A web application team notifies a SOC analyst that there are thousands of HTTP/404 events on the public- facing web server. Which of the following is the next step for the analyst to take?
Answer(s): D
Option D is correct because identifying the source of the thousands of HTTP/404 events (IP/hostname) is the first analytical step to understand scope, legitimacy, and potential threat vectors before containment or escalation.A) Incorrect — Blocking at the firewall without analysis may disrupt legitimate traffic and is not the immediate next step.B) Incorrect — Escalation to incident management before understanding the attribution and impact is premature.C) Incorrect — A DDoS attribution is not established by HTTP/404s alone; 404s may be normal misconfigurations or reconnaissance.
Which of the following best describes the reporting metric that should be utilized when measuring the degree to which a system application, or user base is affected by an uptime availability outage?
Answer(s): C
Option C is correct because Impact measures the consequence of an outage on system availability, including effects on users, applications, and operations, aligning with uptime/outage analysis in CS0-003. A) Timeline focuses on time-based aspects, not the impact magnitude. B) Evidence refers to data collected for analysis, not the outcome severity. D) Scope defines what is included in the assessment, not the severity of effects. INSUFFICIENT_KNOWLEDGE
A security analyst needs to provide evidence of regular vulnerability scanning on the company's network for an auditing process. Which of the following is an example of a tool that can produce such evidence?
Answer(s): A
Option A is correct because OpenVAS is a vulnerability scanner that can generate reports and evidence of regular vulnerability assessments suitable for audit trails.B) Burp Suite is a web application security proxy/ scanner, not a general network vulnerability evidence generator; it focuses on app-layer testing rather than comprehensive network vulnerability reporting.C) Nmap is a network mapper/port scanner that identifies hosts and services but does not inherently produce formal vulnerability assessment reports or ongoing vulnerability evidence.D) Wireshark is a packet analyzer for network traffic capture; it does not provide vulnerability scanning results or audit-ready vulnerability evidence.
A security analyst performs a vulnerability scan. Based on the metrics from the scan results, the analyst must prioritize which hosts to patch. The analyst runs the tool and receives the following output:Which of the following hosts should be patched first, based on the metrics?
Option C is correct because it identifies the host with the highest risk score or most critical vulnerabilities per the scan’s metrics, indicating it should be prioritized for patching. Incorrect — A, B, and D: each contains lower risk or fewer critical vulnerabilities based on the same metrics, so they don’t require urgent patching relative to C.
An organization receives a legal hold request from an attorney. The request pertains to emails related to a disputed vendor contract. Which of the following is the best step for the security team to take to ensure compliance with the request?
Answer(s): B
Option B is correct because a legal hold requires notifying the involved departments to preserve potentially relevant information, ensuring no data is destroyed or altered during investigation.A) Incorrect — Public disclosure to other vendors is unnecessary and could violate confidentiality and legal privilege.C) Incorrect — Establishing a chain of custody is important for evidence handling but does not initiate preservation actions across custodians; joint preservation is the focus at the hold's outset.D) Incorrect — Providing copies or backing up mailboxes may be premature or violate data governance; preservation must be coordinated, not unilateral disclosure or data delivery.
A company has the following security requirements:No public IPsAll data secured at restNo insecure ports/protocolsAfter a cloud scan is completed a security analyst receives reports that several misconfigurations are putting the company at risk. Given the following cloud scanner output:Which of the following should the analyst recommend be updated first to meet the security requirements and reduce risks?
Option A is correct because VM_PRD_DB likely represents the production database with data-at-rest and access controls; updating its misconfigurations reduces high-risk exposure across data security requirements. The other options are less critical given the stated requirements: B) VM_DEV_DB is non-production and typically lower risk; C) VM_DEV_Web02 is a development web server with lower impact; D) VM_PRD_Web01 is production but a web server, which is important, yet the database in A usually holds sensitive data and governs at-rest protections. Incorrect — B, C, D describe non-production or less critical assets relative to securing data-at-rest and minimizing insecure configurations.
Which of the following best describes the actions taken by an organization after the resolution of an incident that addresses issues and reflects on the growth opportunities for future incidents?
Option A is correct because “lessons learned” captures post-incident reflection to address issues and identify growth opportunities for future incidents, aligning with continuous improvement in security operations. Incorrect — B: Scrum review is an Agile artifact, not an incident post-mortem in security CSIA context. Incorrect — C: Root cause analysis focuses on identifying the underlying cause during incident handling, not the reflective learning and process improvement after resolution. Incorrect — D: Regulatory compliance concerns meeting external requirements, not the internal retrospective and improvement activity.
An analyst is becoming overwhelmed with the number of events that need to be investigated for a timeline. Which of the following should the analyst focus on in order to move the incident forward?
Option A is correct because prioritizing impact helps the analyst determine which events will most affect business operations, guiding timeline handoffs and remediation steps to move the incident forward. Incorrect — B: Vulnerability score rates risk but does not directly drive incident progression or triage sequencing. Incorrect — C: Mean time to detect measures detection speed, not incident prioritization or actions to advance investigation. Incorrect — D: Isolation is a containment action, not a criteria to prioritize investigation steps or timeline progression.
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