200-201 Security Monitoring Practice Question
A security analyst is using NetFlow data to investigate a potential data exfiltration incident. Which NetFlow metric is most useful for identifying large volumes of data being transferred to an external IP address?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the misconception that packet count is equivalent to data volume, but the trap here is that packet count ignores packet size, making bytes transferred the definitive metric for data volume in exfiltration analysis.
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
✓
Bytes transferred
The 'Bytes transferred' metric in NetFlow directly quantifies the volume of data sent to a specific destination IP. In a data exfiltration scenario, an unusually high byte count to an external IP is a strong indicator of large-scale data transfer, whereas other metrics like source port or packet count do not directly measure data volume.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Source port
Why it's wrong here
Source port indicates the port used by the source, not the volume.
- ✗
Destination IP
Why it's wrong here
Destination IP identifies the target but not the data volume.
- ✓
Bytes transferred
Why this is correct
High byte counts to an external IP may indicate exfiltration.
- ✗
Packet count
Why it's wrong here
Packet count can be high even with small packets; bytes are more direct for volume.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This 200-201 question is part of Courseiva's 979-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam 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.