200-201 Security Monitoring Practice Question
A SIEM correlation rule triggers an alert when more than 10 failed login attempts from the same source IP occur within 60 seconds. Which attack is this rule designed to detect?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the distinction between brute force and other attack types by focusing on the specific behavior of repeated failed logins from a single source, which candidates may confuse with phishing or SQL injection due to overlapping terminology like 'credential theft' or 'authentication bypass'.
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
✓
Brute force attack
This SIEM rule detects a brute force attack by correlating a high volume of failed login attempts (more than 10) from the same source IP within a short time window (60 seconds). Brute force attacks rely on rapid, repeated authentication attempts to guess credentials, and this threshold-based correlation is a classic detection method for such behavior.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Phishing attack
Why it's wrong here
Phishing harvests credentials through deceptive messages, so it precedes rather than generates the login attempts themselves. It is tempting because phishing often supplies the credentials later reused in attacks, but detection here hinges on source-IP login frequency, not email content or user reporting; the rule catches the subsequent brute-force or password-spray authentication activity.
- ✗
Man-in-the-middle
Why it's wrong here
Man-in-the-middle intercepts or alters traffic between parties; it does not generate repeated authentication failures from one source. It is tempting because both involve attacker positioning on the network, and it would be correct if the evidence showed session hijacking, certificate anomalies or credential relay rather than brute-force login patterns.
- ✗
SQL injection
Why it's wrong here
SQL injection exploits unvalidated input to execute database queries, producing malformed SQL or error responses rather than repeated authentication failures from one IP. It is tempting because SIEM rules do flag database anomalies, but injection targets application-layer query handling; the threshold of ten failed logins in 60 seconds instead indicates credential brute forcing.
- ✓
Brute force attack
Why this is correct
Repeated authentication failures from one source within a short window match the brute force pattern, where an attacker rapidly guesses credentials against a single account or host. The rule's thresholds — more than 10 attempts in 60 seconds from the same IP — directly encode that volume-based signature.
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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.