Windows XP Pro Risk Assessment & Management 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A risk assessment flags that Windows XP Pro systems have AutoRun enabled for removable media. Which threat does this MOST directly increase?
- Disk fragmentation
- Malware execution from USB drives (Correct answer)
- Wireless eavesdropping
- Registry corruption
Correct answer: Malware execution from USB drives
AutoRun automatically executes code on removable media when inserted, making it a direct vector for malware to run without user interaction.
Question 2: Which Windows XP Pro Group Policy setting helps mitigate the risk of weak passwords being used on local accounts?
- Enforce password history
- Account lockout threshold
- Minimum password length (Correct answer)
- Store passwords using reversible encryption
Correct answer: Minimum password length
Minimum password length enforces a baseline complexity floor, reducing the risk that users will set trivially short, easily guessed passwords.
Question 3: An administrator wants to reduce the risk of privilege escalation on a Windows XP Pro machine. Which action is MOST effective?
- Disable System Restore
- Remove users from the local Administrators group (Correct answer)
- Increase the virtual memory paging file
- Enable Automatic Updates for drivers only
Correct answer: Remove users from the local Administrators group
Removing users from the local Administrators group prevents them from performing administrative actions that could be exploited for privilege escalation.
Question 4: Which Windows XP Pro feature allows you to roll back a system to a known-good state as part of a risk recovery strategy?
- Disk Defragmenter
- System Restore (Correct answer)
- Disk Cleanup
- Check Disk (chkdsk)
Correct answer: System Restore
System Restore creates restore points that let you revert system files and registry settings to a previous state without affecting personal files.
Question 5: During a risk assessment, which Windows XP Pro tool would you use to see all currently open network ports and their associated processes?
- ipconfig /all
- netstat -ano (Correct answer)
- nslookup
- tracert
Correct answer: netstat -ano
netstat -ano displays active connections and listening ports along with the numeric PID of the process that owns each socket.
Question 6: A Windows XP Pro machine is found to have sharing enabled on the C:\ drive with default permissions. What risk does this MOST represent?
- Increased CPU usage
- Unauthorized read/write access to system files over the network (Correct answer)
- Slower disk performance
- Loss of system restore points
Correct answer: Unauthorized read/write access to system files over the network
Sharing the root of the C: drive with permissive permissions exposes all files—including system and configuration files—to any network user who can reach the share.
Question 7: Which Windows XP Pro account lockout policy setting directly reduces the window of opportunity for an online brute-force attack?
- Maximum password age
- Account lockout duration
- Account lockout threshold (Correct answer)
- Password must meet complexity requirements
Correct answer: Account lockout threshold
The account lockout threshold specifies how many failed logon attempts trigger a lockout, cutting off brute-force attempts after a set number of guesses.
Windows XP Pro Risk Assessment & Management 3
A risk assessment flags that Windows XP Pro systems have AutoRun enabled for removable media.
Which threat does this MOST directly increase?