1. Angela, an IT staff member at ACME Inc., notices that communication with the company’s web server is very slow. After investigating, she determines that the cause of the slow response is a computer on the internet sending a very large number of malformed web requests to ACME’S web server. What type of attack is described in this scenario?
- access attack
- denial of service (DoS) attack
- malware attack
- reconnaissance attack
Explanation: A denial of service (DoS) attack, if successful, prevents authorized users from accessing system resources.
2. George needed to share a video with a co-worker. Because of the large size of the video file, he decided to run a simple FTP server on his workstation to serve the video file to his co-worker. To make things easier, George created an account with the simple password of “file” and provided it to his co-worker on Friday. Without the proper security measures or a strong password, the IT staff was not surprised to learn on Monday that George’s workstation had been compromised and was trying to upload work related documents to the internet. What type of attack is described in this scenario?
- access attack
- denial of service (DoS) attack
- malware attack
- reconnaissance attack
Explanation: An access attack, if successful, exploits known vulnerabilities. These attacks can allow a threat actor to gain access to resources they have no rights to access.
3. Jeremiah was browsing the internet from his personal computer when a random website offered a free program to clean his system. After the executable was downloaded and running, the operating system crashed. Crucial operating system related files had been corrupted and Jeremiah’s computer required a full disk format and operating system re-installation. What type of attack is described in this scenario?
- access attack
- denial of service (DoS) attack
- malware attack
- reconnaissance attack
Explanation: Malware attacks include viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. These types of attacks can result in crashed systems and deleted or corrupted files.
4. Arianna found a flash drive lying on the pavement of a mall parking lot. She asked around but could not find the owner. She decided to keep it and plugged it into her laptop, only to find a photo folder. Feeling curious, Arianna opened a few photos before formatting the flash drive for her own use. Afterwards, Arianna noticed that her laptop camera was active. What type of attack is described in this scenario?
- access attack
- denial of service (DoS) attack
- malware attack
- reconnaissance attack
Explanation: Malware attacks include viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. These types of attacks can allow a threat actor to take control of an infected system.
5. A computer is used as a print server for ACME Inc. The IT staff failed to apply security updates to this computer for over 60 days. Now the print server is operating slowly, and sending a high number of malicious packets to its NIC. What type of attack is described in this scenario?
- access attack
- denial of service (DoS) attack
- malware attack
- reconnaissance attack
Explanation: A denial of service (DoS) attack, if successful, prevents authorized users from accessing system resources.
6. Sharon, an IT intern at ACME Inc., noticed some strange packets while revising the security logs generated by the firewall. A handful of IP addresses on the internet were sending malformed packets to several different IP addresses, at several different random port numbers inside ACME Inc. What type of attack is described in this scenario?
- access attack
- denial of service (DoS) attack
- malware attack
- reconnaissance attack
Explanation: In a reconnaissance attack, the threat actor can probe a system to find what ports are open, and what services are running.