200-201 Host-Based Analysis Practice Question
In a Linux system, an analyst wants to check for unauthorized cron jobs. Which of the following is a common location for user-specific cron jobs?
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
✓
/var/spool/cron/crontabs/
User-specific cron jobs are stored in /var/spool/cron/crontabs/ (or /var/spool/cron/ on some distributions), named after the user.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
/var/log/cron
Why it's wrong here
This is a log file, not a location for cron jobs.
- ✗
/etc/cron.d/
Why it's wrong here
This directory is for system-wide cron jobs.
- ✗
/etc/crontab
Why it's wrong here
This is the system-wide crontab, not user-specific.
- ✓
/var/spool/cron/crontabs/
Why this is correct
This directory contains crontab files for individual users.
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.