Test Prep CFA-Level-I Exam Prep
CFA® Level I Chartered Financial Analyst (Page 156 )

• A password cracker would normally be identified by behavior such as loading password hashes or attempting dictionary/brute-force attacks.
• The question describes a routine audit, not password recovery.
• Simply encountering a protected file during an audit is characteristic of a misconfigured or insufficiently privileged FIM.

• Driver node: Coordinates Spark jobs and runs in the compute environment.
• Worker node: Executes tasks and processes data.
• Databricks Filesystem (DBFS): Provides storage access for data used by compute resources.

• Constrained VMs: VMs whose workloads are experiencing resource pressure, such as insufficient CPU or memory. They may need additional resources or optimization.
• Overprovisioned VMs: VMs allocated more CPU, memory, or storage than their workloads require. Their resources may be reclaimed or reduced.

• Underprovisioned VMs: This is not the predefined view identified for this report question.
• Zombie VMs: These are typically inactive or unused VMs and are useful for cleanup, but they are not the two views specifically intended here to identify inefficient resource allocation.

• Accept: Acknowledge the risk and take no additional action.
• Transfer: Shift the risk or financial impact to another party, such as through insurance or a contract.
• Mitigate: Reduce the likelihood or impact using controls, such as firewalls, training, or backups.
• Avoid: Eliminate the activity that creates the risk.

• Scheduling overlapping working hours for critical collaboration
• Assigning independent tasks that can proceed asynchronously
• Adding clear handoffs between offices
• Documenting decisions, questions, and required inputs
• Building appropriate time into the schedule for responses

1. Identify the fact table

• Records something that happened, such as a sale, test, appointment, or measurement
• Contains foreign keys to other tables
• Contains measures or numeric results
• Has many rows

2. Identify a dimension table

• Describe people, products, dates, locations, or departments
• Contain descriptive columns
• Are referenced by the fact table
• Have fewer rows than the fact table

3. Identify the surrogate key

• System-generated
• Unique within the dimension
• Often named PatientKey, CustomerKey, or similar
• Usually an integer
• Not meaningful outside the model

• Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates define the virtual machines and related Azure resources declaratively. You can deploy the same template repeatedly, ensuring consistent VM sizes, networking, storage, extensions, and other infrastructure settings.

• PowerShell DSC extension applies and maintains the required Windows configuration inside each VM. DSC is state-based: if a setting changes or becomes incorrect, DSC can bring it back to the desired configuration.

• Azure Pipelines deployment groups organize deployment targets, but they do not primarily enforce ongoing VM configuration.
• Custom Script Extension runs setup scripts, but it is generally less maintainable and does not continuously enforce configuration like DSC.
• Pipeline stage templates reuse pipeline workflow definitions; they do not configure the VMs themselves.

• Each Azure VM must have at least one network interface (NIC).
• A single NIC can have:

• Therefore, each of the five VMs needs only one NIC:

• The identified risk
• Its likelihood and potential impact
• The person or team responsible for handling it
• The response or treatment plan
• Risk thresholds, such as when escalation or action is required
• Current status and review dates

• Risk tolerance: The amount of risk an organization is willing to accept; it is a concept or limit, not usually the primary documentation.
• Risk transfer: Moving the responsibility or financial impact of a risk to another party, such as through insurance.
• Risk analysis: The process of evaluating risk likelihood and impact.

• Business risks
• Potential financial, operational, legal, or reputational impact
• How governance reduces risk to organizational objectives
• How much risk the organization is willing to accept

• The message came from the claimed sender (authentication)
• The message was not altered in transit (integrity)
• The sender cannot easily deny having signed and sent it (non-repudiation)

• Compliance standards: May be a reason in some organizations, but it is not the primary security benefit.
• Increase delivery rates: Digital signatures do not generally improve email delivery.
• Block phishing attacks: Signatures can help recipients verify legitimate messages, but they do not block phishing by themselves.

• Install unauthorized or unsupported software
• Access features blocked by the manufacturer or operating system
• Customize system behavior beyond normal settings

• A — Technical review by business owner: A business owner may approve the business impact, but a technical review is normally performed by technical personnel.
• C — Cost-benefit analysis after implementation: Cost-benefit analysis should occur before implementation to support the approval decision.
• D — Business continuity testing: This can be appropriate for major changes, but it is primarily part of business continuity and disaster recovery planning—not a universal change-management activity.

• Restrict a port to a defined number of MAC addresses
• Use statically assigned or “sticky” MAC addresses
• Shut down or restrict the port when violations occur

• Load balancer: Distributes application traffic; it does not protect switch MAC tables.
• IPS: May detect suspicious network activity, but is not the primary control for limiting switch MAC entries.
• NGFW: Filters traffic at the network boundary; it does not directly prevent MAC table flooding on access switches.

• Gaia Portal: Controlled by Gaia administration settings, not SmartConsole Trusted Clients.
• SSH: Controlled by Gaia or operating-system SSH access settings.
• Security Gateway(s): SmartConsole connects to the Security Management Server, not directly to gateways for this purpose.

• Error correction (ECC): Improves data reliability but does not maximize bandwidth.
• RAM voltage: Increasing voltage may affect stability or speed, but it is not the primary method for increasing module bandwidth.
• Physical module size: Refers to the capacity or form factor of the RAM, not its data-transfer bandwidth.

• Information sources: Collect security-related data, such as network packets, system logs, audit records, or application events.
• Analysis: Examines the collected data to identify suspicious activity, attacks, or policy violations.
• Response: Takes or recommends action, such as generating alerts, logging the event, or supporting a protective response.

• sn_si_admin is an SIR administrator role.
• The prefix helps prevent naming conflicts between applications.
• It does not refer to a “Secure Identity token” or an instance security check.

• Wireshark captures packets and allows you to examine their contents, potentially revealing usernames and passwords sent without encryption.
• Netcat creates network connections and can send or receive data, but it is not primarily a packet-analysis tool.
• Nessus scans for known vulnerabilities and configuration issues; it generally would not prove that credentials are visible in transit.
• Nmap performs network discovery and port/service scanning, not detailed packet-content inspection.

• Data loss prevention (DLP): Helps detect or prevent sensitive data from being copied or transmitted, but it does not primarily protect a stolen laptop’s stored data.
• Operating system hardening: Reduces vulnerabilities and attack surface but does not encrypt files if the device is stolen.
• Boot security: Helps ensure that only trusted software starts, but it does not fully protect the drive if an attacker accesses it offline.

• Managerial: policies, standards, risk management, governance
• Operational: procedures carried out by people, such as training, incident response, and backups
• Technical: firewalls, encryption, access-control systems
• Physical: locks, guards, cameras

1. Wireless AP

1. Router

1. Firewall

1. Device placement

• \Pipeline1
• \Folder1\Lakehouse1

• Pipeline1 remains at the workspace root in Workspace1, so it is deployed to the root of Workspace2.
• Lakehouse1 was moved into Folder1, so its full path is preserved as \Folder1\Lakehouse1.
• Fabric deployment pipelines preserve folder paths because an item’s full path is treated as part of its name.

• The product is already in production.
• The organization is examining the product’s functions and cost drivers.
• The objective is to reduce cost without reducing perceived value or required quality.

• Kaizen costing focuses on continuous, usually incremental, cost reductions during the manufacturing stage. It is not specifically the systematic examination of a product’s functions.
• Standard costing compares actual costs with predetermined standards; it is a control technique, not a product redesign method.
• Process innovation concerns developing significantly improved production processes, rather than analysing the product’s functions and value.

• Microsoft Foundry is an enterprise platform for developers, data scientists, and IT teams.
• It supports the full AI application lifecycle: selecting models, connecting enterprise data, developing, evaluating, deploying, monitoring, and scaling solutions.
• It can include visual tools and low-code experiences, but it is not primarily designed to enable business users to build complete generative AI solutions independently.

• B: You still need to select and configure an appropriate model.
• C: Business users may participate through visual tools, but they are not the primary target audience.
• D: Foundry includes low-code tools, but it is not fundamentally a low-code-only platform.

• Confirming the data has the required columns and data types
• Handling missing or duplicate records
• Converting data into a suitable format
• Selecting or engineering useful features
• Splitting it into training, validation, and test sets

1. Prepare the training data
2. Select an algorithm or configure AutoML
3. Train the model
4. Evaluate its performance
5. Tune hyperparameters if needed
6. Deploy the model

• Box 1: No — The rule requires user.department to equal Engineering. Engineer does not match, so User1 is not in AU1. Admin1 cannot reset User1’s password.
• Box 2: No — Admin1’s role is scoped to AU1 and cannot manage users outside that AU.
• Box 3: Yes — Admin2 is a Global Administrator and can reset User3’s password.

• AWS Network Firewall can inspect and block traffic across a VPC when traffic is routed through the firewall. A Drop action rule can deny traffic from the suspicious source IP.
• GuardDuty findings are sent to Security Hub.
• A Lambda function can be invoked when Security Hub receives a new GuardDuty finding, extract the source IP, and update the Network Firewall policy with a blocking rule.

• GuardDuty threat lists: Used to identify or increase the severity of findings; they do not directly block VPC traffic.
• AWS WAF: Protects supported web applications, such as CloudFront or Application Load Balancers. It does not provide general VPC-wide traffic blocking.
• GuardDuty suppression rules: Suppress or hide findings. They do not block the suspicious traffic.

• Accept: Acknowledging the risk without taking additional action.
• Transfer: Shifting the risk’s impact to a third party, such as through insurance or outsourcing.
• Mitigate: Reducing the likelihood or impact of the risk through security controls.
• Avoid: Eliminating the activity or process that creates the risk.

• Feedback form: Captures opinions, not necessarily actual behavior; users may not respond.
• Questionnaire: Relies on memory and subjective judgments about usefulness.
• Interviews: Can provide valuable qualitative insights, but a sample of users may not represent overall usage accurately.

• Disable default accounts: Default or unused accounts may have known usernames or predictable settings, making them targets. They should be disabled, removed, or securely configured.
• Remove unnecessary services: Every running service creates potential vulnerabilities. Removing services the server does not need reduces exploitable entry points.

• Add the server to the asset inventory: Important for asset management, but not a hardening step.
• Document default passwords: Default passwords should be changed or eliminated—not documented for continued use.
• Send server logs to the SIEM: Valuable for monitoring and detection, but generally performed as part of logging/monitoring configuration.
• Join the server to the corporate domain: May be necessary operationally, but does not itself harden the server.

• Amazon S3 as the origin for static content
• Application Load Balancer (ALB) as the origin for dynamic content
• Amazon Route 53 configured to point the company’s domain name to CloudFront

• /static/* ? S3 origin; cache content at edge locations
• Dynamic paths such as /api/* ? ALB origin; forward requests to the EC2 application

• Periodic vulnerability assessments: Identify technical weaknesses but do not establish governance or ensure risks are managed.
• Established information security metrics: Help measure performance and report status, but measurement alone does not make governance effective.
• Advanced security technologies: Support security operations, but governance is primarily about direction, accountability, decision-making, and alignment with business objectives.

• A script of cloud CLI commands: IaC because the commands can be saved, reviewed, versioned, and rerun consistently.
• Manually run curl commands: Not necessarily IaC; they are manual actions unless organized into an automated script.
• A sequence of REST requests passed to an API: Could represent automation, but the wording does not explicitly say they are stored and executed as reusable code.
• Commands entered into a cloud console: Manual operation, not IaC.

• Password spraying: Tries a few common passwords against many accounts; no indication of repeated login attempts.
• Remote-access Trojan (RAT): Could install malware, but it does not explain how the attacker obtained the administrator’s credentials.
• Dictionary attack: Tries words or common passwords against an account; again, the scenario specifically highlights Telnet’s lack of encryption.

• A user connects with their Google account.
• Google associates the user’s SSH key with that identity.
• IAM roles determine whether they can log in.
• Access can be tied to a specific employee for auditing.
• Removing the IAM role removes their login access.

• compute.osLogin: regular OS login access
• compute.osAdminLogin: OS login with administrative privileges, typically including sudo

text 
enable-oslogin=TRUE

• No servers or database infrastructure to provision.
• Uses standard SQL.
• Supports formats such as JSON, CSV, Parquet, and ORC.
• You typically define the table structure with AWS Glue Data Catalog or Athena’s own schema definitions.
• Charges are generally based on the amount of data scanned, so partitioning and columnar formats can reduce cost.
• It does not copy the data into a separate database; it reads the files in S3 when you run a query.

sql 
ALTER TABLE dbo.DimCustomer 
ADD CONSTRAINT PK_DimCustomer 
PRIMARY KEY NONCLUSTERED (CustomerKey) 
NOT ENFORCED;

1. ALTER TABLE dbo.DimCustomer
2. ADD CONSTRAINT PK_DimCustomer PRIMARY KEY NONCLUSTERED (CustomerKey)
3. NOT ENFORCED

• Deploy five individual VMs: This does not create a VM scale set.
• Modify Availability Zones or Size settings: These actions do not create the required scale set and add unnecessary steps.
• VM orchestration mode: This is Flexible orchestration, intended for more individually managed VMs and mixed configurations. It is not the best choice for a straightforward group of identical instances.

• A is correct: It establishes the revised dates and identifies the effect on the critical path.
• B is premature: Stakeholders should be informed after the impact has been assessed and the updated schedule is understood.
• C is not automatically appropriate: Fast-tracking may introduce additional risk and should be considered only after analyzing schedule options.
• D is premature: Adding resources may not resolve a dependency and could increase costs without addressing the actual constraint.

• Packet capture: Collects and analyzes network traffic; it does not describe the scan type.
• Privilege escalation: Attempts to gain higher permissions after obtaining access.
• System enumeration: Identifies systems, services, or resources, but is not specifically defined by the lack of credentials.
• Passive scan: Observes traffic without actively probing systems. A vulnerability scan is generally an active assessment.

• What information each stakeholder needs
• When and how often it should be communicated
• Which format or channel should be used
• Who is responsible for communicating it

• A: The team should not decide stakeholder communications without first checking the established plan and CEO’s needs.
• B: An executive summary may be appropriate, but choosing a solution before reviewing the plan is premature.
• D: The stakeholder engagement plan addresses how to engage stakeholders, but this is primarily a communication planning issue.

• If the hashes match, the software has likely not changed.
• If they differ, the software was modified or corrupted.

• Encryption: Protects confidentiality by making data unreadable; it does not primarily verify that software was unchanged.
• Baselines: Establish expected configurations or states, but hashing is the specific method for checking file integrity.
• Tokenization: Replaces sensitive data with non-sensitive tokens and is unrelated to software integrity.

• A. Microsoft 365 group with Assigned membership
• C. Microsoft 365 group with Dynamic User membership

Why?

• Assigned membership: You explicitly add User1, User2, and User3.
• Dynamic User membership: Membership is automatically determined by a rule based on user attributes.

Why the other options are incorrect

• B and D: Security groups do not support the Microsoft 365 group expiration policy.
• E: Dynamic Device groups are intended for devices, not these users, and are also security groups.

• Domínios personalizados.
• Armazenamento suficiente.
• Instâncias dedicadas.
• Balanceamento de carga.
• Menor custo entre os planos que atendem a tudo.

• The selling division receives a credit based on a favourable transfer price, often market price or full cost plus a profit margin.
• The receiving division is charged a lower amount, such as marginal cost or another agreed price.
• The difference is accounted for centrally by head office or a corporate adjustment.

• Company documents
• Databases
• Knowledge bases
• Current web or business data

• A: Describes diversity and inclusive design, not grounding.
• B: Describes explainability or model interpretability.
• D: Describes documenting a model’s capabilities and limitations.

• NIDS: Monitors network traffic for suspicious activity and network-based attacks targeting the application or its supporting services.
• HIPS: Protects an individual host by monitoring processes, files, and system activity. It can help secure the web server, but it is not focused specifically on the application’s network attack surface.
• SIEM: Aggregates and correlates logs; it does not directly prevent attacks.
• Honeypot: A decoy system, not the primary protection for a production web application.
• Certificate revocation list: Deals with certificate trust, not application exploitation.