ECCouncil 312-39 - Certified SOC Analyst (CSA)

HTTP status codes are categorized into five classes, where each class is represented by the first digit of the status code. The 5XX series of status codes indicates server errors, which means that the server is aware that it has encountered an error or is otherwise incapable of performing the request. Common examples of 5XX status codes include 500 (Internal Server Error), 501 (Not Implemented), 502 (Bad Gateway), etc. These indicate that the request was valid, but the server failed to fulfill the request due to some issue on the server side.

References: The EC-Council’s Certified SOC Analyst (C|SA) course material and study guides discuss the interpretation and significance of HTTP status codes in the context of security operations. Understanding these codes is crucial for SOC analysts, as they can indicate potential server-side issues that may impact the security posture of an organization12.

To enable Security Auditing in Windows, the Local Group Policy Editor is used. This feature allows administrators to configure security policies and audit settings on a local computer. Here’s how you can enable Security Auditing using the Local Group Policy Editor:

Press Win + R, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter to open the Local Group Policy Editor.

Navigate to Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Audit Policy.

Here, you will find a list of audit policies that you can configure for both success and failure events.

By enabling these policies, you can specify which security-related events you want to audit, such as account logon events, object access, policy change, privilege use, and more.

References: The process described above is aligned with the best practices and guidelines provided by Microsoft and other authoritative sources on Windows security auditing, such as:

Microsoft’s official documentation on Security Auditing1.

Guides on how to enable Security Auditing in Active Directory environments2.

Articles detailing the essentials of Windows event log security auditing3. These references are part of the learning resources for the EC-Council SOC Analyst course and provide comprehensive information on the subject.

 For Internet Information Service (IIS) version 7.0, the default location for web server logs is in the directory %SystemDrive%\inetpub\logs\LogFiles. Within this directory, you will find subfolders named W3SVCN, where N is a number that corresponds to the site ID of the IIS instance. These folders contain the log files for each website hosted on the server. Harley, as a SOC analyst, can investigate these logs for any anomalies by accessing this path.

References: The information provided aligns with the standard practices and configurations for IIS 7.0 as outlined in Microsoft’s official documentation123. These references are part of the learning resources for understanding the management and structure of IIS logs, which are crucial for a SOC Analyst’s role in monitoring and analyzing web server activity for security purposes. The EC-Council’s SOC Analyst course and study guides also emphasize the importance of log file analysis in identifying and responding to security incidents.

The IIS log events indicate a SQL Injection Attack. This is evident from the complex SQL queries present in the log, which include functions like “UNICODE”, “SUBSTRING”, and “MAX”. These functions are being used in a manner that suggests manipulation of strings and extraction of data, which are common tactics in SQL injection attacks. The use of specific characters like CHAR(97) and CHAR(108) within the queries is a technique often employed to bypass security mechanisms during such attacks.

References: For further study and verification, the EC-Council’s Certified SOC Analyst (CSA) course materials and study guides provide extensive information on identifying and responding to various types of cyber attacks, including SQL Injection. These resources are essential for any security analyst to understand the intricacies of log analysis and attack identification.

 The choice of SIEM architecture is influenced by several factors that impact how the SIEM system will collect, manage, and analyze data. Among the options provided, Network Topology is the most relevant factor. It determines the layout of the network, including the arrangement of nodes and the connections between them, which directly affects how the SIEM system will be integrated into the environment. A well-designed network topology ensures that the SIEM system can efficiently collect and correlate data from across the network.

SMTP Configuration, DHCP Configuration, and DNS Configuration are related to specific services and protocols that may be monitored by a SIEM, but they do not determine the choice of SIEM architecture itself.

References: For further understanding, you can refer to the EC-Council’s Certified SOC Analyst course material and study guides, which provide detailed insights into SIEM architectures and the factors influencing their selection. Additionally, resources like Exabeam’s “SIEM Architecture: Technology, Process and Data” offer a comprehensive overview of SIEM systems and their components1.

The eradication stage is where the root cause of the incident is determined from the forensic results. This stage involves not only removing the threat from the affected systems but also identifying and fixing the vulnerabilities that were exploited. It’s crucial to understand how the incident occurred to prevent future occurrences. After the containment stage, where the immediate threat is isolated, eradication ensures that the threat is completely removed and that the root cause is addressed.

References: The EC-Council’s Certified Incident Handler (E|CIH) program outlines the stages of incident handling and response, which include preparation, identification, containment, eradication, recovery, and lessons learned. The eradication stage specifically deals with eliminating the threat and addressing the root cause based on forensic analysis. This information is covered in the E|CIH program and can be found in the official EC-Council learning resources1.

The Windows Event ID 5140 is used to monitor file sharing across a network. This event is triggered every time a network share object is accessed, and it generates once per session when the first access attempt is made. It is part of the Audit File Share category and provides information about the access, including the user and device that accessed the share, the network address from which the access was made, and the name of the share that was accessed.

References:The information about Event ID 5140 can be found in the Microsoft documentation for Windows security auditing, specifically under the Advanced security audit policies related to Audit File Share1.

To filter the output of the ‘show logging’ command to include entries related to a specific access control list, Peter should use the ‘include’ keyword followed by the access list number. The correct command would be ‘show logging | include 210’. This command will display all log entries that contain the string ‘210’, which is the number of the access control list he wants to monitor.

References: The use of the ‘include’ keyword in Cisco router commands is a standard method for filtering show command outputs to display only lines that contain a specified string or pattern. This is covered in Cisco’s documentation and training materials related to router commands and access control list management12.

The attack described is a Directory Traversal Attack. This type of attack occurs when an attacker exploits vulnerabilities in a web application (or a web server’s software) to gain unauthorized access to files and directories that are stored outside of the web root folder. By manipulating variables that reference files with ../ sequences (also known as dot-dot-slash), the attacker can move up the directory hierarchy and access files or directories that should be restricted. This can lead to information disclosure, such as reading sensitive files like /etc/passwd, which contains user password details in Unix-based systems.

In the given URL http://www.terabytes.com/process.php./../../../../etc/passwd , the attacker uses the ../ pattern to navigate up from the current directory where process.php resides, aiming to reach the root directory and then descend into the /etc/ directory to access the passwd file. This is a classic example of a Directory Traversal Attack.

References: The EC-Council’s Certified SOC Analyst course covers various types of cyber attacks, including Directory Traversal Attacks. Specific references to this type of attack can be found in the EC-Council’s official training materials for the Certified SOC Analyst (CSA) program, such as the CSA study guide and related courses that discuss web application vulnerabilities and attacks123.

Event ID 4740 is a security audit event in Windows that indicates a user account has been locked out. This event is generated every time the system locks out a user account due to repeated logon failures, which are typically caused by incorrect password entries. The event is logged on domain controllers, member servers, and workstations where the lockout occurred. It includes details such as the account name, domain, and the computer from which the lockout originated.

References: The information is verified as per Microsoft’s official documentation and learning resources related to security auditing and user account management. Specifically, the Microsoft Learn page on security auditing provides comprehensive details on Event ID 47401. Additionally, resources like Ultimate Windows Security offer in-depth explanations of this event and its implications for security monitoring2.