Free Cisco 300-215 Practice Exam with Questions & Answers | Set: 2

Dynamic malware analysis involves executing the malware in a controlled environment to observe its behavior, such as file creation, network traffic, or system modifications. A sandbox is designed for this purpose—it safely executes and monitors suspicious code without risking the host system. The other tools (Decompiler, Unpacker, Disassembler) are primarily used in static analysis.

Correct answer: D. Sandbox

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The exhibit shows a PowerShell script that modifies registry keys under:

HKCU:\Software\Classes\Folder\shell\open\command

This technique is commonly associated with a UAC (User Account Control) bypass. Specifically:

It creates a new custom shell command path for opening folders.

The key registry property "DelegateExecute" is set, which is a known bypass method. If set without a value, it may cause Windows to run commands with elevated privileges without showing the UAC prompt.

The use of HKCU (HKEY_CURRENT_USER) rather than HKLM (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE) allows the attacker to bypass permissions since HKCU is writable by the current user. This registry hijack can be leveraged by a malicious actor to execute arbitrary commands with elevated rights.

This is identified in the Cisco CyberOps study material under “UAC bypass techniques,” which describes:

“Attackers often create or modify registry keys like DelegateExecute to hijack the default behavior of applications and elevate privileges”.

Thus, option B is correct: the exhibit demonstrates a UAC bypass using user-accessible registry modification.

From the Wireshark capture:

A (iraniansk.com): This domain is not a known legitimate resource and is hosting a suspicious file named “Fy.exe,” strongly indicative of a malware distribution domain.

D (Fy.exe): The Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Fy.exe" header explicitly signals a binary executable download, a key indicator in Emotet campaigns.

While Content-Type: application/octet-stream (E) is typical of binary data transfers, it is not unique to malware and cannot by itself serve as a strong IoC. The nginx server (B) and cookie/hash string (C) similarly do not uniquely indicate compromise.

Cisco Firepower Management Center (FMC), when configured with Snort rules, classifies attacks with signature categories such as FILE-OFFICE for Microsoft Office-based exploits. One of the critical threats involving Microsoft Office is a known vector involving Microsoft Graphics, which attackers exploit for remote code execution (RCE). RCE vulnerabilities enable attackers to execute arbitrary commands or code on the target machine—making this classification high-severity.

The alert "FILE-OFFICE Microsoft Graphics remote code execution attempt" is consistent with what Cisco and Snort define for such threats and appears in rulesets addressing vulnerabilities like CVE-2017-0001.

If IPS and SIEM logs do not give enough insight into a file's behavior, the next logical step is to review the Antivirus solution logs. These logs often provide detailed behavior analytics such as:

File actions and access patterns

Registry modifications

File execution history

The Cisco CyberOps guide emphasizes AV logs as critical forensic artifacts for understanding endpoint-based infections, especially when beaconing or suspicious activity is suspected.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

The exhibit contains STIX (Structured Threat Information Expression) formatted threat intelligence indicating:

A phishing indicator related to the domain: apponline-8473.xyz

Associated malicious IP addresses: 164.90.168.78 and 199.19.224.83

Labelled as "malicious-activity" with "xfe-threat-score-10"

Based on this:

Option B is correct: The IP addresses explicitly listed in the pattern field should be blacklisted to prevent command-and-control or malicious connections.

Option C is correct: The domain apponline-8473.xyz is also listed and flagged as involved in phishing, so DNS and firewall rules should block access to and from this domain.

Options A and E are too broad or speculative; the data specifies a specific domain, not a generic block on all emails or URLs. Option D refers to a label used for classification and not a directly actionable item.

Therefore, the correct answers are: B and C.

The log entry shows a failed SSH login attempt for an invalid user “admin” from IP 192.168.1.100. As the system has just gone live and no legitimate use is expected, this could be an early reconnaissance or brute-force attempt. However, blocking IPs or resetting passwords without fully understanding the context could lead to incomplete remediation or false positives.

According to Cisco CyberOps best practices, the first step is to thoroughly investigate the alert by correlating it with other logs (e.g., authentication logs, IDS/IPS logs) to determine the intent and scope of activity.

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