CompTIA CS0-002 - CompTIA CySA+ Certification Exam (CS0-002)

Data Sovereignty means that data is subject to the laws and regulations of the geographic location where that data is collected and processed. Data sovereignty is a country-specific requirement that data must remain within the borders of the jurisdiction where it originated. At its core, data sovereignty is about protecting sensitive, private data and ensuring it remains under the control of its owner. You're only worried about that if you're in multiple locations. . https://www.virtru.com/blog/gdpr-data-sovereignty-matters-globally

Geographic access requirements are an appropriate technical control to implement to mitigate data sovereignty issues. Data sovereignty issues arise when data is subject to different laws and regulations depending on where it is stored or processed. For example, some countries may have stricter data protection or privacy laws than others, or may impose restrictions on cross-border data transfers. Geographic access requirements can help ensure that data is only accessed from locations that comply with the applicable laws and regulations, and prevent unauthorized access from locations that do not.

Deploying whitelisting to the identified workstations would be the best method to protect these workstations from threats. Whitelisting is a technique that allows only authorized applications, processes, or users to run or access a system or resource. Whitelisting can help limit the attack surface and prevent malware or unauthorized software from running on a system3. Deploying whitelisting to the workstations that are at the end of life can help mitigate the risk of exploitation due to lack of patches or support from the vendor.

data exfiltration is the unauthorized transfer of data from an organization’s network to an external destination, usually for malicious purposes such as espionage, sabotage, or theft. The details given in the question suggest that data exfiltration is occurring from an endpoint device. The bursts of network utilization every seven days indicate periodic data transfers. The content being transferred appears to be encrypted or obfuscated to avoid detection or analysis. The persistent outbound TCP connection from the host to infrastructure in a third-party cloud indicates a possible command and control channel for an attacker. The HDD utilization on the device grows by 10GB to 12GB over the course of every seven days, and single file sizes are 10GB, indicating that large amounts of data are being collected and compressed before being exfiltrated.

SCAP stands for Security Content Automation Protocol, which is a set of standards and specifications that allows automated configuration and vulnerability management of systems. SCAP provides an automated approach to checking a system configuration by using standardized expressions and formats to evaluate the system’s compliance with predefined policies or benchmarks. CI/CD, OVAL, scripting, or SOAR are other terms related to automation or security, but they do not provide an automated approach to checking a system configuration. Reference: https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/security-content-automation-protocol

Modbus is a communication protocol that is widely used in industrial control systems (ICS). Modbus does not have any built-in security features, such as authentication or encryption, which makes it vulnerable to various attacks. One of the most common and effective attack techniques against Modbus assets is to send unauthenticated commands to manipulate or disrupt the operation of the devices. Remote code execution, buffer overflow, and certificate spoofing are other attack techniques, but they have less likelihood of quick success against Modbus assets. Reference: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405959517300045

UEBA stands for User and Entity Behavior Analytics, which is a category of security products that use machine learning and statistical analysis to identify malicious actions by users or entities on a network. UEBA products can detect anomalous or suspicious behaviors that deviate from normal patterns or baselines, such as data exfiltration, privilege escalation, unauthorized access, insider threats, or compromised accounts. UEBA products can also provide alerts, reports, or recommendations for response actions based on the detected behaviors.

SaaS stands for Software as a Service, which is a cloud model that allows users to access software applications over the internet without installing or maintaining them on their own devices. SaaS will allow all data to be kept on the third-party network, because the software applications and the data they generate or process are stored on the cloud provider’s servers. VDI, CASB, and FaaS are other terms related to cloud computing or security, but they do not match the description of keeping all data on the third-party network. Reference: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/software-as-a-service

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Received-SPF: softfail. SPF stands for Sender Policy Framework, and it is a method of validating email origin by checking the sender’s IP address against a list of authorized IP addresses published by the domain owner in a DNS record. SPF can help to prevent email spoofing and phishing by verifying the authenticity of the sender1.

Received-SPF is a header field that indicates the result of the SPF check performed by the recipient’s mail server. There are several possible values for this field, but the most common ones are:

pass: The sender’s IP address matches one of the authorized IP addresses for the domain. This indicates a valid originator.

fail: The sender’s IP address does not match any of the authorized IP addresses for the domain, and the domain owner has explicitly stated that such emails should be rejected. This indicates an invalid originator.

neutral: The sender’s IP address does not match any of the authorized IP addresses for the domain, but the domain owner has not stated how to handle such emails. This indicates an unknown originator.

none: The domain does not have an SPF record, or the SPF record is invalid or malformed. This indicates a missing or invalid SPF policy.

softfail: The sender’s IP address does not match any of the authorized IP addresses for the domain, but the domain owner has stated that such emails should be accepted with caution. This indicates a suspicious originator2.

Therefore, out of the four options, Received-SPF: softfail most likely indicates an invalid originator, as it suggests that the sender is not authorized by the domain owner and may be trying to impersonate or spoof the domain.

1: What Is SPF? 2: SPF Record Check

Memory cache and swap volume are types of media that are most volatile and should be preserved during a digital forensics investigation. Volatile media are those that store data temporarily and lose their contents when the power is turned off or interrupted. Memory cache is a small and fast memory that stores frequently used data or instructions for faster access by the processor. Swap volume is a part of the hard disk that is used as an extension of the memory when the memory is full or low .