CPA Cybersecurity & Risk 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which attack technique involves intercepting communication between two parties without their knowledge?
- SQL Injection
- Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) (Correct answer)
- Cross-Site Scripting
- Buffer Overflow
Correct answer: Man-in-the-Middle (MitM)
A Man-in-the-Middle attack positions the attacker between two communicating parties to intercept or alter data in transit.
Question 2: What is the primary purpose of a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system?
- Encrypting stored data
- Aggregating and analyzing security logs in real time (Correct answer)
- Patching software vulnerabilities
- Managing user access credentials
Correct answer: Aggregating and analyzing security logs in real time
A SIEM collects, correlates, and analyzes log data from multiple sources to detect and respond to security threats in real time.
Question 3: Which type of malware disguises itself as legitimate software to trick users into installing it?
- Worm
- Rootkit
- Trojan Horse (Correct answer)
- Adware
Correct answer: Trojan Horse
A Trojan Horse masquerades as benign or useful software while secretly performing malicious actions once executed.
Question 4: In the context of risk management, what does 'residual risk' mean?
- Risk eliminated after applying controls
- Risk that remains after controls have been applied (Correct answer)
- Risk identified but not yet assessed
- Risk transferred to a third party
Correct answer: Risk that remains after controls have been applied
Residual risk is the level of risk that persists even after security controls and mitigation measures have been implemented.
Question 5: Which protocol is commonly used to securely transmit data over the web by encrypting HTTP traffic?
- FTP
- SMTP
- HTTPS (Correct answer)
- Telnet
Correct answer: HTTPS
HTTPS (HTTP Secure) uses TLS/SSL encryption to protect data transmitted between a web browser and server.
Question 6: What is 'privilege escalation' in cybersecurity?
- Granting admin rights to all users
- Gaining higher access rights than originally authorized (Correct answer)
- Reducing a user's permissions for security
- Logging out of a privileged account
Correct answer: Gaining higher access rights than originally authorized
Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker exploits a vulnerability to gain elevated permissions beyond what was originally granted.
Question 7: Which of the following best describes a 'zero-day' vulnerability?
- A flaw patched on the same day it was discovered
- A vulnerability unknown to the vendor with no available patch (Correct answer)
- A known bug that takes zero effort to exploit
- A vulnerability that only affects legacy systems
Correct answer: A vulnerability unknown to the vendor with no available patch
A zero-day vulnerability is an unknown security flaw for which the vendor has had zero days to prepare a fix.
CPA Cybersecurity & Risk 2
Which attack technique involves intercepting communication between two parties without their knowledge?