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

Using whole disk encryption is the best option to protect the data on the remote users’ laptops. Whole disk encryption is a technique that encrypts all data on a hard disk drive, including the operating system, applications and files. Whole disk encryption can prevent unauthorized access to the data if the laptop is lost, stolen or compromised. Whole disk encryption can also protect the data from physical attacks, such as removing the hard disk and connecting it to another device .

Data sovereignty is the idea that data are subject to the laws and governance structures of the nation where they are collected1 Data sovereignty issues can impact organizational initiatives that involve transferring or storing data across different jurisdictions, such as moving to a cloud-based environment. Cloud computing involves using remote servers and networks to store and process data, which may be located in different countries or regions with different data protection laws and regulations2 This can create challenges for organizations that need to comply with data sovereignty requirements of their own country or their customers’ countries, such as data localization, data access, data security, data breach notification, etc3

References: 1 Data sovereignty - Wikipedia 2 What Is Data Sovereignty? Everything You Need to Know - Permission.io 3 What is data sovereignty? - IONOS

The security analyst observed that 192.168.12.21 made a TCP connection to 209.132.177.50. This can be inferred from the packet capture output, which shows the following sequence of packets:

Packet 1: A SYN packet from 192.168.12.21 to 209.132.177.50 on port 80 (HTTP). This is the first step of the TCP three-way handshake, where the source initiates a connection request to the destination.

Packet 2: A SYN-ACK packet from 209.132.177.50 to 192.168.12.21 on port 80 (HTTP). This is the second step of the TCP three-way handshake, where the destination acknowledges and accepts the connection request from the source.

Packet 3: An ACK packet from 192.168.12.21 to 209.132.177.50 on port 80 (HTTP). This is the third and final step of the TCP three-way handshake, where the source confirms and completes the connection establishment with the destination.

These packets indicate that a TCP connection was successfully established between 192.168.12.21 and 209.132.177.50 on port 80.

The first action that should be taken to prevent a more serious compromise is to check the hash signatures, comparing them with malware databases to verify if the files are infected. This will help to determine if the changes to hash signatures were caused by malicious software or legitimate updates. If the files are infected, they should be quarantined and removed from the network. Checking the hash signatures will also help to identify the type and source of the malware, which can inform further actions such as blocking malicious domains or IPs, updating antivirus signatures, or notifying users3.

SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) reduces the amount of human intervention required, which is an advantage over SIEM (Security Information and Event Management). SIEM is a tool that collects, analyzes, and correlates data from various sources, such as logs, alerts, and events, to provide security monitoring and incident detection. SIEM can help security teams identify and prioritize potential threats, but it still requires manual intervention to investigate and respond to incidents2. SOAR is a tool that builds on SIEM by automating and orchestrating various security tasks and workflows, such as incident response, threat hunting, and threat intelligence. SOAR can help security teams reduce manual effort, improve efficiency, and accelerate incident resolution3.

To prevent adversaries from intercepting response and recovery details. Using a secure method of communication during incident response is important to prevent adversaries from intercepting response and recovery details that could reveal the incident response team’s actions, strategies, or findings. If the adversaries can intercept the communication, they could use it to evade detection, escalate their privileges, or launch further attacks. To ensure intellectual property remains on company servers, to have a backup plan in case email access is disabled, or to ensure the management team has access to all the details that are being exchanged are other possible reasons to use a secure method of communication, but they are not as important as preventing adversaries from intercepting response and recovery details. Reference: https://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/incident/incident-handlers-handbook-33901

Threat feeds are sources of information that provide timely and relevant data about current or emerging cyber threats, such as indicators of compromise (IOCs), tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), or threat actors. An IDS, or intrusion detection system, is a tool that monitors network traffic and detects malicious or anomalous activities based on predefined or custom rules. Using an automated subscription to select threat feeds for IDS can help to improve security monitoring capabilities by providing the security team with up-to-date and actionable intelligence that can enhance the detection and response to cyberattacks

The correct answer is D. Honeypot. A honeypot is a security mechanism designed to detect and deflect attempts at unauthorized use of information systems. In this case, the analyst has set up a system to listen on a network port that is commonly used for email traffic. The purpose of this honeypot is to attract attackers and allow the security analyst to observe their behavior and tactics. By monitoring the traffic that is captured in the caplog.txt file, the analyst can identify attacks that were not blocked by the organization’s firewalls1.

A. Log correlation is not correct. Log correlation is a process of analyzing and correlating data from multiple sources, such as firewalls, servers, applications, or devices, to identify patterns, trends, or anomalies. Log correlation can help to improve security visibility, detection, and response, but it does not describe the solution that the analyst implemented.

B. Crontab mail script is not correct. Crontab is a tool that allows users to schedule commands or scripts to run at specified times or intervals on a Linux system. A mail script is a script that can send or receive email messages using a mail server. A crontab mail script could be used to automate email tasks, such as sending reports or alerts, but it does not describe the solution that the analyst implemented.

C. Sinkhole is not correct. A sinkhole is a technique that redirects malicious or unwanted traffic to a controlled destination, such as a fake or isolated server. A sinkhole can help to prevent or mitigate the impact of attacks, such as botnets, malware, or phishing, by blocking or capturing the traffic. However, a sinkhole does not describe the solution that the analyst implemented.

1: CompTIA CySA+ Exam: Implementing a Firewall Analysis Solution

Once the SDLC reached the development phase, code starts to be generated. That means that the ability to control the version of the software or component that your team is working on, combined with check-in/check-out functionality and revision histories, is a necessary and powerful tool when developing software.

The question refers to a "new" product so I believe that is key. However, it also makes it seem that it is about the development of a product that could be in production.

Regression testing focuses on testing to ensure that changes that have been made do not create new issues, and ensure that no new vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, or other issues have been introduced.

A code review is a process that involves examining and evaluating the source code of a software application or system for security deficiencies, errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities. A code review can help improve the quality and security of the software product by identifying and fixing issues before they become operational problems. A code review is part of the evaluation and validation of a new product’s security capabilities. User acceptance testing, stress testing, or security regression testing are other types of testing that can be used to evaluate and validate a new product’s security capabilities, but they do not involve reviewing design changes at specific intervals for security deficiencies. Reference: https://www.synopsys.com/blogs/software-security/code-review/

IaC stands for infrastructure as code, which is a practice of using code or configuration files to automate the provisioning and management of cloud resources. IaC templates can help ensure consistency, repeatability, and scalability of cloud deployments, as well as reduce human errors and misconfigurations. However, IaC templates need to be validated and tested before deployment, and any changes to the templates should be controlled and monitored. This can help minimize the occurrence of vulnerabilities introduced by unintentional misconfigurations in the cloud