SSCP Practice Test 16 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company uses virtualization extensively. The security team discovers that developers have created many unmanaged virtual machines that are not tracked in the configuration management database (CMDB). Which risk is MOST directly associated with this situation?

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

Accepted Answer

VM sprawl. VM sprawl refers to the proliferation of unmanaged VMs, increasing attack surface and management complexity.

Answer

VM escape

Answer

Snapshot vulnerability reintroduction

Answer

Insecure hypervisor configuration

Question 2

A company is migrating to the cloud and wants to understand the shared responsibility model. For an IaaS deployment, which THREE are customer responsibilities? (Select THREE.)

Accepted Answer

Managing application security (e.g., patching web app code). In IaaS, customer manages OS, applications, and network traffic controls (guest OS firewall).

Answer

Physical security of the data center

Answer

Securing the hypervisor

Question 3

Based on the exhibit, which security threat is likely being attempted?

Accepted Answer

Brute-force attack. The exhibit shows a large number of failed login attempts (e.g., 'Login failed' or 'Authentication error') from a single source IP within a short time window, which is the classic signature of a brute-force attack. This attack systematically tries multiple username/password combinations to gain unauthorized access, and the repeated failure messages in the logs confirm the attempt.

Answer

DNS poisoning

Answer

Man-in-the-middle attack

Answer

SQL injection

Question 4

A security engineer needs to choose an asymmetric algorithm for a system with limited computational resources, such as an IoT device. The algorithm must provide equivalent security to RSA 2048-bit while using smaller key sizes. Which algorithm should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) with 256-bit keys. Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) with 256-bit keys provides equivalent security to RSA 2048-bit because the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem is significantly harder to solve than the integer factorization problem for the same key length. This allows ECC to achieve strong security with much smaller key sizes, making it ideal for resource-constrained IoT devices where memory, power, and processing are limited.

Answer

RSA with 2048-bit keys

Answer

Diffie-Hellman with 2048-bit keys

Answer

3DES with 168-bit keys

Question 5

An organization uses Kerberos for single sign-on. When a user logs in, they receive a Ticket Granting Ticket (TGT). What is the primary purpose of the TGT?

Accepted Answer

To obtain service tickets for accessing resources. The TGT is obtained from the Authentication Server (AS) and is used to request service tickets from the Ticket Granting Server (TGS) without re-entering credentials, enabling SSO.

Answer

To encrypt all network traffic

Answer

To provide a digital signature for emails

Answer

To authenticate the user to the network

Question 6

A security team is implementing a PKI for a large enterprise. Which TWO of the following are commonly used methods for certificate revocation checking? (Select TWO.)

Accepted Answer

Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP). CRL (Certificate Revocation List) and OCSP (Online Certificate Status Protocol) are the two primary methods.

Answer

Certificate Signing Request (CSR)

Answer

Key Escrow

Answer

Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA)

Question 7

A security professional is implementing a solution to verify the authenticity of a digital certificate. Which component of a PKI is responsible for issuing and revoking certificates?

Accepted Answer

Certificate Authority (CA). The Certificate Authority (CA) is the core component of a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) responsible for issuing digital certificates and, crucially, for revoking them when they are no longer trusted. While other components support certificate status checking or verification, only the CA has the authority to sign and publish certificates or revocation information.

Answer

Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responder

Answer

Certificate Revocation List (CRL)

Answer

Registration Authority (RA)

Question 8

Match each disaster recovery site type to its description.

Accepted Answer

Hot site: A fully equipped and operational facility ready to take over immediately after a disaster.. Disaster recovery site types vary in readiness and equipment. Hot sites are fully operational, warm sites are partially equipped, cold sites provide only infrastructure, and mobile sites are portable units. Common confusions include mixing the definitions of hot and cold sites, or mistaking mobile sites for cold sites.

Answer

Hot site: A basic facility with power and cooling but no equipment, requiring full setup after a disaster.

Answer

Cold site: A portable, self-contained unit that can be transported and quickly deployed.

Question 9

A company's backup strategy uses a full backup on Sundays and differential backups on other days. On Thursday, the storage system fails. How many backups are required to restore the data?

Accepted Answer

Two (the full backup and the Thursday differential). A differential backup copies all data changed since the last full backup. Therefore, to restore data on Thursday, you need the last full backup (Sunday) and the most recent differential backup (Thursday), which contains all changes from Sunday through Thursday. This totals two backups.

Answer

One (the full backup only)

Answer

Five (the full backup and all differentials from Monday to Thursday)

Answer

Six (all backups from Sunday to Thursday)

Question 10

A company needs to encrypt large volumes of data at rest on a file server. Which type of cryptography is most appropriate for this task?

Accepted Answer

Symmetric encryption. Symmetric encryption uses a single shared key for both encryption and decryption, making it significantly faster and more efficient than asymmetric encryption for bulk data encryption. For large volumes of data at rest on a file server, symmetric algorithms like AES-256 provide the necessary performance and security, as they are designed to handle high-throughput encryption with minimal computational overhead.

Answer

Asymmetric encryption

Answer

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

Answer

Hash function

Question 11

A security team is conducting a penetration test. In which phase would they attempt to exploit vulnerabilities found during scanning?

Accepted Answer

Gaining access.. The gaining access phase is where the penetration tester actively exploits vulnerabilities discovered during scanning to obtain unauthorized entry into the system. This phase involves using tools like Metasploit or custom exploits to leverage specific weaknesses, such as unpatched software or misconfigured services, to achieve initial foothold. It directly follows the scanning phase and precedes maintaining access, making D the correct choice.

Answer

Maintaining access.

Answer

Scanning.

Answer

Reconnaissance.

Question 12

An organization is hardening a new Windows server for production use. Which of the following is the most effective method to ensure that only approved applications can run?

Accepted Answer

Configure AppLocker or Windows Defender Application Control. AppLocker or Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) provide application whitelisting, ensuring only approved executables, scripts, and installers run. UAC controls privilege elevation, not execution. Windows Defender Antivirus detects malware but does not enforce whitelisting. BitLocker provides full-disk encryption, not application control.

Answer

Enable BitLocker drive encryption

Answer

Enable User Account Control (UAC)

Answer

Install Windows Defender Antivirus

Question 13

During an access control audit, you find that a user has been assigned to two mutually exclusive roles. Which TWO principles are most likely violated?

Accepted Answer

Least privilege. Separation of duties is violated when a user has roles that could allow fraud; least privilege is violated if the user has more permissions than necessary.

Answer

Role hierarchy

Answer

Mandatory access control

Answer

Accountability

Question 14

Which physical security control is designed to prevent tailgating by allowing only one person to enter at a time?

Accepted Answer

Mantrap. A mantrap is a small room with two doors where the first door must close before the second opens, preventing tailgating.

Answer

CCTV camera

Answer

Security guard

Answer

Biometric reader

Question 15

Which access control model enforces security based on classification labels assigned to subjects and objects, commonly used for confidentiality?

Accepted Answer

Bell-LaPadula. Bell-LaPadula is a MAC model that enforces confidentiality via labels, preventing read-up and write-down.

Answer

Clark-Wilson

Answer

Brewer-Nash

Answer

Biba