CAS-004 Security Operations Practice Question
A penetration tester is in the post-exploitation phase and wants to maintain access to a compromised system. Which of the following techniques is most effective for establishing persistent access while evading detection?
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
✓
Creating a scheduled task that executes a reverse shell
Creating a scheduled task that executes a backdoor is a common persistence mechanism. It can be disguised and runs at system startup or on a schedule, making it harder to detect.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Uploading a web shell to a publicly accessible directory
Why it's wrong here
Web shells can be easily detected by file integrity monitoring.
- ✗
Creating a new local user account with administrative privileges
Why it's wrong here
New user accounts are often audited and can trigger alerts.
- ✗
Installing a rogue certificate authority
Why it's wrong here
Installing a rogue certificate authority does not establish persistent access; it enables man-in-the-middle attacks by allowing the attacker to sign forged certificates that clients trust. This technique is tempting because certificate authorities are critical for TLS trust chains, and compromising one can grant long-term eavesdropping capability on encrypted traffic. However, the stem requires maintaining interactive access to the compromised system, not intercepting network communications—a task typically achieved by installing a backdoor or scheduled task.
- ✓
Creating a scheduled task that executes a reverse shell
Why this is correct
Scheduled tasks can be used for persistence and are less monitored.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CAS-005 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 CAS-005 exam.