SSCP Network and Communications Security Practice Test 3 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Which protocol is used to securely transfer files over a network and operates on TCP port 22?

Accepted Answer

SSH. SSH (Secure Shell) is used for secure remote login and file transfer, and it operates on TCP port 22. FTP uses ports 20-21, Telnet uses port 23, and SFTP (which runs over SSH) also uses port 22.

Answer

Telnet

Answer

SFTP

Answer

FTP

Question 2

Which UDP port is used by the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) for server communication?

Accepted Answer

67. DHCP servers listen on UDP port 67, and clients use UDP port 68. DNS uses UDP port 53, TFTP uses UDP port 69, and SNMP uses UDP ports 161-162.

Answer

161

Answer

69

Answer

53

Question 3

An attacker sends a forged ARP reply associating the attacker's MAC address with the IP address of the default gateway. What type of attack is this?

Accepted Answer

ARP spoofing. ARP spoofing involves sending gratuitous ARP replies to associate the attacker's MAC with another IP address, enabling man-in-the-middle attacks at Layer 2.

Answer

MAC flooding

Answer

DHCP starvation

Answer

DNS poisoning

Question 4

A network administrator notices that legitimate clients are unable to obtain IP addresses from the DHCP server. The network logs show a high volume of DHCP Discover messages from different MAC addresses. Which attack is most likely occurring?

Accepted Answer

DHCP starvation. DHCP starvation floods the network with fake DHCP Discover messages to exhaust the IP address pool, preventing legitimate clients from obtaining addresses.

Answer

DHCP spoofing

Answer

ARP spoofing

Answer

DNS amplification

Question 5

Which security control can prevent a rogue DHCP server from assigning incorrect gateway addresses to clients?

Accepted Answer

DHCP snooping. DHCP snooping is a switch feature that filters DHCP messages based on trusted ports, blocking rogue DHCP servers.

Answer

IP source guard

Answer

Dynamic ARP inspection

Answer

Port security

Question 6

An organization deploys a firewall that examines the entire packet, including application-layer data, and can block specific commands or content. Which type of firewall is this?

Accepted Answer

Application proxy firewall. An application proxy firewall (also known as an application-layer gateway) performs deep inspection of application traffic and can filter based on application content.

Answer

Stateful firewall

Answer

Next-generation firewall

Answer

Stateless packet filter

Question 7

Which wireless security standard introduced the Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE) handshake to replace the pre-shared key (PSK) method?

Accepted Answer

WPA3. WPA3 replaced WPA2's PSK with SAE, which provides forward secrecy and is resistant to offline dictionary attacks.

Answer

802.11i

Answer

WEP

Answer

WPA2

Question 8

A security analyst discovers that an attacker has set up a fake wireless access point with the same SSID as the corporate network. Users are unknowingly connecting to it. What is this attack called?

Accepted Answer

Evil twin. An evil twin is a rogue AP that impersonates a legitimate SSID to capture credentials and traffic.

Answer

KRACK

Answer

Rogue AP

Answer

PMKID attack

Question 9

In IPsec VPNs, which protocol provides authentication and encryption of the entire IP packet, including the IP header, in tunnel mode?

Accepted Answer

ESP. ESP (Encapsulating Security Payload) in tunnel mode encrypts and authenticates the entire original IP packet, adding a new IP header. AH (Authentication Header) does not provide encryption.

Answer

L2TP

Answer

IKE

Answer

AH

Question 10

Which of the following is a primary advantage of using TLS 1.3 over earlier versions?

Accepted Answer

Mandatory forward secrecy. TLS 1.3 requires forward secrecy for all cipher suites, meaning that session keys are not derived from the server's private key, protecting past sessions if the private key is compromised.

Answer

Reduced handshake latency with 0-RTT

Answer

Support for RC4 cipher suites

Answer

Backward compatibility with SSL 3.0

Question 11

What is the default port for Microsoft SQL Server?

Accepted Answer

1433. MSSQL defaults to TCP port 1433. MySQL uses 3306.

Answer

443

Answer

3389

Answer

3306

Question 12

Which network security control can enforce that only authorized devices with current antivirus and patches can connect to the network?

Accepted Answer

Network Access Control. Network Access Control (NAC) enforces security policies by checking device compliance before granting access, typically using 802.1X for authentication and quarantine for non-compliant devices.

Answer

Firewall rules

Answer

Intrusion Prevention System

Answer

Port security

Question 13

Which TWO of the following are methods to defend against SYN flood attacks? (Select TWO)

Accepted Answer

Increasing the SYN backlog queue size. SYN cookies avoid resource exhaustion by not allocating memory until the handshake completes, and increasing the backlog queue allows more half-open connections before reaching capacity.

Answer

Enabling IP routing

Answer

Using UDP instead of TCP

Answer

Disabling TCP timestamps

Question 14

Which TWO of the following are characteristics of a Smurf attack? (Select TWO)

Accepted Answer

Uses ICMP echo requests. Smurf attacks send ICMP echo requests to a broadcast address with a spoofed source IP, causing all hosts to reply to the victim, leading to amplification.

Answer

Requires fragmented packets

Answer

Exploits TCP SYN handshake

Answer

Targets DNS resolvers

Question 15

Which THREE of the following are valid considerations when deploying a remote access VPN using SSL/TLS? (Select THREE)

Accepted Answer

Supports endpoint security posture checks. SSL/TLS VPNs use standard ports (often 443) to bypass firewalls, can perform endpoint posture checks, and allow split tunneling for performance.

Answer

Typically uses UDP port 500

Answer

Requires pre-shared keys for authentication