hardMultiple Choice
CS0-003 Practice Question: A vulnerability management team uses OpenVAS to…
A vulnerability management team uses OpenVAS to scan a network of 500 hosts weekly. The scans are causing network congestion and generating false positives. Which of the following would BEST reduce the impact while maintaining effective vulnerability detection?
⚠ Common exam trap
CompTIA often tests the misconception that reducing false positives (credential-based scanning) solves network congestion, but the question specifically asks about reducing impact from congestion, not improving accuracy.
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
✓
Schedule scans during off-peak hours and limit concurrent scans.
Scheduling scans during off-peak hours and limiting concurrent scans directly reduces network congestion by shifting traffic to low-utilization periods and capping the number of simultaneous connections. This approach maintains the weekly scan frequency and full vulnerability coverage, unlike other options that degrade detection effectiveness.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Disable the vulnerable host discovery phase.
Why it's wrong here
Disabling host discovery prevents the scanner from identifying newly active or modified assets on the network segment. This approach severely compromises visibility, as the scanner will either miss active targets entirely or waste resources scanning inactive IP addresses. Consequently, it fails to maintain an accurate asset inventory while doing nothing to optimize the traffic flow of active scans.
- ✗
Increase the scan interval to monthly.
Why it's wrong here
While extending the scanning interval to a monthly cadence reduces the overall frequency of network disruption, it significantly increases the organization's window of vulnerability. Critical security flaws could remain undetected for weeks, exposing the infrastructure to exploitation. Additionally, this adjustment does not resolve the peak network congestion that occurs when the scan actually executes.
- ✗
Use credential-based scanning to reduce false positives.
Why it's wrong here
Implementing credential-based scanning is an excellent practice for improving accuracy and reducing false positives by querying the local operating system directly. However, this configuration change does not address the underlying network congestion caused by active network-level probing and port scanning. The network interface cards and intermediate routing devices will still experience high traffic loads during the initial discovery and scanning phases.
- ✓
Schedule scans during off-peak hours and limit concurrent scans.
Why this is correct
Scheduling vulnerability assessments during off-peak hours ensures that high-volume scan traffic does not compete with critical production services or degrade user experience. Concurrently, limiting the number of simultaneous target scans reduces the instantaneous bandwidth load on network switches, firewalls, and target hosts. This dual approach successfully mitigates network congestion while preserving the thoroughness and frequency of the security assessments.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
SIGMA and YARA Detection Rules
Key term
Vulnerability
A vulnerability is a weakness in a system, network, or software that could be exploited by a threat to cause harm or unauthorized access.
Key term
Detection
Detection is the process of identifying potential security incidents or anomalies by analyzing system data, logs, and network traffic.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CS0-004 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 CS0-004 exam.