CompTIA CySA+ (CS0-003) Free Practice Test

Ref:📕CompTIA CySA+ Study Guide: Exam CS0-003 (Sybex Study Guide) 3rd Edition

CySA+ (CS0-003) – Domain 4 – Reporting and Communication

1 / 85

What is a challenge that practitioners face when conducting forensic investigations on cloud services?

A. The process is often more streamlined due to the virtual nature of cloud services.

B. The artifacts are always easily available.

C. Shared tenant models can make forensic data hard to acquire and often require cloud service provider to participate in the investigation.

D. There is no need for maintaining a chain of custody.

2 / 85

What are the factors an organization should consider during incident response customer communication?

A. Who will be responsible for communications

B. What will be communicated and when

C. How the information will be made available

D. All of the above

3 / 85

What makes performing forensic investigations on cloud services challenging?

A. Forensic data is easy to obtain therefore making the process faster

B. Shared tenant models make forensic data easier to access

C. Traditional methods of maintaining chain of custody and preserving data are more difficult in many cloud environments

D. Cloud service providers usually do not need to participate in the investigation

4 / 85

Which hashing utilities are used in image verification to ensure data integrity?

A. md5sum or sha1sum

B. ipconfig or netstat

C. ls or dir

D. cd or cp

5 / 85

What steps are typically involved in most root cause analysis processes?

A. Defining the event, identifying causes, finding the root cause, identifying solutions, implementing fixes, validating fixes, and reporting

B. Identifying the event, implementing the fix, validating the fix, reporting

C. Defining the event, identifying the root cause, implementing the solution, reporting

D. Identifying the cause, finding the root cause, validating the fixes, reporting

6 / 85

Why are write blockers crucial in a forensic investigation?

A. They aid in copying the content of drives

B. They help track forensic investigations

C. They maintain the integrity of the forensic investigation by preventing drives connected to a forensic system from being written to

D. They provide the necessary connection to devices during an investigation

7 / 85

Why is maintaining chain of custody documentation essential?

A. It ensures that drive images and other data are properly validated

B. It speeds up the forensic investigation process

C. It decreases the workload of the investigators

D. It involves the use of MD5 and SHA1 hashing techniques

8 / 85

What are the major components of an Incident Response report that you need to be aware of for the CySA+ exam?

A. Executive summary, the 5 W’s, Learnt lessons, Timeline

B. Timeline, Infected Systems, Attack vectors, Cash loss

C. Learnt Lessons, Employee feedback, New attack methodologies, Diagnosis

D. Who prepared the report, Impacted Systems, Current state of resolution, Proactive measures taken

9 / 85

What are the key capabilities to include in forensic software toolkit?

A. Networking, debugging, and administration

B. Data science, cloud computing, and AI

C. Marketing, sales, and HR

D. Imaging, analysis, hashing and validation, process and memory dump analysis, password cracking, and log viewers

10 / 85

What are the three major components that should be included in the forensic investigation report?

A. Goals of the investigation, actions taken during the investigation, final thoughts

B. Goals of the investigation, targets, findings and results

C. Goals of the investigation, methodology, recommendations

D. Targets, findings and results, future preventive measures

11 / 85

What capabilities does the Volatility tool offer in the context of memory forensics?

A. It can only capture live memory.

B. It can analyze memory but cannot capture it.

C. It offers commands to execute different functions such as detecting API hooks, reading the keyboard buffer, looking for live TCP connections, and more.

D. It can only analyze encrypted memory.

12 / 85

Which are common tasks during a forensic investigation regarding encryption tools?

A. Mining cryptocurrency using the victim’s system

B. Handling BitLocker and Microsoft Office encryption mechanisms

C. Disabling all encryption protocols for unimpeded access

D. Using custom encryption methods that are proprietary to the investigator

13 / 85

Which of the following is NOT an inhibitor to remediation of vulnerabilities in system security?

A. Performance targets set in Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs)

B. Restrictions on updating or changing specialized or embedded systems

C. Concern about degrading functionality after patching

D. Regular and timely updates on legacy systems

14 / 85

Which of the following descriptions best matches the information required by technical stakeholders in vulnerability management reporting?

A. They need dashboard-level views of ongoing vulnerability remediation practices and efforts

B. They require information about vulnerabilities, remediation and mitigation options, and prioritization information

C. They need security reporting information in standardized forms on an automated basis

D. They need a view of the overall vulnerability stance of the organization and trend information.

15 / 85

What is an important step in preserving and analyzing log data?

A. Ignore where the logs reside

B. Determine the log format and location

C. You don’t need to know from which time period the logs come from

D. You don’t need to validate the logs

16 / 85

When is reporting most commonly associated in the incident response (IR) process?

A. During the preparation stage

B. During the detection and analysis stage

C. During containment, eradication, and recovery

D. During post-incident activity

17 / 85

When should organizations involve legal counsel in the incident response process?

A. Automatically, at the start of every incident

B. Only when HR is involved

C. As part of a decision process, particularly if the incident involves sensitive data, compliance, or HR

D. Only when external counsel is needed for specialized advice

18 / 85

What tasks are performed after a forensic image is imported into the forensic tool?

A. Building an index of file timestamps and identifying file types

B. Renaming the files

C. Checking for data leakage

D. Email communication with third parties about the files

19 / 85

Who are considered the stakeholders in organizations during incident response communication?

A. Only systems administrators and developers

B. Only management and legal counsel

C. Incident responders, technical staff, management, legal counsel, communications and marketing staff, and others depending on the nature and impact of the incident

D. Only external stakeholders like customers and service providers

20 / 85

Why is continuous education and awareness necessary for effective vulnerability management practices within an organization?

A. To keep the organization accountable for oversight.

B. To comprehend the organization’s vulnerability profile.

C. To adapt to changing business requirements and needs.

D. All of these.

21 / 85

What is an advantage of Tcpdump over Wireshark for network forensics, as stated in the text?

A. Tcpdump provides a graphical interface for analysis.

B. Tcpdump can capture more data than Wireshark.

C. Tcpdump is a command-line tool and is more likely to be installed by default.

D. Tcpdump generates less traffic than Wireshark.

22 / 85

What should the ’Findings and Analysis’ section of a forensic investigation report include?

A. A list of all devices, systems, and media

B. The goals of the investigation

C. Information about the person who requested the investigation

D. What was discovered, how it was discovered, and why it is important

23 / 85

What does reimaging in the context of the CompTIA CySA+ exam involve?

A. Renaming system files to obscure their function

B. Installing a backup system to replace the compromised one

C. Reinstalling a system or device and often wiping drives to remove any remnant data.

D. Copying the entire system onto another device before erasing all data.

24 / 85

What is the role of Log Viewers in the context of a forensic investigation?

A. To decode encrypted malware code

B. To provide information about the system state and actions taken on the system

C. To protect sensitive data under forensic investigation

D. To handle encrypted drives and network protocols

25 / 85

In context of the NIST’s 800-61 Computer Security Incident Handling Guide, what does it contain about incident communications?

A. It only provides a list of external organizations.

B. It includes the requirements and guidelines for authorized physical access to system.

C. It has the requirements and guidelines for external communications and information sharing.

D. It contains log management procedures.

26 / 85

What is the next step once a forensic image has been imported into a forensic tool based on the given text?

A. The image file is deleted

B. The image is immediately explored

C. The image is indexed and analyzed

D. The image is converted into a different format

27 / 85

What is a helpful approach when finding unexpected data during a forensic investigation?

A. Ignore the unexpected findings.

B. Report the unexpected findings as per your company’s policies or legal regulations.

C. Delete the unexpected findings.

D. Take personal actions based on unexpected findings.

28 / 85

Which types of data might be specifically targeted during the acquisition phase beyond drive images?

A. Web server backup files

B. Log data and user-generated files

C. Social media activity

D. Backup disk images

29 / 85

What does the command ’lsblk ––output NAME,FSTYPE,LABEL,UUID,MODE’ display?

A. It displays the device’s IP address, filesystem type, the disk label, UUID, and the mode it is mounted in.

B. It list all the files in a directory with their filesystem types, labels, UUIDs, and modes.

C. It displays the device name, filesystem type, the disk label, the UUID, and the mode it is mounted in.

D. It lists the geographic location, filesystem type, the disk label, UUID, and mode of all devices connected to the network.

30 / 85

Why did the FBI wait until Ross Ulbricht was logged into Silk Road site before arresting him?

A. To catch him in the act of an illegal activity

B. To ensure they would not need to defeat strong encryption

C. To gain information about other criminals

D. To use his computer as evidence in the court

31 / 85

Why is the aspect of changing business requirements important for vulnerability management action plans?

A. It might require the organization to change their vulnerability management practices

B. It allows for more frequent changes in the organization

C. It simplifies the vulnerability management process

D. It reduces the necessity of training, education, and awareness efforts

32 / 85

What crucial tasks are involved in maintaining a fully documented chain of custody in a cyber security investigation?

A. Documenting what is collected, who collected it, when each action occurred, and tracking evidence handling

B. Keeping records of the identity of the individuals involved in the investigation

C. Providing third party validation for every step of the investigation

D. Ensuring all devices are encrypted during the investigation

33 / 85

What is the purpose of identifying ’Lessons Learned’ in the context of post-incident activity in cybersecurity?

A. Identifying the culprit of the incident

B. Gathering evidence for legal proceedings

C. Identifying areas of improvement, new controls to be implemented and changes in process or procedure

D. Rewarding team members who handled the incident well

34 / 85

What is the purpose of Write blockers in a forensic toolkit?

A. To make sure the drives connected to a forensic system cannot be written to

B. To speed up data recording

C. To track forensic investigations

D. To provide validation that the original drive and the content of the duplicated drives match

35 / 85

Why is memory dump analysis useful in a forensic investigation?

A. It can provide information about malfunctions in the operation of the system

B. It can recover decryption keys for full-disk encryption products like BitLocker

C. It reveals system processes details that are typically encrypted

D. It assists in the automated scanning of all files on the system

36 / 85

What are the three major components that must be included in the final report of a forensic investigation?

A. Goals of the investigation, targets of the forensic activities, summary of findings

B. Scope of the investigation, chain of custody forms, list of devices inspected

C. Report preparation details, targets of the forensic activities, findings and analysis

D. Goals of the investigation, list of inspectors, findings and analysis

37 / 85

What information can the USB Historian tool provide during a forensic examination?

A. The system name, device name, serial number, and time of use of a USB device

B. The color, size, and production date of a USB device

C. The user’s personal information stored on a USB device

D. The brand, cost, and retail location of a USB device

38 / 85

Which of the following is NOT included when creating a forensic image using an imaging utility?

A. The slack space

B. The unallocated space

C. The mirrored application data

D. The original source drive

39 / 85

What does the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA) requires in the United States?

A. Major cyber incidents need to be reported to the CISA within 48 hours

B. Ransomware payment needs to be reported within 12 hours after the payment is made

C. Substantial cyber incidents have to be reported to CISA within 72 hours and ransomware payment should be reported within 24 hours after it has been made

D. It does not require any specific reporting timing

40 / 85

What benefit does using a GPU have in password cracking operations?

A. It makes the computer screen clearer

B. It allows to crack more password types

C. It increases speed over CPU-based cracking

D. It bypasses password encryption

41 / 85

What is a challenge when handling encrypted drive images and how is this often addressed?

A. The challenge is the lack of software to handle encrypted drives. It is addressed by commercial forensic suites.

B. The problem is the size of encrypted volumes. It is resolved by compressing the volume.

C. The issue is that live system imaging avoids problems with encrypted volumes. It can be solved by implementing a different imaging technique.

D. The challenge is dealing with encrypted volumes. Commercial forensic suites can handle common types of encryption, and provide distributed cracking methods using multiple computers, as long as the password for the volume is known.

42 / 85

What typically sets zero-day vulnerabilities apart from other critical vulnerabilities?

A. They are only discovered once a patch is released

B. They can be identified via configuration management tools immediately

C. They appear without notice and often have exploits already in use

D. They can always be tracked using a vulnerability management system

43 / 85

What does ’Mean time to detect’ refer to in an incident response context?

A. The time from detection to assessing the event as an incident

B. The average time it takes to remedy a security incident

C. The time from the initial event to when it was detected

D. The frequency of alerts raised by the security systems

44 / 85

What are the three common types of file carving methods used in forensic analysis when the original file system cannot be used?

A. Header-based, Footer-based, and Content-based carving

B. Content-based, Structure-based, and Header-and-footer-based carving

C. Signature-based, Structure-based, and Header-and-footer-based carving

D. Structure-based, Footer-based, and Content-based carving

45 / 85

Which of the following is NOT typically included in vulnerability management reports?

A. Information about vulnerability recurrence

B. Vulnerability risk scores

C. Mitigation options

D. The recipe for the IT manager’s famous chocolate chip cookies

46 / 85

Why are MD5 and SHA1 still used in forensic imaging despite being recommended against in other security practices?

A. They are fast and widely available.

B. The threats against MD5 and SHA1 don’t usually apply to forensic images

C. It’s unlikely to encounter someone who would manipulate drives to hash to the same value

D. All of the above

47 / 85

Which two factors should organizations determine about their customer communication practices in response to incidents?

A. Who will be responsible and what food will be served

B. What will be communicated and when

C. Where customers will be relocated during incidents

D. How often they will inform law enforcement authorities

48 / 85

Which of the following is not a common component of a forensic toolkit as per the provided text?

A. A digital forensic workstation

B. A forensic investigation suite or forensic software like FTK, EnCase, etc.

C. A smartphone for personal communication

D. Forensic drive duplicators

49 / 85

What is a compensating control?

A. A patch for a known exploit

B. An alternative method of securing or protecting a service, system, or device

C. A known issue with a patch

D. An automatic function of configuration management systems

50 / 85

What is the main objective of the ’Lessons Learned’ process in cybersecurity incidents?

A. To assign blame for the incident

B. To identify the exact origin of the incident

C. To prevent similar issues in the future

D. To document the incident for record keeping purposes

51 / 85

What are the four primary modes of data acquisition from mobile devices?

A. Physical, Logical, Manual access, Filesystem

B. Physical, Cyber, Passive, Manual

C. Active, Passive, Cyber, Filesystem

D. Logical, Active, Manual, Wireless

52 / 85

Why do organizations sometimes wait to install major updates?

A. They are waiting for the patch to be tested by the broader community

B. The download and installation takes too much time

C. They hope for a large-scale compromise

D. They believe vendor-released patches are always flawless

53 / 85

What is the purpose of an imaging utility in a forensic investigation?

A. To check the system for viruses

B. To create copies of the media or disks that may contain data useful for the investigation

C. To retrieve lost data from damaged drives

D. To authenticate users to the system

54 / 85

What is the role of configuration management in vulnerability management?

A. It reduces the load on the processor

B. It increases data storage efficiency

C. It helps in hardening systems and services

D. It aids in designing the user interface

55 / 85

What does NIST recommend regarding interaction with the media during a security incident response?

A. Organizations should take turns to interact with media everyday

B. Organizations should select a single point of contact and a backup for media interactions

C. Only the CEO of the organization should interact with the media

D. Organizations should refrain from media interactions

56 / 85

Which of the following software indicates the user’s intention to delete evidence?

A. Microsoft Office

B. Chrome

C. iCloud

D. CCleaner

57 / 85

Why are copies not done using a copy command in the context of cybersecurity?

A. To ensure the speed of the copying process

B. To ensure that slack space and unallocated space are both copied as part of the image

C. To save disk space

D. To avoid errors in the copying process

58 / 85

What are the four steps in the process of performing a root cause analysis?

A. Finding problems and events, setting a timeline, differentiating the causes, documenting the analysis

B. Discussing the problems, predicting the outcome, differentiating the causes, documenting the analysis

C. Finding problems and events, prioritizing the issues, differentiating the causes, documenting the analysis

D. Finding problems and events, setting a timeline, supporting the causal factors, documenting the analysis

59 / 85

What is a potential drawback of live imaging for systems?

A. It always includes unallocated space in the image

B. It can gather data from memory resident applications

C. The contents of a drive or memory are static during the imaging process

D. Malware or other software may be able to detect the imaging tool and could take actions to avoid or disable it

60 / 85

Which of the following statements about the Linux dd utility is true based on the provided passage?

A. The dd utility uses a default block size of 1024-byte

B. The operator if sets the output file

C. The speed of dd copies is consistent regardless of the source and destination drive

D. The block size is set using the bs flag and using a larger block size can increase copy speed

61 / 85

What is the main purpose of a legal hold in an organization?

A. To preserve and deliver data related to pending or active litigation

B. To destroy irrelevant data

C. To notify opposing counsel about the litigation

D. To initiate internal investigations

62 / 85

What are the basic steps involved in a typical forensic analysis according to the CySA+ exam’s ’Post-Incident Activity and Evidence Acquisition’ section?

A. Identify issue, outline data location and types, document and review plan, acquire and preserve evidence, perform initial analysis, conduct further investigation, report findings

B. Identify issue, acquire and preserve evidence, perform initial analysis, report findings

C. Identify issue, report finding, perform initial analysis, acquire and preserve evidence

D. Identify issue, acquire and preserve evidence, report findings, perform initial analysis

63 / 85

What is Wireshark used for in network forensics?

A. Building network models

B. Analyzing network protocols

C. Implementing network policies

D. Testing network connectivity

64 / 85

What is a unique issue faced in container forensics?

A. Containers are always reusable

B. Containers lack ephemeral nature

C. Containers are designed to be disposable

D. Containers are static entities

65 / 85

Which of the following tools are designed to capture memory-resident data for forensic investigations?

A. fmem and LiME

B. DumpIt

C. Volatility Framework

D. All of the above

66 / 85

What are the basic steps involved in conducting a forensic analysis?

A. Determine the problem, outline the data locations, document and review the plan, acquire and preserve evidence, perform initial analysis, guide further work, report findings

B. Justify the need for investigation, gather data randomly, perform initial analysis, guide further work, report findings

C. Determine the problem, gather data based on hunch, perform initial analysis, guide further work, report findings

D. Determine the problem, outline the data locations, hastily acquire data, perform initial analysis, guide further work, report findings

67 / 85

What is the first step in the typical process of conducting a forensic investigation?

A. Acquiring and preserving evidence.

B. Outlining the locations and types of data that would help answer the main questions.

C. Determining what you are trying to find out.

D. Conducting an initial analysis.

68 / 85

What are the compliance reports in vulnerability management systems designed for?

A. To provide information relevant to common compliance standards like PCI

B. To provide evidence for ongoing lawsuits

C. To show the reports to customers and gain their trust

D. To identify the weaknesses in the organization’s cyber defense structure

69 / 85

How can the intervention of law enforcement agencies during a cybersecurity incident change the incident response process?

A. It doesn’t change the incident response process.

B. They may take control of decisions such as seizing systems or taking them offline, which the organization might not choose.

C. They can assist with physical security.

D. They provide legal advice for the organization.

70 / 85

What should the ’Goals of the Investigation’ section of a forensic investigation report include?

A. A list of all the devices, systems, and media that was captured and analyzed.

B. A complete listing of the findings and results.

C. The initial scope statement for the forensic activities and information about the person or organization that asked for the investigation.

D. A detailed record of the system or device used in the investigation.

71 / 85

Which of the following is a major part of vulnerability management?

A. Installing patches to remediate vulnerabilities

B. Updating software programming language

C. Changing data encryption methods

D. Updating user access credentials frequency

72 / 85

What is the primary function of Wireshark in the context of network forensics?

A. Blocking network traffic for security purposes

B. Analyzing and visualizing network protocol data

C. Identifying malware on individual devices in the network

D. Network mapping for optimization

73 / 85

Which of the following is NOT a common metric or KPI in vulnerability management?

A. Number and severity of vulnerabilities

B. Time to remediate vulnerabilities

C. Number of security patches applied per day

D. Response to zero-day vulnerabilities

74 / 85

What type of potentially valuable information could be stored within a Windows crash dump file?

A. Encryption keys that have only been stored in memory

B. Malware that runs only in memory

C. Information that would not typically be stored on the system’s disk

D. All of the above

75 / 85

What is the sequence of events when an incident is detected according to the incident response cycle?

A. Analysis, IoCs communication, Incident declaration, Response process

B. IoCs communication, Analysis, Incident declaration, Response process

C. Response process, IoCs communication, Analysis, Incident declaration

D. IoCs communication, Response process, Analysis, Incident declaration

76 / 85

Which of the following accurately represents the use of mobile device and cell phone forensics?

A. They can only be used to recover encrypted data from locked phones.

B. They primarily focus on the recovery of current, not deleted, data.

C. They can also utilize phone backup forensic capabilities, which can contain deleted and less secure data.

D. They only function on unlocked and decrypted devices.

77 / 85

Why is it necessary to make multiple copies of a drive or media images during evidence acquisition?

A. To provide multiple working copies for the forensic team

B. To have a backup in case one copy gets modified or deleted

C. To maintain a copy for evidence and ensure it is not modified

D. All the copies can be used if the investigation involves multiple teams

78 / 85

Why are hardware write blockers often preferred over software write blockers in preventing undesirable modifications during forensic analysis?

A. Hardware write blockers are generally cheaper than software write blockers.

B. Hardware write blockers can be connected to multiple drives at once.

C. Hardware write blockers are certified to a NIST standard and are perceived as more reliable.

D. Hardware write blockers are more common and widely-used.

79 / 85

What distinguishes forensic copies from simple file copies?

A. Forensic copies can only be made with the copy command.

B. Forensic copies retain the exact layout and content of the entire drive, including ’empty’ space and unallocated space.

C. Forensic copies exclude the contents of the ’empty’ space.

D. Forensic copies can be created by dragging and dropping files in a file manager.

80 / 85

Which of the following capabilities is NOT provided by forensic analysis utilities?

A. Timelines of system changes

B. Validation of known-good versions of files against those found on a system

C. Encryption of the filesystem

D. Filesystem analysis capabilities that can look at filesystem metadata

81 / 85

What elements are typically included in a vulnerability management report?

A. List of affected hosts and vulnerabilities

B. Mitigation options and information about recurrence

C. Prioritization information based on risk and CVSS scores

D. All of the above

82 / 85

Which factors should be considered when conducting virtualization forensics?

A. The virtualization environment and forensic goals

B. The platform operating system

C. The brand of hard drives used in the system

D. The type of firewall in place

83 / 85

Why is planning and communication about patching necessary?

A. It can require service outages

B. Patches might not be perfect and can cause new issues

C. Both A and B

D. Patches are always perfect and don’t cause any issues

84 / 85

Which type of analysis can be particularly valuable in recovering decryption keys for full-disk encryption products like BitLocker?

A. Endpoint system analysis

B. Disk forensic analysis

C. Memory dump analysis

D. Cloud forensic analysis

85 / 85

What is the most common forensic activity for endpoints?

A. Operating System Analysis

B. Live Memory Capture and Analysis

C. Process Information and Data Analysis

D. Disk, or Storage-based Analysis

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CompTIA CySA+ Domain 4: Reporting and Communication

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CompTIA CySA+ (CS0-003) – Domain 4 – Reporting and Communication

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