N10-009 Network Security — Timed 50 Questions

Question 1

A security analyst notices that an attacker is sending crafted packets with overlapping IP fragments to a target server, causing the server to crash. Which type of attack is described?

Accepted Answer

Teardrop attack. This is a Teardrop attack, which exploits a vulnerability in the IP fragmentation reassembly process. The attacker sends a series of fragmented IP packets with intentionally overlapping fragment offsets, causing the target system to miscalculate the size of the reassembled packet, leading to a buffer overflow and system crash. This attack specifically targets the IP stack's handling of fragment offset fields in the IP header.

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Smurf attack

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Ping flood

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SYN flood

Question 2

A company wants to implement network access control that requires users to authenticate before gaining access to the network. The NAC solution uses a policy that checks for antivirus updates and OS patches. Which component enforces the policy?

Accepted Answer

Authenticator. The Authenticator (typically a switch or wireless access point) is the component that enforces the NAC policy by controlling access to the network port or SSID. It receives the authentication result from the Authentication Server and applies the policy (e.g., placing the endpoint in a quarantine VLAN if antivirus or OS patch checks fail). This enforcement is defined in IEEE 802.1X, where the Authenticator acts as the gatekeeper between the Supplicant and the network.

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Supplicant

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Authentication server

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Policy server

Question 3

A security auditor is reviewing firewall logs and notices repeated login attempts from a single external IP address to the company's SSH server. Which type of attack is likely occurring?

Accepted Answer

Brute force attack. Repeated login attempts from a single external IP to an SSH server are characteristic of a brute force attack, where an attacker systematically tries many username/password combinations to gain unauthorized access. SSH (port 22) is a common target because it provides remote shell access, and automated tools like Hydra or Medusa can rapidly test credentials. The firewall logs show multiple failed authentication attempts from the same source, which is the hallmark of this attack type.

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Man-in-the-middle attack

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ARP poisoning

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DDoS attack

Question 4

A network administrator wants to prevent unauthorized devices from connecting to the company's Ethernet ports. The company uses a centralized authentication server. Which IEEE standard should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

802.1X. 802.1X is the IEEE standard for port-based Network Access Control (NAC) that authenticates devices before granting access to an Ethernet port. It uses a centralized authentication server (typically RADIUS) to verify credentials, preventing unauthorized devices from connecting to the network. This directly matches the requirement of controlling access at the port level with a centralized server.

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802.11i

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802.3af

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802.1Q

Question 5

A security analyst notices that a web server is receiving a large number of ICMP echo reply packets from many different external hosts. The server did not send any echo requests. Which type of attack is most likely occurring?

Accepted Answer

Smurf attack. A Smurf attack exploits IP broadcast addressing and ICMP. The attacker sends a large number of ICMP echo request packets with a spoofed source IP (the victim's IP) to a network's broadcast address. All hosts on that network then send ICMP echo reply packets to the victim, overwhelming it with traffic. Since the server never sent any echo requests, the unsolicited flood of echo replies is the hallmark of a Smurf attack.

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Ping flood

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ICMP tunneling

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Fraggle attack

Question 6

A company wants to ensure that only authorized employee computers can connect to the wired network. Each computer must be authenticated before it is granted access to the network. Which technology is designed to provide this port-based authentication?

Accepted Answer

802.1X. 802.1X is the IEEE standard for port-based Network Access Control (NAC). It uses the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) over LAN (EAPoL) to authenticate a device at the switch port before granting full network access. Only after successful authentication does the switch open the port, ensuring that unauthorized computers cannot connect.

Answer

WPA2

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MAC filtering

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VPN

Question 7

A security analyst notices that the company's web server is receiving a high volume of TCP SYN packets from a single source IP address, but the server is not completing the three-way handshake. Which type of attack is most likely occurring?

Accepted Answer

A) SYN flood. A SYN flood attack exploits the TCP three-way handshake by sending a high volume of SYN packets from a spoofed or single source IP without completing the handshake. The server allocates resources for each half-open connection, eventually exhausting its connection table and denying service to legitimate users. This matches the scenario where the server receives many SYN packets but never completes the handshake.

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B) Smurf attack

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C) Ping of death

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D) ARP poisoning

Question 8

A security administrator is configuring a firewall to allow remote employees to access the company's internal web server (port 443) from the internet. The web server has an internal IP address of 10.0.0.5. The firewall has a public IP of 203.0.113.10. Which type of firewall rule should be created?

Accepted Answer

A) Port forwarding (DNAT) rule. A port forwarding (DNAT) rule is required because the web server uses a private RFC 1918 IP address (10.0.0.5), which is not routable on the public internet. The firewall must translate the destination IP from its public address (203.0.113.10) to the internal server's private address, allowing inbound traffic on port 443 to reach the correct internal host.

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B) Allow rule with source any, destination 10.0.0.5, port 443

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C) Access control list on the internal interface

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D) VPN rule to require remote access VPN

Question 9

A security analyst is reviewing firewall logs and sees many incoming packets with a source IP address that matches the internal IP range of the company (10.0.0.0/8) arriving on the external interface. Which type of attack is likely being attempted?

Accepted Answer

IP spoofing attack. The correct answer is B because packets arriving on the external interface with a source IP address from the internal 10.0.0.0/8 range indicate that the attacker is forging (spoofing) the source address to impersonate an internal host. This is a classic IP spoofing attack, often used to bypass access control lists or to launch further attacks that rely on trust relationships based on source IP.

Answer

Smurf attack

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SYN flood

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DNS amplification

Question 10

A security administrator is configuring a wireless network to use WPA3-Enterprise. Which authentication server protocol is required for WPA3-Enterprise?

Accepted Answer

RADIUS. WPA3-Enterprise requires 802.1X/EAP authentication, which uses RADIUS as the backend authentication server protocol. RADIUS handles the exchange of EAP frames between the authenticator (access point) and the authentication server, enforcing per-user credentials and supporting the mandatory 192-bit security suite for WPA3-Enterprise. Without RADIUS, the 802.1X framework cannot operate, making it the only required protocol for this deployment.

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LDAP

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TACACS+

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Kerberos

Question 11

A security analyst is reviewing DHCP server logs and notices that a single MAC address is sending an extremely high number of DHCP discover packets. The DHCP server is responding, but the client never sends a DHCP request. Which type of attack is most likely occurring?

Accepted Answer

A) DHCP starvation. A DHCP starvation attack works by flooding the DHCP server with DHCPDISCOVER packets from spoofed MAC addresses, exhausting the server's IP address pool. In this scenario, a single MAC address sending excessive DHCPDISCOVER packets without completing the DORA handshake (no DHCPREQUEST) is a classic indicator of a starvation attack, as the attacker aims to consume all available leases and cause a denial of service for legitimate clients.

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B) ARP poisoning

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C) MAC flooding

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D) DNS spoofing

Question 12

A company is implementing 802.1X port-based authentication on its wired network to ensure only authorized devices can connect. Which of the following servers is required to authenticate users and devices?

Accepted Answer

A) RADIUS server. 802.1X port-based authentication relies on the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) over LAN (EAPoL) between the supplicant (device) and the authenticator (switch), which then forwards authentication requests to a central authentication server. A RADIUS server is the required backend because it validates credentials (e.g., username/password or certificates) and returns an Accept/Reject decision to the switch, enabling or disabling the port. RADIUS is the standard protocol defined in IEEE 802.1X for this purpose, supporting EAP methods like PEAP, EAP-TLS, and EAP-FAST.

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B) Syslog server

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C) TACACS+ server

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D) NTP server

Question 13

A security analyst notices that the DHCP server is responding to a large number of DHCP Discover messages from a single MAC address, but that client never sends a DHCP Request to complete the lease. This pattern repeats continuously. Which type of attack is most likely occurring?

Accepted Answer

DHCP starvation. Option C is correct because the described behavior—a single MAC address sending continuous DHCP Discover messages without completing the lease with a DHCP Request—is the hallmark of a DHCP starvation attack. The attacker exhausts the DHCP server's IP address pool by claiming all available leases, preventing legitimate clients from obtaining IP addresses. This attack targets the DHCP protocol's four-step DORA (Discover, Offer, Request, Acknowledge) process by never completing the handshake.

Answer

ARP poisoning

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DNS amplification

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Rogue DHCP server

Question 14

A company is implementing 802.1X port-based authentication on its wired network to control access. The network uses Active Directory for user accounts. Which type of server must be deployed to authenticate clients connecting to the switch ports?

Accepted Answer

A RADIUS server. 802.1X port-based authentication requires a RADIUS server to act as the authentication server that validates client credentials against the identity store (Active Directory). The switch (authenticator) forwards EAP frames from the client (supplicant) to the RADIUS server, which checks the credentials and instructs the switch to grant or deny port access.

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A DNS server

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A DHCP server

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A Kerberos server

Question 15

A company is deploying a wireless network that requires the highest level of security for client authentication. The network must use a RADIUS server. Which wireless security standard should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

WPA3-Enterprise. WPA3-Enterprise (option B) is correct because it mandates the use of a RADIUS server for 802.1X/EAP authentication and provides the highest level of wireless security, including 192-bit minimum-strength security suite (CNSA Suite) and SAE handshake replacement for the 4-way handshake. This meets the requirement for both RADIUS integration and maximum authentication security.

Answer

WPA2-Personal

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WPA2-Enterprise

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WPA3-Personal

Question 16

A security analyst is investigating a potential breach. A network device shows logs indicating that it received packets with a source IP address belonging to the internal network range on its external (internet-facing) interface. This is a classic indication of which type of attack?

Accepted Answer

IP spoofing. B is correct because receiving packets with a source IP address from the internal network range on an external (internet-facing) interface is a classic sign of IP spoofing. In IP spoofing, an attacker forges the source IP address in packet headers to impersonate a trusted internal host, often to bypass access controls or launch reflection attacks. This violates the expected behavior of ingress filtering, where external interfaces should never see internal source addresses.

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Denial-of-service (DoS) attack

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Man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack

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ARP poisoning

Question 17

A security analyst is reviewing logs and finds that a single MAC address is rapidly requesting IP addresses from a DHCP server, each time with a different client ID. The DHCP server is exhausting its address pool. Which type of attack is occurring?

Accepted Answer

DHCP starvation attack. A DHCP starvation attack occurs when an attacker sends numerous DHCP discover messages, each with a unique client ID (chaddr), to exhaust the DHCP server's address pool. This prevents legitimate clients from obtaining IP addresses, as the server believes all leases are assigned. The rapid requests with different client IDs from a single MAC address are a hallmark of this attack.

Answer

MAC flooding attack

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ARP spoofing

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DNS poisoning

Question 18

A network administrator is configuring a firewall to allow external users to securely access an internal web server. Which security technique should be used to place the web server in a separate, isolated network segment that is still accessible from the internet?

Accepted Answer

DMZ. A DMZ (demilitarized zone) is a separate, isolated network segment that exposes internal services, such as a web server, to external users while keeping the internal LAN secure. By placing the web server in the DMZ, the firewall can allow inbound traffic from the internet to the DMZ while blocking direct access to the internal network, enforcing strict access control policies.

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VLAN

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VPN

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NAT

Question 19

A network security analyst notices that the firewall is logging traffic on the external interface that has a source IP address of 10.0.1.5, which is within the internal network range. This is most likely the result of which type of attack?

Accepted Answer

IP spoofing. The firewall is logging traffic on its external interface with a source IP address from the internal RFC 1918 range (10.0.1.5). This indicates the source IP has been forged, because private IP addresses should never appear as source addresses on a public-facing interface. This is the classic signature of an IP spoofing attack, where the attacker modifies the source IP in the packet header to impersonate an internal host.

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DNS poisoning

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ARP poisoning

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VLAN hopping

Question 20

An organization wants to implement a security solution that uses a cloud-based service to inspect all incoming web traffic for malware and policy violations before it reaches the internal network. This type of solution is known as a:

Accepted Answer

Secure web gateway (SWG). A Secure Web Gateway (SWG) is a cloud-based security solution that inspects all outbound and inbound web traffic for malware, policy violations, and data loss. It operates at the application layer, typically using proxy-based or API-based inspection to enforce security policies before traffic reaches the internal network. This matches the requirement for a cloud service that inspects incoming web traffic for malware and policy violations.

Answer

Web application firewall (WAF)

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Intrusion detection system (IDS)

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VPN concentrator