CISSP Communication and Network Security Practice Test 2 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Which wireless security protocol replaces the pre-shared key (PSK) authentication with Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE) to provide stronger security and forward secrecy?

Accepted Answer

WPA3. WPA3 replaces the Pre-Shared Key (PSK) authentication used in WPA2 with Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE), defined in IEEE 802.11-2016 and specified in RFC 7664. SAE provides forward secrecy by using a Diffie-Hellman key exchange that ensures even if the long-term password is compromised, past session keys remain secure. This eliminates vulnerabilities to offline dictionary attacks that plague WPA2-PSK.

Answer

WEP

Answer

WPA2 with TKIP

Answer

WPA2 with CCMP

Question 2

A security analyst discovers an attack where an attacker sets up a rogue wireless access point with a legitimate SSID to trick users into connecting. Once connected, the attacker captures credentials. This type of attack is known as:

Accepted Answer

Evil twin attack. This is an evil twin attack because the attacker creates a rogue access point that broadcasts the same SSID as a legitimate network, tricking users into connecting to it. Once connected, the attacker can capture credentials or other sensitive data by acting as a man-in-the-middle. The key differentiator is the impersonation of a legitimate SSID to deceive users, not just the presence of an unauthorized AP.

Answer

Deauthentication attack

Answer

Rogue AP attack

Answer

Karma attack

Question 3

An organization is implementing network segmentation. They need to place publicly accessible servers (e.g., web and email) in a separate network that is isolated from the internal LAN but still allows controlled access from the internet. Which architecture should they use?

Accepted Answer

DMZ. A DMZ (demilitarized zone) is a network segment that sits between the internet and the internal LAN, hosting publicly accessible servers like web and email. It uses firewall rules to allow inbound traffic from the internet to the DMZ servers while blocking direct access to the internal network, and typically permits only specific outbound responses or updates from the DMZ to the internal LAN. This architecture provides the isolation and controlled access required by the scenario.

Answer

Micro-segmentation

Answer

VPN

Answer

VLAN

Question 4

A company deploys DNSSEC to protect its DNS infrastructure. Which cryptographic operation does DNSSEC primarily use to ensure the authenticity and integrity of DNS data?

Accepted Answer

Digital signatures of DNS records. DNSSEC primarily uses digital signatures to ensure the authenticity and integrity of DNS data. Each DNS zone is signed with a private key, and resolvers verify the signatures using the corresponding public key, which is published as a DNSKEY record. This process allows the resolver to cryptographically confirm that the data has not been modified in transit and originates from the authoritative source.

Answer

Hashing of DNS responses without keys

Answer

Transport Layer Security for DNS

Answer

Symmetric encryption of DNS queries

Question 5

Which of the following is a key feature of TLS 1.3 that enhances security compared to earlier versions?

Accepted Answer

Mandatory forward secrecy. TLS 1.3 mandates forward secrecy by requiring ephemeral Diffie-Hellman (DHE or ECDHE) key exchange for all sessions, eliminating static RSA and static DH key exchanges. This ensures that even if the server's long-term private key is compromised, past session keys cannot be derived, protecting historical traffic. Earlier TLS versions allowed static key exchanges, making them vulnerable to retrospective decryption.

Answer

Support for RC4 encryption

Answer

Support for DES and 3DES

Answer

Use of static RSA key exchange

Question 6

A security architect is designing a zero-trust network. Which principle is fundamental to a zero-trust architecture (ZTA) such as BeyondCorp?

Accepted Answer

Never trust, always verify. In a zero-trust architecture (ZTA) like Google's BeyondCorp, the foundational principle is 'never trust, always verify.' This means no entity—user, device, or network—is trusted by default, regardless of its location (inside or outside the corporate perimeter). Every access request must be authenticated, authorized, and continuously validated before granting access to resources, eliminating implicit trust based on network location.

Answer

Trust but verify

Answer

Trust internal users implicitly

Answer

Trust network location as a primary factor

Question 7

A network engineer is configuring an IPsec VPN in tunnel mode. Which IPsec protocol provides both authentication and encryption of the entire IP packet?

Accepted Answer

ESP (Encapsulating Security Payload). ESP (Encapsulating Security Payload) in tunnel mode provides both authentication and encryption for the entire original IP packet, including the original header and payload. It encapsulates the packet with a new IP header and ESP trailer, ensuring confidentiality via encryption and integrity via authentication. This makes it the correct choice for a VPN requiring both security services.

Answer

IKE (Internet Key Exchange)

Answer

ISAKMP

Answer

AH (Authentication Header)

Question 8

Which type of firewall is capable of inspecting application-layer data, performing SSL decryption, and integrating intrusion prevention capabilities?

Accepted Answer

Next-generation firewall. A next-generation firewall (NGFW) goes beyond traditional stateful inspection by incorporating deep packet inspection (DPI) of application-layer data, the ability to decrypt and inspect SSL/TLS traffic, and integrated intrusion prevention system (IPS) capabilities. This convergence allows NGFWs to identify and block threats within encrypted sessions and enforce policies based on application identity rather than just ports and protocols.

Answer

Packet filter firewall

Answer

Application proxy firewall

Answer

Stateful firewall

Question 9

A company uses SSH for remote administration. To enhance security, they want to implement public-key authentication. Which statement about SSH public-key authentication is true?

Accepted Answer

The private key must be kept secret by the user. In SSH public-key authentication, the private key is the secret half of the asymmetric key pair and must be kept confidential by the user. The server stores only the public key, and authentication is proven by the client signing a challenge with the private key, which the server verifies using the stored public key. This ensures that even if the server is compromised, the private key remains safe on the client side.

Answer

The public key is used to decrypt the session

Answer

Public-key authentication does not require a passphrase

Answer

The private key is stored on the server

Question 10

A security team is reviewing network segmentation strategies. Which TWO of the following are benefits of using VLANs? (Select TWO.)

Accepted Answer

They allow logical grouping of devices regardless of physical location. VLANs operate at Layer 2 (Data Link Layer) and allow network administrators to segment devices into distinct broadcast domains based on logical criteria such as department or function, regardless of their physical location on the network. This logical grouping reduces the scope of broadcast traffic because broadcasts are confined to the VLAN, not the entire physical network. By containing broadcasts, VLANs improve network performance and security by limiting unnecessary traffic and isolating potential threats.

Answer

They provide encryption of network traffic

Answer

They eliminate the need for firewalls

Answer

They provide inherent protection against ARP spoofing

Question 11

After a recent security audit, a network administrator discovers that an attacker has been intercepting traffic by associating with a legitimate access point's MAC address and broadcasting a stronger signal. Which type of attack has occurred?

Accepted Answer

Evil twin attack. Evil twin attack. This attack involves an attacker setting up a rogue access point that mimics a legitimate access point by spoofing its MAC address (BSSID) and broadcasting a stronger signal, causing clients to associate with the attacker's device instead of the legitimate AP. The key distinction is the active impersonation of a specific legitimate AP, not just the presence of an unauthorized AP.

Answer

Rogue access point

Answer

Karma attack

Answer

ARP spoofing

Question 12

An organization is implementing network segmentation to enhance security. They create a DMZ to host public-facing servers and want to ensure that if a server is compromised, the attacker cannot pivot to the internal network. Which firewall placement best achieves this?

Accepted Answer

Implement a screened subnet with two firewalls: one between internet and DMZ, and one between DMZ and internal network. A screened subnet architecture uses two firewalls to create a DMZ that is logically isolated from both the internet and the internal network. The first firewall (internet-facing) controls inbound traffic to the DMZ, while the second firewall (internal-facing) strictly controls outbound traffic from the DMZ to the internal network, typically allowing only specific return traffic. This prevents an attacker who compromises a DMZ server from directly initiating connections to internal hosts, as the internal firewall would block such traffic unless explicitly permitted.

Answer

Place the DMZ on the internal network side with a strong host-based firewall on each server

Answer

Place a single firewall between the internet and the DMZ, and allow traffic from DMZ to internal network

Answer

Use a stateful firewall that only allows return traffic from internal to DMZ

Question 13

An attacker sends a flood of SYN packets to a server, consuming its resources and preventing legitimate connections. Which OSI layer is this attack targeting?

Accepted Answer

Layer 4. A SYN flood attack targets the TCP three-way handshake at the transport layer (Layer 4). By sending a high volume of SYN packets without completing the handshake, the attacker exhausts the server's connection queue, preventing legitimate TCP connections from being established. This directly exploits the stateful nature of TCP, which is a Layer 4 protocol.

Answer

Layer 2

Answer

Layer 7

Answer

Layer 3

Question 14

A company wants to secure email communications for its employees. They need to ensure message confidentiality and integrity, and also verify the sender's identity. Which protocol uses a hierarchical public key infrastructure (PKI) for email encryption and signing?

Accepted Answer

S/MIME. S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) is the correct answer because it is specifically designed to provide email encryption and digital signing using a hierarchical public key infrastructure (PKI) based on X.509 certificates. This allows the company to ensure message confidentiality (via encryption), integrity (via hashing and signing), and sender authentication (via certificate validation against a trusted root CA).

Answer

PGP

Answer

TLS

Answer

SSH

Question 15

A security administrator is configuring SNMPv3 for network device monitoring. The requirement is to provide both authentication and encryption of SNMP traffic. Which combination of options should be used?

Accepted Answer

AuthPriv with SHA and AES. SNMPv3 defines three security levels: NoAuthNoPriv, AuthNoPriv, and AuthPriv. The requirement for both authentication and encryption corresponds to the AuthPriv level. The recommended modern cryptographic algorithms for AuthPriv are SHA (for authentication) and AES (for encryption), as specified in RFC 3826 and RFC 3414. Option C correctly pairs SHA and AES to meet the requirement.

Answer

AuthNoPriv

Answer

AuthPriv with MD5 and DES

Answer

NoAuthNoPriv