200-201 Security Monitoring Practice Question
A SIEM correlation rule triggers when more than 10 failed login attempts from a single source IP occur within 1 minute. This rule is designed to detect:
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the distinction between a brute force attack (repeated failed logins) and a DDoS attack (high traffic volume), so candidates may confuse the two because both involve high event counts from a single source.
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
A brute force attack involves repeated login attempts using many password guesses. The SIEM rule specifically detects this pattern by counting failed logins from a single source IP within a short time window (1 minute). This matches the signature of an automated password guessing tool, not other attack types.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Privilege escalation
Why it's wrong here
Privilege escalation occurs after an attacker gains a foothold and exploits a vulnerability to raise permissions, generating process or token anomalies. Ten failed logins in a minute reflect credential guessing before any access exists, so the rule targets brute force instead.
- ✗
Malware infection
Why it's wrong here
Malware infection manifests through process, file or outbound-connection anomalies, not a burst of failed authentications from one IP. Repeated failed logins indicate an actor guessing credentials, so the rule detects brute-force attempts rather than malicious code executing on a host.
- ✓
Brute force attack
Why this is correct
Numerous failed authentications from one IP within a minute reflect automated credential guessing, the signature of a brute-force attack. The rule's source-IP and time-window constraints detect this volume pattern rather than isolated failures or distributed attempts.
- ✗
DDoS attack
Why it's wrong here
A DDoS attack floods a target with traffic to exhaust resources, typically producing volume or connection anomalies rather than repeated authentication failures from one source. The rule's threshold on failed logins targets credential-guessing behaviour, not traffic saturation.
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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.