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hardmultiple choiceObjective-mapped

During an internal penetration test, a tester captures an NTLMv2 hash of a domain admin account using a Responder attack. The organization's password policy requires at least 12 characters with uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and special characters. Which password cracking technique is most likely to succeed first?

Question 1hardmultiple choice
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During an internal penetration test, a tester captures an NTLMv2 hash of a domain admin account using a Responder attack. The organization's password policy requires at least 12 characters with uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and special characters. Which password cracking technique is most likely to succeed first?

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Answer choices

Why each option matters

Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.

A

Distractor review

Dictionary attack with common passwords

Complex passwords are unlikely to be common dictionary words.

B

Distractor review

Brute-force attack with all possible 8-character combinations

Brute-forcing 12+ characters would take an impractical amount of time.

C

Best answer

Hybrid attack combining dictionary words with numbers and special characters

This approach uses word mangling and is effective for passwords that are variations of common words.

D

Distractor review

Rainbow table attack on the hash

NTLMv2 uses a salt, making rainbow tables ineffective.

Common exam trap

Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic

NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.

Technical deep dive

How to think about this question

NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.

KKey Concepts to Remember

  • Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
  • PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
  • Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
  • NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.

TExam Day Tips

  • Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
  • Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
  • Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.

Related practice questions

Related PT0-002 practice-question pages

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More questions from this exam

Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.

Question 1

A penetration tester is writing the executive summary for a report. The client's CEO needs to understand the business impact of a critical SQL injection vulnerability. Which of the following should the tester include?

Question 2

A penetration tester has gained a low-privileged shell on a Linux server. During enumeration, the tester discovers a binary with the SUID bit set that belongs to root and is known to have a buffer overflow vulnerability. What is the MOST effective next step to escalate privileges?

Question 3

A penetration tester is performing passive reconnaissance against a target domain. Which of the following resources can be used to gather information about the target without directly sending packets to the target's network? (Select two.) (Choose 2.)

Question 4

A penetration tester has obtained a TGT from a domain controller by cracking the krbtgt hash. Which attack can the tester now perform to gain persistent administrative access to any resource in the domain?

Question 5

A penetration tester is writing the executive summary for the final report. The CEO needs to understand the overall risk level and the business impact of the findings. Which of the following should be included in the executive summary?

Question 6

A penetration tester is writing the executive summary of a penetration test report. Which of the following elements is MOST important to include for a non-technical audience?

FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this PT0-002 question test?

Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Hybrid attack combining dictionary words with numbers and special characters — Given the password complexity (12+ characters with all character types), a dictionary attack (A) is unlikely to succeed because complex random passwords are not common words. Brute-force (B) on 12+ characters is computationally infeasible within a reasonable time. Rainbow tables (D) are ineffective against NTLMv2 because it uses a salt. A hybrid attack (C) combines dictionary words with modifications (e.g., adding numbers and specials) and is the most efficient approach for cracking moderate-complexity passwords.

What should I do if I get this PT0-002 question wrong?

Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.

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