CS0-003 Practice Test 8 — 10 Questions

Question 1

A security analyst has identified a large number of false positives in a vulnerability scan report. Which of the following is the BEST way to reduce false positives in future scans?

Accepted Answer

Tune the vulnerability scanner's configuration. Tuning the vulnerability scanner's configuration (option D) is the best approach because it allows the analyst to adjust scan parameters such as credential settings, plugin thresholds, and network timeouts to match the target environment. This reduces false positives by ensuring the scanner accurately identifies real vulnerabilities rather than reporting benign deviations or configuration mismatches. For example, enabling authenticated scans with valid credentials eliminates many false positives related to missing patches that are actually installed.

Answer

Manually verify each vulnerability before reporting

Answer

Increase the frequency of vulnerability scans

Answer

Exclude the false positives from the report

Question 2

A security analyst suspects an insider threat based on unusual data access patterns by an employee. According to best practices, which TWO actions should the analyst take FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Restrict the employee's access to sensitive data.. Restricting the employee's access to sensitive data (A) is a correct first action because it immediately reduces the risk of further data exfiltration or damage while preserving the ability to investigate. Collecting additional evidence without alerting the employee (D) is also correct because it allows the analyst to build a forensic case covertly, preventing the insider from destroying evidence or altering behavior. Both actions align with the incident response principle of containment before eradication and the need to avoid tipping off a potential adversary.

Answer

Suspend the employee's accounts outright.

Answer

Immediately notify law enforcement.

Answer

Confront the employee about the behavior.

Question 3

Order the steps to perform a vulnerability scan using a tool like Nessus.

Accepted Answer

Define targets, then choose a scan policy, then configure settings, then execute the scan, then analyze results. Vulnerability scanning typically involves defining targets, choosing a policy, configuring settings, executing, and analyzing results.

Answer

Define targets, then configure settings, then choose a scan policy, then execute the scan, then analyze results

Answer

Choose a scan policy, then define targets, then configure settings, then execute the scan, then analyze results

Answer

Define targets, then choose a scan policy, then execute the scan, then configure settings, then analyze results

Question 4

An analyst wants to capture all traffic to and from a specific IP address for analysis. Which command-line tool is most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

tcpdump host 10.0.0.1. `tcpdump host 10.0.0.1` captures all packets where the source or destination IP address matches 10.0.0.1, making it the ideal tool for capturing all traffic to and from a specific IP for analysis. It operates at the packet level, using libpcap to intercept raw network frames, and the `host` filter instructs it to match both directions of traffic without additional parsing or state tracking.

Answer

nmap -sS 10.0.0.1

Answer

netstat -ant | grep 10.0.0.1

Answer

iptables -L -v

Question 5

Arrange the steps for conducting a risk assessment in the correct order.

Accepted Answer

1. Identify assets, 2. Identify threats and vulnerabilities, 3. Analyze likelihood and impact, 4. Calculate risk, 5. Prioritize risks. Risk assessment involves asset identification, threat/vulnerability identification, likelihood/impact analysis, risk calculation, and prioritization.

Answer

1. Identify threats and vulnerabilities, 2. Identify assets, 3. Analyze likelihood and impact, 4. Calculate risk, 5. Prioritize risks

Answer

1. Identify assets, 2. Identify threats and vulnerabilities, 3. Calculate risk, 4. Analyze likelihood and impact, 5. Prioritize risks

Answer

1. Identify assets, 2. Identify threats and vulnerabilities, 3. Analyze likelihood and impact, 4. Prioritize risks, 5. Calculate risk

Question 6

A security engineer needs to implement a baseline configuration for all new Linux servers. Which of the following should be included in the baseline to reduce the attack surface?

Accepted Answer

Disable all unnecessary services and daemons.. Disabling all unnecessary services and daemons directly reduces the attack surface by eliminating potential entry points for exploitation. Each running service represents a vector for attacks, such as buffer overflows or misconfigurations, and removing them minimizes the number of listening ports and active processes. This aligns with the principle of least functionality, a core security baseline for Linux servers.

Answer

Enable strong password policies for all users.

Answer

Enable comprehensive audit logging.

Answer

Configure disk encryption for all data volumes.

Question 7

After a risk assessment, a security analyst recommends accepting a low-risk finding. The system owner disagrees. Which communication strategy should the analyst use?

Accepted Answer

Present the risk assessment data and cost-benefit analysis to justify acceptance. The security analyst should use data-driven communication to resolve disagreements over risk acceptance. By presenting the risk assessment data and a cost-benefit analysis, the analyst provides objective evidence that the low-risk finding does not warrant mitigation, aligning with the NIST risk management framework's emphasis on informed decision-making. This approach respects the system owner's concerns while justifying the acceptance based on technical and business rationale.

Answer

Escalate the disagreement to the CISO immediately

Answer

Agree with the system owner and change the recommendation

Answer

Insist that the finding must be mitigated due to policy

Question 8

A security team discovers a critical vulnerability in a widely used software component. The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 9.0, but there is no known exploit or patch available yet. However, the software vendor has released a workaround. According to the vulnerability management lifecycle, which action should the team prioritize first?

Accepted Answer

Apply the workaround as a compensating control. Since no patch is available, the team should apply compensating controls to mitigate the risk. Remediation typically involves patching, but if not possible, compensating controls are the next best step.

Answer

Wait for the vendor to release a patch before taking any action

Answer

Remove the affected component from all systems immediately

Answer

Increase monitoring of the affected systems but take no other action

Question 9

After a data breach incident, a post-incident review team is collecting lessons learned. Which THREE items should be included in the lessons learned documentation?

Accepted Answer

Timeline of events during the incident. The timeline of events is a critical component of lessons learned documentation. It provides a chronological sequence of actions, detections, and responses during the incident, which is essential for identifying gaps in detection, delays in response, and opportunities for improvement. Without a precise timeline, the team cannot accurately assess the effectiveness of their incident response procedures or the speed of containment.

Answer

Individual performance evaluations of team members

Answer

Legal liability of the organization

Question 10

During a network traffic analysis, a security analyst observes repeated connections from an internal host to a known malicious IP on port 4444. The payload appears to be encrypted. Which type of activity is most likely indicated?

Accepted Answer

Command and control beaconing. Repeated connections to a known malicious IP on a non-standard port with encrypted payloads strongly suggest command and control (C2) beaconing.

Answer

Port scanning activity

Answer

Data exfiltration via DNS tunnelling

Answer

Lateral movement using SMB