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Systems and Application Security practice questions

Practise Systems Security Certified Practitioner SSCP Systems and Application Security practice questions — original exam-style scenarios with answer choices, explanations, and analysis of common mistakes.

Courseiva uses original exam-style practice questions designed for learning and revision. The goal is to understand the concepts, recognise exam patterns, and improve through explanations — not memorise copied exam dumps.

Reviewed byJohnson Ajibi· MSc IT Security

20 questionsDomain: Systems and Application Security

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What the exam tests

What to know about Systems and Application Security

Systems and Application Security questions test whether you can apply the concept in context, not just recognise a definition.

How the topic appears in realistic exam-style scenarios.

Which detail in the question changes the correct answer.

How to eliminate plausible but wrong options.

How to connect the question back to the wider exam objective.

Watch out for

Common Systems and Application Security exam traps

▸Answering from memory before reading the full scenario.
▸Missing a constraint such as cost, availability, security, scope or command context.
▸Choosing a broad answer when the question asks for the most specific fix.
▸Ignoring why the wrong options are tempting.

Practice set

Systems and Application Security questions

20 questions · select your answer, then reveal the explanation

Question 1mediummultiple choice

Read the full Systems and Application Security explanation →

During a security assessment, it is discovered that a Linux server has unnecessary services running, including Telnet and FTP. The server is also missing critical security patches. Which of the following is the MOST effective approach to harden this server according to industry best practices?

Trap 1: Move the server to a more secure network segment and implement…

Network segmentation is a compensating control, not a direct hardening measure for the server itself.

Trap 2: Enable SELinux and configure a host-based firewall using iptables.

While SELinux and firewall are good, they do not address the removal of unnecessary services or missing patches.

Trap 3: Install a host-based intrusion detection system (HIDS) to monitor…

HIDS adds monitoring but does not remove insecure services or patch vulnerabilities.

Study all Systems and Application Security common traps →

A
Move the server to a more secure network segment and implement network access controls.
Why wrong: Network segmentation is a compensating control, not a direct hardening measure for the server itself.
B
Enable SELinux and configure a host-based firewall using iptables.
Why wrong: While SELinux and firewall are good, they do not address the removal of unnecessary services or missing patches.
C
Install a host-based intrusion detection system (HIDS) to monitor for attacks.
Why wrong: HIDS adds monitoring but does not remove insecure services or patch vulnerabilities.
D
Disable Telnet and FTP services, and apply all critical security patches.
Disabling unnecessary services and patching are fundamental hardening steps.

Systems and Application Security practice questions

What to know about Systems and Application Security

Common Systems and Application Security exam traps

Systems and Application Security questions

During a security assessment, it is discovered that a Linux server has unnecessary services running, including Telnet and FTP. The server is also missing critical security patches. Which of the following is the MOST effective approach to harden this server according to industry best practices?

An organization wants to prevent unauthorized applications from running on Windows workstations. Which Windows feature should be used to enforce application whitelisting?

A security analyst is reviewing security events on a Linux server and needs to ensure that all authentication attempts, including both successful and failed logins, are logged. Which configuration should be used?

A cloud security team is deploying a new web application on an IaaS platform. According to the shared responsibility model, which of the following security tasks is the customer responsible for?

A company uses multiple virtual machines on a single hypervisor. To prevent a VM from escaping its virtualized environment and compromising the hypervisor, which of the following should be implemented?

In Linux, which command is used to change file permissions to restrict access so that only the owner can read and write, and the group and others have no access?

An application security team is reviewing code for vulnerabilities. They find that user input is directly concatenated into an SQL query without sanitization. This is an example of which OWASP Top 10 vulnerability?

A cloud security team is using Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) to identify misconfigurations. Which of the following scenarios is MOST likely to be detected by CSPM?

A Windows system administrator needs to enforce a security policy that prevents users from installing unauthorized software. Which feature should be configured via Group Policy?

Which of the following is a primary security concern when using VM snapshots in a virtualized environment?

A security auditor discovers that a Linux server has a user who can execute any command as root via sudo without a password. Which file should be reviewed to verify this configuration?

An organization is migrating a legacy application to a PaaS cloud environment. According to the shared responsibility model, which security control is the organization still responsible for?

A security engineer is hardening a Windows server. Which TWO actions should be taken to reduce the attack surface? (Select TWO.)

A company is deploying a web application and wants to protect against OWASP Top 10 attacks. Which THREE controls should be implemented? (Select THREE.)

An organization uses Linux servers and wants to implement mandatory access control (MAC) to enhance security. Which TWO technologies can be used? (Select TWO.)

An organization is hardening a new Windows server for production use. Which of the following is the most effective method to ensure that only approved applications can run?

A security analyst is reviewing Linux server logs after a suspected breach. Which auditing tool should be used to examine detailed records of system calls and file access events?

A company uses Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) for its production workloads. According to the shared responsibility model, which of the following security tasks is the customer responsible for?

To prevent VM escape attacks in a virtualized environment, which of the following is the most critical security measure?

An administrator wants to ensure that a Linux web server only allows the www-data user to run specific commands with elevated privileges. Which configuration file should be modified?

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Exam traps to avoid