ECCouncil 312-50v12 Practice Test - Questions Answers, Page 57

Probing the IPC share by attempting to brute force admin credentials is the most appropriate technique for this scenario, because it can reveal valuable information about the target system, such as its operating system, services, users, groups, and shares. An IPC share is a special share that allows processes to communicate with each other over the network using named pipes. An IPC share can be accessed anonymously or with valid credentials, depending on the security configuration of the target system. A brute force attack is a method of trying different combinations of usernames and passwords until a valid pair is found. By using a brute force attack, the tester can try to access the IPC share with admin credentials, which can grant them more privileges and access to more resources on the target system.

The other options are less suitable or effective techniques for this scenario. Brute forcing Active Directory may not be relevant or feasible, as the target system may not be part of a domain or may have strong password policies. Extracting usernames using email IDs may not provide enough information or access to the target system, as email IDs may not match the usernames or passwords. Conducting a DNS zone transfer may not be possible or useful, as the target system may not be a DNS server or may have restricted zone transfers. A DNS zone transfer is a method of obtaining information about the domain names and IP addresses of the hosts in a network by querying a DNS server.Reference:

Inter-process communication - Wikipedia

IPC$ share and null session behavior - Windows Server

Brute Force Attack: Definition, Examples, and Prevention

DNS Zone Transfer: Definition, Types, and Examples

The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is a method used to supply a qualitative measure of severity for a vulnerability. CVSS consists of three metric groups: Base, Temporal, and Environmental. The Base metrics produce a score ranging from 0 to 10, which can then be modified by scoring the Temporal and Environmental metrics.A vector string represents the values of all the metrics as a block of text1

The Base metrics measure the intrinsic characteristics of a vulnerability, such as the attack vector, the attack complexity, the required privileges, the user interaction, the scope, and the impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.The Base score reflects the severity of a vulnerability assuming that there is no temporal information or context available1

The Temporal metrics measure the characteristics of a vulnerability that change over time, such as the exploit code maturity, the remediation level, and the report confidence.The Temporal score reflects the current state of a vulnerability and its likelihood of being exploited1

The Environmental metrics measure the characteristics of a vulnerability that depend on a specific implementation or environment, such as the security requirements, the modified base metrics, and the collateral damage potential.The Environmental score reflects the impact of a vulnerability on a particular organization or system1

In this scenario, the vulnerability has a Base score of 7, a Temporal score of 8, and an Environmental score of 5. This means that:

The vulnerability has a high severity based on its intrinsic characteristics, such as the attack vector, the attack complexity, the required privileges, the user interaction, the scope, and the impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.A Base score of 7 corresponds to a high severity rating according to the CVSS v3.0 specification1

The vulnerability has an increasing likelihood of exploitability over time based on its current state, such as the exploit code maturity, the remediation level, and the report confidence.A Temporal score of 8 is higher than the Base score of 7, which indicates that the vulnerability is more likely to be exploited as time passes1

The vulnerability has a medium impact on the specific environment or implementation based on the security requirements, the modified base metrics, and the collateral damage potential.An Environmental score of 5 is lower than the Base score of 7, which indicates that the vulnerability is less impactful in the particular context of the organization or system1

Therefore, the statement that best describes this scenario is: The vulnerability has an overall high severity, the likelihood of exploitability is increasing over time, and it has a medium impact in their specific environment.

NVD - Vulnerability Metrics

Encrypting all sensitive data stored on the device is the best measure to ensure the security of this data, because it protects the data from unauthorized access or disclosure, even if the device is lost, stolen, or compromised. Encryption is a process of transforming data into an unreadable format using a secret key or algorithm. Only authorized parties who have the correct key or algorithm can decrypt and access the data. Encryption can be applied to data at rest, such as files or databases, or data in transit, such as network traffic or messages. Encryption can prevent attackers from stealing or tampering with the customer data stored on the device, such as credit card details and PINs, which can cause financial or identity fraud.

The other options are not as effective or sufficient as encryption for securing the customer data stored on the device. Implementing biometric authentication for app access may provide an additional layer of security, but it does not protect the data from being accessed by other means, such as malware, physical access, or backup extraction. Enabling GPS tracking for all devices using the app may help locate the device in case of loss or theft, but it does not prevent the data from being accessed by unauthorized parties, and it may also pose privacy risks. Regularly updating the app to the latest version may help fix bugs or vulnerabilities, but it does not guarantee the security of the data, especially if the app does not use encryption or other security features.

Reference:

Securely Storing Data | Security.org

Data Storage Security: 5 Best Practices to Secure Your Data

M9: Insecure Data Storage | OWASP Foundation

WEP encryption is an outdated and insecure method of protecting wireless networks from unauthorized access and eavesdropping.WEP uses a static key that can be easily cracked by various tools and techniques, such as capturing the initialization vectors, brute-forcing the key, or exploiting the weak key scheduling algorithm1. Therefore, you should recommend a more secure encryption method to enhance the security of the company's wireless network.

One of the most suitable replacements for WEP encryption is WPA2-PSK with AES encryption. WPA2 stands for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2, which is a security standard that improves upon the previous WPA standard. WPA2 uses a robust encryption algorithm called AES, which stands for Advanced Encryption Standard.AES is a block cipher that uses a 128-bit key and is considered to be very secure and resistant to attacks2.

WPA2-PSK stands for WPA2 Pre-Shared Key, which is a mode of WPA2 that uses a passphrase or a password to generate the encryption key. The passphrase or password must be entered by the users who want to connect to the wireless network. The key is then derived from the passphrase or password using a function called PBKDF2, which stands for Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2.PBKDF2 adds a salt and a number of iterations to the passphrase or password to make it harder to crack3.

WPA2-PSK with AES encryption offers several advantages over WEP encryption, such as:

It uses a dynamic key that changes with each session, instead of a static key that remains the same.

It uses a stronger encryption algorithm that is more difficult to break, instead of a weaker encryption algorithm that is more vulnerable to attacks.

It uses a longer key that provides more security, instead of a shorter key that provides less security.

It uses a more secure key derivation function that adds complexity and randomness, instead of a simple key generation function that is predictable and flawed.

Therefore, you should recommend WPA2-PSK with AES encryption as a suitable replacement to enhance the security of the company's wireless network.

Wireless Security - Encryption - Online Tutorials Library

WiFi Security: WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA3 And Their Differences - NetSpot

WPA2-PSK (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 Pre-Shared Key)

A man-in-the-middle attack using forged ICMP and ARP spoofing is a type of network-level session hijacking attack where an attacker inserts their machine into the communication between a client and a server, making it seem like the packets are flowing through the original path. This technique is primarily used to reroute the packets and intercept or modify the data exchanged between the client and the server.

A man-in-the-middle attack using forged ICMP and ARP spoofing works as follows1:

The attacker sends a forged ICMP redirect message to the client, claiming to be the gateway. The ICMP redirect message tells the client to use the attacker's machine as the next hop for reaching the server's network. The client updates its routing table accordingly and starts sending packets to the attacker's machine instead of the gateway.

The attacker also sends a forged ARP reply message to the client, claiming to be the server. The ARP reply message associates the attacker's MAC address with the server's IP address. The client updates its ARP cache accordingly and starts sending packets to the attacker's MAC address instead of the server's MAC address.

The attacker receives the packets from the client and forwards them to the server, acting as a relay. The attacker can also monitor, modify, or drop the packets as they wish. The server responds to the packets and sends them back to the attacker, who then forwards them to the client. The client and the server are unaware of the attacker's presence and think they are communicating directly with each other.

Therefore, Jake is studying a man-in-the-middle attack using forged ICMP and ARP spoofing, which is a type of network-level session hijacking attack.

Network or TCP Session Hijacking | Ethical Hacking - GreyCampus

A Pulse Wave attack is a type of DDoS attack that uses a botnet to send high-volume traffic pulses at regular intervals, typically lasting for a few minutes each. The attacker can adjust the frequency and duration of the pulses to maximize the impact and evade detection. A Pulse Wave attack can exhaust the network resources of the target, as well as the resources of any DDoS mitigation service that the target may use. A Pulse Wave attack can also conceal the attacker's identity, as the traffic originates from multiple sources that are part of the botnet. A Pulse Wave attack can bypass simple defensive measures, such as IP-based blocking, as the traffic can appear legitimate and vary in source IP addresses.

The other options are less effective or feasible for the attacker's objectives. A protocol-based SYN flood attack is a type of DDoS attack that exploits the TCP handshake process by sending a large number of SYN requests to the target server, without completing the connection. This consumes the connection state tables on the server, preventing it from accepting new connections. However, a SYN flood attack can be easily detected and mitigated by using SYN cookies or firewalls. A SYN flood attack can also expose the attacker's identity, as the source IP addresses of the SYN requests can be traced back to the attacker. An ICMP flood attack is a type of DDoS attack that sends a large number of ICMP packets, such as ping requests, to the target server, overwhelming its ICMP processing capacity. However, an ICMP flood attack from a single IP can be easily blocked by using IP-based filtering or disabling ICMP responses. An ICMP flood attack can also reveal the attacker's identity, as the source IP address of the ICMP packets can be identified. A volumetric flood attack is a type of DDoS attack that sends a large amount of traffic to the target server, saturating its network bandwidth and preventing legitimate users from accessing it. However, a volumetric flood attack using a single compromised machine may not be sufficient to overwhelm the network bandwidth of a major online retailer, as the attacker's machine may have limited bandwidth itself. A volumetric flood attack can also be detected and mitigated by using traffic shaping or rate limiting techniques.Reference:

Pulse Wave DDoS Attacks: What You Need to Know

DDoS Attack Prevention: 7 Effective Mitigation Strategies

DDoS Attack Types: Glossary of Terms

DDoS Attacks: What They Are and How to Protect Yourself

DDoS Attack Prevention: How to Protect Your Website

The attacker has most likely used RST hijacking, which is a type of network-level session hijacking technique that exploits the TCP reset (RST) mechanism. TCP reset is a way of terminating an established TCP connection by sending a packet with the RST flag set, indicating that the sender does not want to continue the communication. RST hijacking involves sending a forged RST packet to one or both ends of a TCP connection, using a spoofed source IP address and a guessed acknowledgment number, to trick them into believing that the other end has closed the connection.As a result, the victim's connection is reset and the attacker can take over the session or launch a denial-of-service attack12.

The other options are not correct for the following reasons:

A) TCP/IP hijacking: This option is a general term that refers to any type of network-level session hijacking technique that targets TCP/IP connections. RST hijacking is a specific type of TCP/IP hijacking, but not the only one.Other types of TCP/IP hijacking include SYN hijacking, source routing, and sequence prediction3.

B) UDP hijacking: This option is not applicable because UDP is a connectionless protocol that does not use TCP reset mechanism. UDP hijacking is a type of network-level session hijacking technique that targets UDP connections, such as DNS or VoIP.UDP hijacking involves intercepting and modifying UDP packets to redirect or manipulate the communication between the sender and the receiver4.

D) Blind hijacking: This option is not accurate because blind hijacking is a type of network-level session hijacking technique that does not require injecting RST packets. Blind hijacking involves guessing the sequence and acknowledgment numbers of a TCP connection without being able to see the responses from the target.Blind hijacking can be used to inject malicious data or commands into an active TCP session, but not to reset the connection5.

1: RST Hijacking - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

2: TCP Reset Attack - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

3: TCP/IP Hijacking - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

4: UDP Hijacking - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

5: Blind Hijacking - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

The security strategy that you would likely suggest is to adopt a Continual/Adaptive Security Strategy involving ongoing prediction, prevention, detection, and response actions to ensure comprehensive computer network defense. This strategy is based on the concept of continuous monitoring and improvement of the security posture of an organization, using a feedback loop that integrates various security activities and technologies. A Continual/Adaptive Security Strategy aims to proactively identify and mitigate emerging threats, vulnerabilities, and risks, as well as to respond effectively and efficiently to security incidents and breaches.A Continual/Adaptive Security Strategy can help enhance the organization's security stance by providing the following benefits12:

It can reduce the attack surface and the exposure time of the organization's network infrastructure, by applying timely patches, updates, and configurations, as well as by implementing security controls and policies.

It can increase the visibility and awareness of the organization's network activity and behavior, by collecting, analyzing, and correlating data from various sources, such as logs, sensors, alerts, and reports.

It can improve the detection and prevention capabilities of the organization, by using advanced tools and techniques, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, threat intelligence, and behavioral analytics, to identify and block malicious or anomalous patterns and indicators.

It can enhance the response and recovery processes of the organization, by using automated and orchestrated actions, such as isolation, quarantine, remediation, and restoration, to contain and resolve security incidents and breaches, as well as by conducting lessons learned and root cause analysis to prevent recurrence.

The other options are not as appropriate as option C for the following reasons:

A) Develop an in-depth Risk Management process, involving identification, assessment, treatment, tracking, and review of risks to control the potential effects on the organization: This option is not sufficient because risk management is only one aspect of a comprehensive security strategy, and it does not address the dynamic and evolving nature of cyber threats and vulnerabilities.Risk management is a process of identifying, analyzing, evaluating, and treating the risks that may affect the organization's objectives and operations, as well as monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of the risk treatment measures3. Risk management can help the organization prioritize and allocate resources for security, but it cannot guarantee the prevention or detection of security incidents and breaches, nor the response and recovery from them.

B) Establish a Defense-in-Depth strategy, incorporating multiple layers of security measures to increase the complexity and decrease the likelihood of a successful attack: This option is not optimal because defense-in-depth is a traditional and static approach to security, and it may not be able to cope with the sophisticated and persistent attacks that exploit unknown or zero-day vulnerabilities.Defense-in-depth is a strategy of implementing multiple and diverse security controls and mechanisms at different layers of the organization's network infrastructure, such as perimeter, network, endpoint, application, and data, to provide redundancy and resilience against attacks4. Defense-in-depth can help the organization protect its assets and systems from unauthorized access or damage, but it cannot ensure the timely detection and response to security incidents and breaches, nor the continuous improvement of the security posture.

D) Implement an Information Assurance (IA) policy focusing on ensuring the integrity, availability, confidentiality, and authenticity of information systems: This option is not comprehensive because information assurance is a subset of cybersecurity, and it does not cover all the aspects of a holistic security strategy.Information assurance is a discipline of managing the risks associated with the use, processing, storage, and transmission of information and data, and ensuring the protection of the information and data from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction5. Information assurance can help the organization safeguard its information and data from compromise or loss, but it does not address the prevention, detection, and response to security incidents and breaches, nor the adaptation and innovation of the security technologies and processes.

1: Continual/Adaptive Security Strategy - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

2: Continual Adaptive Security: A New Approach to Cybersecurity | SecurityWeek.Com

3: Risk Management - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

4: Defense in Depth - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

5: Information Assurance - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

The hacker could have used the technique of manipulating white spaces in SQL queries to bypass signature detection. This technique involves inserting, removing, or replacing white spaces in SQL queries with other characters or symbols that are either ignored or interpreted as white spaces by the SQL engine, but not by the signature-based IDS. This way, the hacker can alter the appearance of the query and evade the pattern matching of the IDS, while preserving the functionality and logic of the query.For example, the hacker could replace the space character with a tab character, a newline character, a comment symbol, or a URL-encoded value, such as %2012.

The other options are not correct for the following reasons:

A) Utilizing the char encoding function to convert hexadecimal and decimal values into characters that pass-through SQL engine parsing: This option is not feasible because the char encoding function is not supported by all SQL engines, and it may not be able to convert all hexadecimal and decimal values into valid characters.Moreover, the char encoding function may not be able to bypass the signature detection of the IDS, as it may still match the keywords or syntax of the SQL query3.

B) Using the URL encoding method to replace characters with their ASCII codes in hexadecimal form: This option is not effective because the URL encoding method is not applicable to SQL queries, as it is designed for encoding special characters in URLs. The URL encoding method may not be able to replace all characters with their ASCII codes, and it may not be able to preserve the functionality and logic of the SQL query.Furthermore, the URL encoding method may not be able to evade the signature detection of the IDS, as it may still match the keywords or syntax of the SQL query4.

C) Implementing sophisticated matches such as "OR 'john' = john' in place of classical matches like "OR 1-1": This option is not advanced because it is a common and basic SQL injection technique that does not involve any evasion or obfuscation. This technique involves injecting a logical expression that is always true, such as "OR 'john' = john" or "OR 1-1", to bypass the authentication or authorization checks of the SQL query. However, this technique may not be able to bypass the signature detection of the IDS, as it may easily match the keywords or syntax of the SQL query.

1: SQL Injection Evasion Detection - F5

2: Mastering SQL Injection with SQLmap: A Comprehensive Evasion Techniques Cheatsheet

3: SQL Injection Prevention - OWASP Cheat Sheet Series

4: URL Encoding - W3Schools

: SQL Injection - OWASP Foundation