200-201 Security Concepts Practice Question
A security analyst discovers that an attacker used a publicly available tool to scan a company's network for open ports and services. What type of attack is this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the distinction between active and passive reconnaissance by presenting a scenario where a tool is used to 'scan' or 'probe' the network, and candidates mistakenly choose passive reconnaissance because they think 'scanning' is non-intrusive, but any direct interaction with the target (sending packets) is active.
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
✓
Active reconnaissance
Using a publicly available tool to scan a company's network for open ports and services involves directly interacting with the target systems by sending probes (e.g., TCP SYN packets, UDP datagrams) and analyzing responses. This constitutes active reconnaissance, as the attacker's actions generate traffic that can be detected by intrusion detection systems (IDS) or firewall logs, unlike passive methods that only observe existing traffic.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Passive reconnaissance
Why it's wrong here
Passive reconnaissance gathers information without directly interacting with the target, such as via OSINT or sniffing. Active scanning sends packets to the target's ports, so it is not passive. Passive methods would be correct if the analyst saw only third-party data collection.
- ✗
Denial of Service
Why it's wrong here
A DoS attack exhausts resources to disrupt availability, whereas port scanning merely enumerates open ports and services without flooding or consuming target capacity. DoS tooling is tempting because it is also publicly available, but no service degradation or traffic flood occurred here.
- ✗
Social engineering
Why it's wrong here
Social engineering manipulates people into divulging information or granting access; it involves no port scanning tooling. It is tempting because reconnaissance can precede phishing, but the observed activity is technical enumeration of network services, not human deception.
- ✓
Active reconnaissance
Why this is correct
Active reconnaissance involves directly interacting with target systems, such as port scanning with tools like Nmap, generating traffic the target can detect. This matches the stem's constraint of using a publicly available tool to scan for open ports and services.
Visual reference
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every 200-201 question from scratch — 968 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 200-201 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 200-201 exam.