SY0-701 Security Operations Practice Test 5 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A security analyst receives an alert that a user clicked a link in a phishing email and entered their corporate credentials on a fake login page. Which of the following should the analyst do FIRST to minimize further damage?

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

Accepted Answer

Disable the user's account and block the compromised system from the network. Immediately disabling the user's account and blocking the compromised system from the network stops the attacker from using the stolen credentials to authenticate to corporate resources, such as email, VPN, or file shares. This containment step is the highest priority in incident response to prevent lateral movement and further compromise, as the attacker already has valid credentials and could be actively using them.

Answer

Run a full antivirus scan on the user's workstation

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Reset the user's password and force re-authentication

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Contact law enforcement and report the phishing site

Question 2

A security analyst notices a sudden increase in outbound traffic from a database server that normally only communicates with internal application servers. The server is running a standard OS with no recent changes. Which of the following actions should the analyst take FIRST to determine if the server is compromised?

Accepted Answer

Check the server's running processes for unknown executables.. Checking the server's running processes for unknown executables is the first and most direct step to identify if an attacker has established a foothold. A sudden outbound traffic spike without recent configuration changes strongly suggests a malicious process (e.g., a reverse shell or data exfiltration tool) is running. Examining running processes allows the analyst to spot suspicious executables or command-line arguments before taking more disruptive actions like blocking traffic or running a scan.

Answer

Run a full antivirus scan on the server.

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Block all outbound traffic from the server at the firewall.

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Review the server's event logs for failed login attempts.

Question 3

A security analyst is reviewing authentication logs from a corporate web application. The logs show that over a span of two hours, a single external IP address attempted to log in with 500 different usernames, each using the same password 'Spring2024!'. Only a few of these attempts succeeded. Which type of attack is most likely being observed?

Accepted Answer

Password spraying attack. This is a password spraying attack because the attacker uses a single common password ('Spring2024!') against many different usernames. This technique avoids account lockout policies that typically trigger after multiple failed attempts on a single account, and the few successful logins indicate valid credentials were found.

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Brute force attack

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Credential stuffing attack

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Dictionary attack

Question 4

A security analyst is reviewing web server logs after a user reports that the company website displayed an error message containing raw database queries. The log shows repeated requests to the product search page with the following parameter: `?id=1 OR 1=1`. Which of the following should the analyst do FIRST to confirm the nature of the suspected attack?

Accepted Answer

Verify the request details against the web application firewall logs.. The analyst should first verify the request details against the web application firewall (WAF) logs to confirm whether the WAF detected and blocked the SQL injection attempt. The parameter `?id=1 OR 1=1` is a classic SQL injection payload, and WAF logs provide immediate evidence of whether the request was flagged, allowed, or blocked, enabling the analyst to correlate the user's report with actual security controls before taking further action.

Answer

Run a vulnerability scan against the web server.

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Block the source IP address in the firewall.

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Isolate the web server from the network immediately.

Question 5

A security analyst detects real-time data exfiltration from a critical production database that supports customer transactions. The exfiltration appears to be occurring via a compromised application service account. Which containment strategy should the analyst implement FIRST to minimize damage while preserving forensic data?

Accepted Answer

Disconnect the database server from the network.. Disconnecting the database server from the network (Option A) immediately stops the active data exfiltration by severing all network communication, including the compromised service account's outbound connections. This preserves the server's volatile memory, running processes, and disk state for forensic analysis, unlike a shutdown which would destroy critical evidence. It is the fastest containment action that minimizes data loss while maintaining the integrity of forensic artifacts.

Answer

Shut down the database server.

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Implement network segmentation to isolate the server.

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Block the IP address of the suspected attacker.

Question 6

A security analyst receives an alert that a user clicked a link in a phishing email and entered their corporate credentials on a fake login page. Which of the following should the analyst do FIRST to minimize further damage?

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

Accepted Answer

Isolate the workstation from the network.. Isolating the workstation from the network (Option B) is the immediate containment step because it stops the active communication with the known malicious IP address, preventing further data exfiltration, lateral movement, or command-and-control (C2) activity. This aligns with the NIST incident response framework's containment phase, which prioritizes stopping the threat before investigation or remediation. Disabling the user account (A) does not stop the network-level communication if the malware is running as a service or using cached credentials, and running a scan (C) or notifying management (D) are post-containment actions.

Answer

Disable the user's account immediately.

Answer

Run a full antivirus scan on the workstation.

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Notify the user's manager of the policy violation.

Question 7

A security analyst observes a pattern where an account exhibits multiple failed login attempts from an IP address in a foreign country, followed by a successful login from the same account but from a different IP address in another foreign country minutes later. The analyst wants to deploy a control that can automatically detect and alert on this type of anomalous user behavior, even if the individual login events are not blocked by existing rules. Which of the following security controls is BEST suited for this task?

Accepted Answer

User Behavior Analytics (UBA). User Behavior Analytics (UBA) is the best control because it uses machine learning to establish a baseline of normal user behavior (e.g., typical login locations, times, and IP ranges) and then detects anomalies such as a rapid sequence of failed logins from one foreign country followed by a successful login from another foreign country. Unlike static rules, UBA can identify this pattern as suspicious even if each individual login event is not blocked by existing rules, triggering an alert for further investigation.

Answer

Geofencing

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Account lockout policy

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SIEM correlation rules

Question 8

A security analyst notices that a phishing campaign is targeting employees with emails that appear to be from the company's IT support team. The emails contain a link to a website that mimics the corporate password reset portal. Which of the following controls would be MOST effective in preventing users from reaching the malicious website, assuming the link uses HTTPS?

Accepted Answer

Implement a URL filtering policy on the company's web proxy.. A URL filtering policy on the company's web proxy is the most effective control because it can block access to the malicious website based on its domain, category, or reputation, regardless of whether the link uses HTTPS. Since the proxy can perform SSL/TLS inspection (decrypting the HTTPS traffic) or use domain reputation lists, it prevents users from even reaching the phishing site. This directly addresses the core issue of users navigating to a known or suspicious URL.

Answer

Deploy an email security gateway that performs sandboxing of attachments.

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Enable multi-factor authentication on all corporate accounts.

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Conduct a security awareness training session on phishing.

Question 9

A security analyst notices repeated attempts to copy large amounts of data to USB drives from a user's workstation. The analyst suspects the user may be exfiltrating company proprietary data. The company wants to implement a technical control that can both detect and block such data exfiltration without completely disabling all USB ports, as some users require USB for authorized work. Which of the following would best meet this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Deploy a data loss prevention (DLP) agent configured with rules to monitor and block unauthorized data transfers to removable media.. A Data Loss Prevention (DLP) agent can be configured with granular rules to monitor and block unauthorized data transfers to removable media (e.g., USB drives) based on content inspection, file type, or volume thresholds. This allows authorized USB usage while preventing exfiltration of proprietary data, meeting the requirement for both detection and blocking without disabling all USB ports.

Answer

Implement a host-based intrusion detection system (HIDS) that alerts on USB insertion events.

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Enable BitLocker encryption on all USB drives to prevent unauthorized data access.

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Configure the local group policy to disable all USB ports on all workstations.

Question 10

A security analyst detects that multiple workstations in the finance department are displaying ransom notes and files are being encrypted. The analyst has disconnected the affected workstations from the network. Which of the following should the analyst do next according to the incident response procedure?

Accepted Answer

Isolate the entire finance department network segment and preserve forensic evidence.. The immediate next step in the incident response procedure after containment (disconnecting affected workstations) is to isolate the affected network segment to prevent lateral movement and preserve forensic evidence. This aligns with the NIST SP 800-61 incident response framework, which prioritizes containment, eradication, and recovery in that order, and emphasizes evidence preservation before any remediation actions.

Answer

Reimage all affected workstations immediately to restore operations.

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Run a full antivirus scan on the workstations to remove the ransomware.

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Restore the encrypted files from the latest backup without further investigation.

Question 11

A security analyst observes a critical server generating unusually high outbound traffic to an external IP address that is listed on a threat intelligence feed as a known command-and-control server. The analyst suspects the server is compromised. According to standard incident response procedures, what should the analyst do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Isolate the server from the network to stop the communication. Isolating the server from the network immediately stops the outbound command-and-control (C2) communication, preventing data exfiltration and further compromise. This aligns with the first step in the NIST SP 800-61 incident response process—containment—before any eradication or recovery actions are taken. Rebooting or patching without isolation could destroy volatile evidence (e.g., memory-resident malware) and allow the attacker to persist or escalate.

Answer

Reboot the server to clear any malicious processes from memory

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Apply the latest security patches to the server

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Ignore the alert because the external IP might be a false positive

Question 12

A security analyst at a financial firm notices a significant increase in DNS queries from an internal server to a rarely visited external domain. The queries are for unusual subdomain names that contain encoded data. The server is not a DNS server and does not typically generate outbound traffic. Which of the following is the MOST appropriate immediate action for the analyst to take?

Accepted Answer

Isolate the server from the network to prevent further data loss.. The server is exhibiting signs of a DNS data exfiltration attack, where encoded data is being tunneled through DNS queries to an external domain. Isolating the server immediately stops the data loss and prevents further compromise, which is the most critical first step in incident response. Blocking traffic or scanning alone would not halt the active exfiltration, and logging without action allows continued data theft.

Answer

Block all outbound DNS traffic from the server immediately.

Answer

Create a firewall rule to log all further DNS queries from the server.

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Run an antivirus scan on the server.

Question 13

A security analyst is reviewing firewall logs and notices repeated connection attempts from a single external IP address to multiple internal IP addresses on TCP port 22 (SSH). Each attempt uses a different username but the same password: 'Spring2024!'. The attempts occur sporadically over a 12-hour period. Which type of attack is most likely being observed?

Accepted Answer

Password spraying attack. This is a password spraying attack because the attacker uses a single common password ('Spring2024!') against multiple usernames across different internal IP addresses, attempting to avoid account lockout by spreading attempts over time and targets. Unlike brute-force or dictionary attacks that focus many passwords against a single account, password spraying targets many accounts with a few weak passwords, making it harder to detect via failed login thresholds.

Answer

Brute-force attack

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Dictionary attack

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Man-in-the-middle attack

Question 14

A SOC analyst detects that a user's workstation is sending large volumes of data to an unusual external IP address during non-business hours. The analyst has already isolated the workstation by disconnecting it from the network. What is the NEXT step in the incident response process?

Accepted Answer

Perform a forensic analysis of the workstation to collect evidence. After isolating the workstation, the next step in the incident response process is to perform forensic analysis to collect evidence. This aligns with the NIST SP 800-61 framework, where containment (isolation) is followed by eradication and recovery, but evidence collection must occur before any destructive actions like reimaging. The forensic analysis preserves volatile data (e.g., memory, network connections) and non-volatile data (e.g., disk artifacts) to determine the scope and cause of the data exfiltration.

Answer

Reimage the workstation to remove any malware

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Reset the user's password to prevent further unauthorized access

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Notify law enforcement immediately

Question 15

A security analyst is reviewing authentication logs and observes multiple failed login attempts for a single user account occurring within a short timeframe, followed by a successful login from an IP address located in a country where the user has never traveled. The failed attempts originate from various IP addresses and use different passwords. Which type of attack has most likely occurred?

Accepted Answer

Brute-force attack. (Brute-force attack) because the log shows multiple failed login attempts from various IP addresses using different passwords, followed by a successful login from an unfamiliar country. This pattern indicates a distributed brute-force attack where the attacker systematically tries many passwords against a single account, often using a botnet or proxy rotation to evade IP-based rate limiting. The successful login from a foreign IP confirms the attacker eventually guessed the correct password.

Answer

Credential stuffing

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Password spraying

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Dictionary attack