200-201 Security Monitoring Practice Question
A security analyst observes a NetFlow record showing a single internal IP communicating with many external IPs on port 445 within seconds. This pattern is indicative of:
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
✓
SMB scanning
Port 445 is used by SMB; a rapid series of connections to many IPs suggests a scan for vulnerable SMB services.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
DNS tunneling
Why it's wrong here
DNS tunneling uses port 53.
- ✗
Data exfiltration
Why it's wrong here
Exfiltration would show large volumes to a few IPs, not many.
- ✓
SMB scanning
Why this is correct
Many connections on port 445 to different IPs indicates SMB scanning.
- ✗
Port scan
Why it's wrong here
Port scan typically targets many ports on a single IP.
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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.