforcing it (Option A) is the most effective long-term solution because it ensures that the server is consistently provisioned with only the necessary services and configurations. This approach uses tools like Ansible, Puppet, or Chef to automatically remediate drift, preventing unnecessary services from reappearing after manual changes or reboots. It addresses the root cause by codifying the desired state, rather than relying on ad-hoc fixes.

Answer

Disable the unnecessary services manually

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Increase the frequency of vulnerability scans

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Install a host-based firewall to block the ports

Question 7

A third-party provider caused an outage during remediation. What should the communication to the vendor focus on? If the primary audience is legal/privacy stakeholder, which content choice is most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

Timeline, service impact, evidence, required corrective actions, and contractual follow-up. It provides a structured, factual communication that addresses the legal and privacy stakeholder's need for accountability, risk assessment, and contractual compliance. The timeline and evidence establish the sequence of events, service impact quantifies the breach of SLA, required corrective actions demonstrate remediation steps, and contractual follow-up triggers legal review of penalties or liabilities. This approach avoids speculation and focuses on verifiable data, which is critical for legal teams to assess regulatory obligations (e.g., GDPR breach notification timelines) and potential litigation.

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Confidential unrelated customer data

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Internal blame speculation

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A public press statement draft first

Question 8

A company uses a SIEM platform that ingests logs from various sources. The SOC team receives an alert for a high number of failed login attempts (over 100 in 5 minutes) on the domain controller from a single IP address. The analyst investigates and finds that the failed attempts are for multiple different usernames, including some disabled accounts. The source IP is traced to an external VPN service. The analyst also notices that a few accounts had successful logins from the same IP after the failed attempts. Which of the following is the MOST likely attack type?

Accepted Answer

Password spraying.. The attack involves a single external IP attempting logins with multiple different usernames (including disabled accounts) and eventually succeeding on a few. This is characteristic of a password spraying attack, where an attacker tries a small number of common passwords against many accounts to avoid triggering account lockout policies. The use of an external VPN service indicates the attacker is anonymizing their origin, and the successful logins after failures confirm the attack's objective.

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Brute-force attack.

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Kerberoasting.

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Pass-the-hash.

Question 9

An analyst is preparing a report that includes Personally Identifiable Information (PII) from a data breach. The report will be shared with external auditors. Which of the following is the BEST practice for handling PII in the report?

Accepted Answer

Use tokenization or pseudonymization to mask PII while preserving analytical value. Tokenization or pseudonymization replaces PII with non-sensitive placeholders that retain referential integrity and analytical utility, allowing auditors to perform their review without exposing actual personal data. This approach balances transparency requirements with data minimization principles mandated by regulations like GDPR and PCI DSS, unlike full disclosure or simple encryption which still exposes the original data to the recipient.

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Include full PII in the report for complete transparency

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Encrypt the report and send it via email to auditors

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Remove all PII entirely, leaving only anonymized records

Question 10

A security analyst is configuring a vulnerability scan for a demilitarized zone (DMZ) containing public-facing web servers. The analyst wants to minimize the risk of causing a denial-of-service condition on the servers. Which of the following scan settings should be configured?

Accepted Answer

Limit the number of concurrent checks.. Limiting the number of concurrent checks (option D) reduces the simultaneous requests sent to the target servers, which prevents overwhelming the web server's connection pool or CPU. This is the most direct way to minimize the risk of a denial-of-service condition during a vulnerability scan, especially in a DMZ with public-facing servers that may have limited resources.

Answer

Enable a full port scan.

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Disable safe checks to speed up the scan.

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Increase the scan timeout values.

Question 11

An organization performs quarterly vulnerability scans of its internal network. The scans have a high number of false positives for out-of-date software that is actually up to date. Which of the following would BEST improve the accuracy of the scans?

Accepted Answer

Implement credential-based scanning.. Credential-based scanning (authenticated scanning) allows the scanner to log into target systems with valid credentials, enabling it to query the local registry or package manager for the exact installed software versions. This eliminates reliance on banner grabbing or service fingerprinting, which often produce false positives when out-of-date software is detected based on network-level heuristics rather than actual installed patches.

Answer

Disable verbose output to reduce clutter.

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Increase scan frequency to monthly.

Answer

Use a different vulnerability scanner.

Question 12

A small business with 50 employees uses a single Windows Server 2019 as a domain controller and file server. The company recently experienced a ransomware attack that encrypted all files on the server. The IT manager restored the files from a backup that was taken two days before the attack. However, the next day, the files were encrypted again. The analyst suspects the ransomware may have persisted or re-entered. The network is air-gapped from the internet, but employees use USB drives. Which of the following is the MOST likely reason for the re-infection?

Accepted Answer

An employee inserted an infected USB drive after the restoration.. The network is air-gapped from the internet, leaving USB drives as the primary vector for reintroducing malware. If an employee inserted an infected USB drive after the restoration, the ransomware could execute and re-encrypt the files. The air-gap eliminates internet-based re-entry, and the backup was clean since it restored files without immediate re-encryption until the next day.

Answer

The backup itself contained the ransomware.

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The ransomware was still active in memory on the server.

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The domain controller was not fully patched.

Question 13

An organization uses automated patch management for workstations but manual patching for servers. After a critical vulnerability is announced, the security team wants to expedite patching for servers. Which of the following is the BEST approach?

Accepted Answer

Test the patch in a staging environment and then deploy. Testing the patch in a staging environment before deploying to production servers validates compatibility and stability, reducing the risk of service disruption. This approach balances the urgency of a critical vulnerability with the need to maintain server availability, which is especially important given that manual patching is the standard procedure for servers. Staging allows the security team to identify any conflicts with existing configurations or dependencies before widespread deployment.

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Disable the affected services until the patch can be applied

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Deploy the patch immediately to all servers

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Implement virtual patching via an IPS

Question 14

A security analyst is conducting a vulnerability assessment of a web application. The assessment reveals that the application is vulnerable to SQL injection. Which of the following is the MOST effective remediation?

Accepted Answer

Use parameterized queries in the application code. Parameterized queries (also known as prepared statements) are the most effective remediation for SQL injection because they separate SQL logic from user-supplied data by using placeholders. The database engine treats the input strictly as data, not executable code, which prevents an attacker from altering the query structure. This addresses the root cause at the application layer, unlike other controls that only mitigate or detect the attack.

Answer

Upgrade the web application framework to the latest version

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Deploy a web application firewall (WAF)

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Implement client-side input validation

Question 15

During a vulnerability scan, an analyst discovers a high-severity vulnerability on a critical database server. The server is in production and cannot be taken offline. The vendor has released a patch but requires a reboot. Which of the following should the analyst recommend FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Schedule the patch during the next maintenance window.. The database server is in production and cannot be taken offline, so the patch must be applied during a scheduled maintenance window to minimize business disruption. The vulnerability is high-severity, but the vendor requires a reboot, which would cause downtime; therefore, the first step is to plan the patch application at the next available maintenance window, not to apply it immediately or implement a workaround that may not fully mitigate the risk.

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Implement a workaround from the vendor.

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Apply the patch immediately.

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Migrate the database to a new server.

Question 16

A security dashboard is being designed for the executive team. Which metric is MOST appropriate to display?

Accepted Answer

Overall risk posture score with trend over time. The executive team requires a high-level, strategic view of security effectiveness, not granular operational data. The overall risk posture score with trend over time directly communicates the organization's security health and whether it is improving or deteriorating, enabling informed decision-making. This aligns with the Reporting and Communication domain's emphasis on translating technical metrics into business-relevant insights.

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Current CPU utilization on firewalls

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Patch installation status of all endpoints

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Number of IDS alerts per hour

Question 17

A cloud security posture tool reports public access on object storage. Which follow-up checks matter? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Whether sensitive objects were accessed or downloaded. The primary concern with public access to object storage is data exposure. Checking whether sensitive objects were accessed or downloaded determines if a breach actually occurred, which is a critical follow-up step in vulnerability management. Without this check, you cannot assess the real-world impact of the misconfiguration.

Answer

Whether the storage account name is short

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Whether the administrator uses dark mode

Question 18

A security analyst has identified a critical vulnerability in a customer-facing web application. The analyst needs to communicate this to senior management. Which of the following is the best approach for this communication?

Accepted Answer

Summarize the vulnerability in terms of business risk, potential financial impact, and recommended mitigation timeline.. Communicating a critical vulnerability to senior management requires translating technical risk into business impact. Security analysts must present findings in terms of potential financial loss, regulatory consequences, and a clear mitigation timeline, enabling informed decision-making without requiring deep technical expertise.

Answer

Send a brief email stating that a critical vulnerability exists and ask management to schedule a meeting.

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Notify the development team only and have them fix it before informing management.

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Provide a detailed technical analysis of the vulnerability, including exploit code.

Question 19

After containing a ransomware outbreak, the incident response team needs to restore encrypted files. They have verified clean backups from two weeks ago, but some critical files were modified on the day of the attack. What is the best approach?

Accepted Answer

Restore critical files from backup and manually update them using change logs. Restoring critical files from backup and manually updating them using change logs preserves the modifications made on the day of the attack, which are not present in the two-week-old backups. This approach ensures data integrity by combining the clean baseline from backups with the legitimate changes recorded in change logs, avoiding data loss while maintaining security.

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Restore from backups and then apply all available updates

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Attempt to decrypt files using the ransom key

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Restore all files from backups

Question 20

Your organization has deployed a new web application on a Linux server. The application uses a custom database port (TCP 3307). During a routine vulnerability scan, the scanner reports a critical vulnerability: 'MySQL Server - Unrestricted File Upload (CVE-20XX-XXXX)'. The system administrator confirms that MySQL is not installed; the custom database uses PostgreSQL on port 3307. The scanner likely misidentified the service due to port-based fingerprinting. On further investigation, you find that the scanner's fingerprinting database has an incorrect mapping for port 3307. The PostgreSQL version is current and fully patched. The environment is production and cannot be disrupted. Which of the following is the BEST action to take?

Accepted Answer

Mark the vulnerability as a false positive and suppress it for this asset.. The vulnerability report is based on a false positive: the scanner misidentified the service on port 3307 as MySQL due to an incorrect port mapping in its fingerprinting database, while the actual service is a fully patched PostgreSQL. Since MySQL is not installed and no actual vulnerability exists, marking the finding as a false positive and suppressing it for this asset is the appropriate response in a production environment that cannot be disrupted.

Answer

Manually update the scanner's database to correct the port mapping.

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Schedule an immediate patch of the supposed MySQL vulnerability.

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Apply a workaround to block file upload functionality on port 3307.