Practice Free SY0-701 Exam Online Questions
A penetration test has demonstrated that domain administrator accounts were vulnerable to pass-the-hash attacks.
Which of the following would have been the best strategy to prevent the threat actor from using domain administrator accounts?
- A . Audit each domain administrator account weekly for password compliance.
- B . Implement a privileged access management solution.
- C . Create IDS policies to monitor domain controller access.
- D . Use Group Policy to enforce password expiration.
B
Explanation:
Detailed Privileged access management (PAM) solutions effectively mitigate pass-the-hash attacks by enforcing least privilege and session management for administrative accounts. These tools restrict how and when credentials can be accessed, thereby reducing attack surfaces.
Reference: CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 Study Guide, Domain 2: Vulnerabilities, Section: "Mitigation Techniques".
A security administrator would like to protect data on employees’ laptops.
Which of the following encryption techniques should the security administrator use?
- A . Partition
- B . Asymmetric
- C . Full disk
- D . Database
C
Explanation:
Full disk encryption (FDE) is a technique that encrypts all the data on a hard drive, including the operating system, applications, and files. FDE protects the data from unauthorized access in case the laptop is lost, stolen, or disposed of without proper sanitization. FDE requires the user to enter a password, a PIN, a smart card, or a biometric factor to unlock the drive and boot the system. FDE can be implemented by using software solutions, such as BitLocker, FileVault, or VeraCrypt, or by using hardware solutions, such as self-encrypting drives (SEDs) or Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs). FDE is a recommended encryption technique for laptops and other mobile devices that store sensitive data. Partition encryption is a technique that encrypts only a specific partition or volume on a hard drive, leaving the rest of the drive unencrypted. Partition encryption is less secure than FDE, as it does not protect the entire drive and may leave traces of data on unencrypted areas. Partition encryption is also less convenient than FDE, as it requires the user to mount and unmount the encrypted partition manually.
Asymmetric encryption is a technique that uses a pair of keys, one public and one private, to encrypt and decrypt data. Asymmetric encryption is mainly used for securing communication, such as email, web, or VPN, rather than for encrypting data at rest. Asymmetric encryption is also slower and more computationally intensive than symmetric encryption, which is the type of encryption used by FDE and partition encryption.
Database encryption is a technique that encrypts data stored in a database, such as tables, columns, rows, or cells. Database encryption can be done at the application level, the database level, or the file system level. Database encryption is useful for protecting data from unauthorized access by database administrators, hackers, or malware, but it does not protect the data from physical theft or loss of the device that hosts the database.
Reference = Data Encryption C CompTIA Security+ SY0-401: 4.4, CompTIA Security+ Cheat Sheet and PDF | Zero To Mastery, CompTIA Security+ SY0-601 Certification Course – Cybr, Application Hardening C SY0-601 CompTIA Security+: 3.2.
Which of the following is used to quantitatively measure the criticality of a vulnerability?
- A . CVE
- B . CVSS
- C . CIA
- D . CERT
B
Explanation:
CVSS stands for Common Vulnerability Scoring System, which is a framework that provides a standardized way to assess and communicate the severity and risk of vulnerabilities. CVSS uses a set of metrics and formulas to calculate a numerical score ranging from 0 to 10, where higher scores indicate higher criticality. CVSS can help organizations prioritize remediation efforts and compare vulnerabilities across different systems and vendors. The other options are not used to measure the criticality of a vulnerability, but rather to identify, classify, or report them.
Reference: CompTIA Security+ Study Guide: Exam SY0-701, 9th Edition, page 39
A security team created a document that details the order in which critical systems should be through back online after a major outage.
Which of the following documents did the team create?
- A . Communication plan
- B . Incident response plan
- C . Data retention policy
- D . Disaster recovery plan
D
Explanation:
The document described in the question is a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP). A DRP outlines the process and procedures for restoring critical systems and operations after a major disruption or outage. It includes the order in which systems should be brought back online to ensure minimal impact on business operations, prioritizing the most critical systems to recover first.
Reference: CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 Course Content: Domain 5: Security Program Management and Oversight, which discusses the development and implementation of disaster recovery plans.
Which of the following actions best addresses a vulnerability found on a company’s web server?
- A . Patching
- B . Segmentation
- C . Decommissioning
- D . Monitoring
Which of the following architectures is most suitable to provide redundancy for critical business processes?
- A . Network-enabled
- B . Server-side
- C . Cloud-native
- D . Multitenant
A systems administrator is concerned users are accessing emails through a duplicate site that is not run by the company.
Which of the following is used in this scenario?
- A . Impersonation
- B . Replication
- C . Phishing
- D . Smishing
A network administrator wants to ensure that network traffic is highly secure while in transit.
Which of the following actions best describes the actions the network administrator should take?
- A . Ensure that NAC is enforced on all network segments, and confirm that firewalls have updated policies to block unauthorized traffic.
- B . Ensure only TLS and other encrypted protocols are selected for use on the network, and only permit authorized traffic via secure protocols.
- C . Configure the perimeter IPS to block inbound HTTPS directory traversal traffic, and verify that signatures are updated on a daily basis.
- D . Ensure the EDR software monitors for unauthorized applications that could be used by threat actors, and configure alerts for the security team.
During an investigation, an incident response team attempts to understand the source of an incident.
Which of the following incident response activities describes this process?
- A . Analysis
- B . Lessons learned
- C . Detection
- D . Containment
A
Explanation:
Analysis is the incident response activity that describes the process of understanding the source of an incident. Analysis involves collecting and examining evidence, identifying the root cause, determining the scope and impact, and assessing the threat actor’s motives and capabilities. Analysis helps the incident response team to formulate an appropriate response strategy, as well as to prevent or mitigate future incidents. Analysis is usually performed after detection and before containment, eradication, recovery, and lessons learned.
Reference = CompTIA Security+ Study Guide with over 500 Practice Test Questions: Exam SY0-701, 9th Edition, Chapter 6, page 223. CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 Exam Objectives, Domain 4.2, page 13.
A systems administrator set up a perimeter firewall but continues to notice suspicious connections between internal endpoints.
Which of the following should be set up in order to mitigate the threat posed by the suspicious activity?
- A . Host-based firewall
- B . Web application firewall
- C . Access control list
- D . Application allow list
A
Explanation:
A host-based firewall is a software application that runs on an individual endpoint and filters the incoming and outgoing network traffic based on a set of rules. A host-based firewall can help to mitigate the threat posed by suspicious connections between internal endpoints by blocking or allowing the traffic based on the source, destination, port, protocol, or application. A host-based firewall is different from a web application firewall, which is a type of firewall that protects web applications from common web-based attacks, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and session hijacking. A host-based firewall is also different from an access control list, which is a list of rules that control the access to network resources, such as files, folders, printers, or routers. A host-based firewall is also different from an application allow list, which is a list of applications that are authorized to run on an endpoint, preventing unauthorized or malicious applications from executing.
Reference: CompTIA Security+ Study Guide: Exam SY0-701, 9th Edition, page 254