hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
350-701 Practice Question: Discovers that a man-in-the-middle attack was…
An organization discovers that a man-in-the-middle attack was successfully performed using a forged certificate issued by a trusted CA. The legitimate CA’s private key was compromised. Which PKI component was breached?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the distinction between components that issue certificates (CA) versus those that verify or manage status (OCSP, RA, CRL), and the trap here is confusing the CA's signing role with the RA's identity-verification role or the OCSP/CRL's status-checking role.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Certification Authority (CA) private key
The man-in-the-middle attack succeeded due to a forged certificate issued by a trusted CA, which directly implies that the CA's private key was compromised. The CA's private key is the root of trust in a PKI; if it is stolen, an attacker can sign fraudulent certificates that will be trusted by all clients that trust the CA. Without the private key, the attacker could not have created a valid forged certificate.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Certification Authority (CA) private key
Why this is correct
The CA private key is used to sign certificates; its compromise allows forging.
- ✗
Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responder
Why it's wrong here
OCSP provides real-time revocation status, not certificate issuance.
- ✗
Registration Authority (RA)
Why it's wrong here
RA verifies identity but does not hold the signing key.
- ✗
Certificate Revocation List (CRL)
Why it's wrong here
CRL is a list of revoked certificates, not the signing key.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every 350-701 question from scratch — 978 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 350-701 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 350-701 exam.