FC0-U71 Security Practice Question
A company implements a policy where employees must swipe their ID card and then enter a PIN to access the server room. Which two authentication factors are being used?
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
✓
Something you have and something you know
The ID card is 'something you have' (possession factor) and the PIN is 'something you know' (knowledge factor). This is multi-factor authentication.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Something you know and something you are
Why it's wrong here
The ID card is a possession factor, not knowledge, so the first factor is misclassified. Something you are covers biometrics like fingerprints, absent from this scenario. The PIN correctly maps to something you know, but pairing it with inherence misreads the card.
- ✗
Something you have and something you are
Why it's wrong here
The PIN is knowledge, not inherence, so the second factor is misclassified. Something you are covers biometrics such as fingerprints or facial recognition, which the scenario never mentions. The card correctly maps to something you have, but the PIN pairing is wrong.
- ✓
Something you have and something you know
Why this is correct
The ID card supplies something you have, while the PIN supplies something you know. Combining a physical token with memorised secret satisfies two distinct authentication factor categories, which is the two-factor requirement described in the policy.
- ✗
Something you know and somewhere you are
Why it's wrong here
Location is not a factor here: swiping a card is something you have, and a PIN is something you know. Geolocation or network-based checks would supply somewhere you are. The stem describes possession plus knowledge, so this pairing misassigns the card to the wrong category.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This FC0-U71 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 FC0-U71 exam.