CodeHS Cybersecurity and Ethical Hacking Accreditations 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which type of attack involves an attacker secretly relaying and possibly altering communications between two parties who believe they are communicating directly?
- Replay attack
- Man-in-the-middle attack (Correct answer)
- SQL injection
- Denial of service attack
Correct answer: Man-in-the-middle attack
A man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack occurs when an attacker secretly intercepts and potentially alters the communication between two parties without their knowledge.
Question 2: In the context of CodeHS cybersecurity curriculum, what does 'social engineering' primarily exploit?
- Software vulnerabilities
- Hardware weaknesses
- Human psychology and trust (Correct answer)
- Network protocols
Correct answer: Human psychology and trust
Social engineering attacks manipulate human psychology and exploit trust rather than technical vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access.
Question 3: Which port is commonly associated with HTTPS traffic?
- 80
- 21
- 443 (Correct answer)
- 22
Correct answer: 443
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) uses port 443 by default to provide encrypted web communication.
Question 4: What is a 'zero-day' vulnerability?
- A vulnerability with no known exploit
- A flaw unknown to the software vendor that attackers can exploit before a patch is available (Correct answer)
- A bug fixed within zero days of discovery
- A vulnerability that only works at midnight
Correct answer: A flaw unknown to the software vendor that attackers can exploit before a patch is available
A zero-day vulnerability is a software flaw unknown to the vendor, giving them zero days to fix it before attackers can exploit it.
Question 5: Which CIA triad component is violated when unauthorized users can read confidential data?
- Availability
- Integrity
- Confidentiality (Correct answer)
- Authentication
Correct answer: Confidentiality
Confidentiality, one of the three CIA triad pillars, is violated when unauthorized individuals gain access to sensitive information.
Question 6: What is the purpose of a honeypot in cybersecurity?
- To encrypt sensitive data
- To attract and monitor attackers in a controlled decoy environment (Correct answer)
- To block malicious traffic at the firewall
- To store backup copies of critical files
Correct answer: To attract and monitor attackers in a controlled decoy environment
A honeypot is a decoy system designed to lure attackers, allowing security teams to study attack methods and gather intelligence.
Question 7: In ethical hacking, what is the 'scope' of an engagement?
- The tools used during the test
- The defined boundaries and systems the tester is authorized to assess (Correct answer)
- The length of time allotted for testing
- The report format delivered to the client
Correct answer: The defined boundaries and systems the tester is authorized to assess
Scope defines exactly which systems, networks, and methods are authorized during an ethical hacking engagement, keeping the tester within legal boundaries.
CodeHS Cybersecurity and Ethical Hacking Accreditations 2
Which type of attack involves an attacker secretly relaying and possibly altering communications between two parties who believe they are communicating directly?