Security
Free CompTIA A+ (Core 2) practice — 6 questions on Security, with explanations. No sign-up. Full 12-question mixed test →
A technician moves a file from a folder with NTFS permission 'Read Only' to a different folder on the SAME NTFS volume that has 'Full Control' permission assigned. After the move completes, what permission does the file have?
When a file is moved within the same NTFS volume, Windows simply updates the file's directory pointer instead of copying the data, so the file RETAINS its original NTFS permissions. Only copying a file, or moving it across different volumes, causes it to inherit the destination folder's permissions.
A technician has identified a malware infection and QUARANTINED the affected system according to CompTIA's malware removal best practices. What is the NEXT step in the recommended remediation process?
CompTIA's best-practice malware removal order is: 1) Investigate and verify symptoms, 2) Quarantine infected systems, 3) Disable System Restore in Windows, 4) Remediate infected systems, 5) Schedule scans and run updates, 6) Enable System Restore and create a restore point, 7) Educate the end user. Disabling System Restore comes immediately after quarantine so infected files aren't preserved in a restore point.
A network administrator needs centralized authentication for administrators logging into routers and switches, along with the ability to authorize exactly which CLI commands each administrator is permitted to run. Which protocol BEST meets this requirement?
TACACS+ separates authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) into distinct processes and encrypts the entire packet payload, allowing administrators to define granular, command-level authorization for network device access — exactly the requirement described.
A user encrypted a file with EFS on their Windows workstation. Later, the user's account profile became corrupted and was deleted and recreated by an administrator to resolve the issue. The user now attempts to open the previously encrypted file and receives an 'Access is denied' error. What is the MOST likely cause?
EFS encryption is tied to the user's personal encryption certificate and private key, which are stored in the user's profile. Deleting and recreating the account generates a brand-new SID and certificate, so the new profile no longer has the key needed to decrypt the file — this is why exporting/backing up the EFS certificate (or configuring a Data Recovery Agent) BEFORE such changes is a critical best practice.
Which of the following is a key security improvement that WPA3 provides over WPA2, specifically protecting against OFFLINE dictionary attacks against the pre-shared key?
WPA3 replaces WPA2's four-way handshake (vulnerable to offline dictionary/brute-force attacks against captured handshake data) with SAE, a Diffie-Hellman-based key exchange that provides forward secrecy and resists offline password-guessing attacks even if traffic is captured.
A company is decommissioning a batch of SSDs that contained sensitive financial data. Which data destruction method should be AVOIDED because it is INEFFECTIVE on solid-state drives?
Degaussing works by disrupting the magnetic fields on platters in traditional HDDs; SSDs store data in NAND flash memory cells with no magnetic media, so degaussing has no effect on an SSD's data and should never be relied upon for SSD sanitization.
Ready for the real thing?
The full course has two full-length practice tests, video lessons for every exam domain, hands-on labs and detailed answer explanations.
Start my full course on Udemy →