Pass the CompTIA CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 Questions and answers with CertsForce

A lessons-learned review is a process of evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of the incident response plan after an incident or an exercise. The purpose of the review is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the incident response plan, and to update it accordingly to improve the future performance and resilience of the organization. Therefore, the incident response plan should be updated after a lessons-learned review.

The system that should be prioritized for patching first is 54.74.110.228, as it has the highest number and severity of vulnerabilities among the four systems listed in the vulnerability report. According to the report, this system has 12 vulnerabilities, with 8 critical, 3 high, and 1 medium severity ratings. Thecritical vulnerabilities include CVE-2019-0708 (BlueKeep), CVE-2019-1182 (DejaBlue), CVE-2017-0144 (EternalBlue), and CVE-2017-0145 (EternalRomance), which are all remote code execution vulnerabilities that can allow an attacker to compromise the system without any user interaction or authentication. These vulnerabilities pose a high risk to the system and should be patched as soon as possible.

TheDiamond Model of Intrusion Analysisconsists offour core attributes:

Adversary– The threat actor behind the attack.

Capability– The tools and techniques used.

Infrastructure– The systems used by the adversary (e.g., botnets, C2 servers).

Victim– The target of the attack​.

Option A (Delivery)andOption B (Weaponization)are part of theCyber Kill Chain, not the Diamond Model.

Option C (Command and control)is an attack phase butnot a core attribute of the Diamond Model.

Option D (Capability) is correct, as it represents the tools and attack methods used by adversaries.

Thus,D is the correct answer.

Using aregular expression (regex)to search email logs is the most efficient and scalable way to identify patterns in phishing URLs. Phishing campaigns often use consistent URL formats across different domains. Regex allows administrators to define flexible patterns to match these URLs even when the domains vary. This is significantly more effective than relying on user reports or less granular tools like firewall logs for such cases.

Hacktivists are threat actors who use cyberattacks to promote a social or political cause, such as environmentalism, human rights, or democracy. They may target companies that they perceive as violating their values or harming the public interest. Hacktivists often use techniques such as defacing websites, launching denial-of-service attacks, or leaking sensitive data to expose or embarrass their targets12. References: An introduction to the cyber threat environment, page 3; What is a Threat Actor? Types & Examples of Cyber Threat Actors, section 2.

The captured traffic shows TCP packets with the Flags [FPU], which indicate that the FIN, PSH, and URG flags are set. This is characteristic of an Nmap Xmas scan. The Xmas scan is a type of port scan that sends packets with these flags set to determine port states based on responses from the target system. This technique is often used in stealth scanning to evade detection by firewalls or IDS/IPS​.

Nikto's web scan (B) is used for identifying web server vulnerabilities but does not generate TCP packets with such unusual flags​.

Socat's proxying (C) would not exhibit the specific Xmas scan pattern.

Angry IP Scanner (D) is a general-purpose scanner that does not use the TCP flags seen in this capture​.

SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) platforms help automate and orchestrate incident response tasks, including phishing triage.

SOAR reduces triage time by automatically:

Parsing phishing emails (checking headers, links, attachments).

Running automated playbooks to check for known malicious indicators.

Escalating real threats while dismissing false positives.

Why Not Other Options?

B (Increase security awareness) → Helps prevent phishing but does NOT reduce triage time.

C (Implement EDR) → EDR is useful for endpoint protection but does NOT specifically reduce phishing triage time.

D (Install a "Report Phishing" button) → Helps report phishing but does NOT automate the triage process.

Using a vendor-provided API to automate pulling logs in real-time is the best option for improving the efficiency of security operations when the financial application does not allow event logging to send to the corporate SIEM. This approach ensures that logs are consistently and promptly integrated into the security monitoring process without manual intervention, enhancing the overall effectiveness of security operations.

Comprehensive Detailed Explanation:SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) solutions are implemented to streamline security operations and improve efficiency. Key benefits include:

C. Reduce repetitive tasks: SOAR solutions automate routine and repetitive tasks, which helps reduce analyst workload and minimize human error.

F. Generate reports and metrics: SOAR platforms can automatically generate comprehensive reports and performance metrics, allowing organizations to track incident response times, analyze trends, and optimize security processes.

Other options are less relevant to the core functions of SOAR:

A. Minimize security attacks: While SOAR can aid in quicker response, it does not directly minimize the occurrence of attacks.

B. Itemize tasks for approval: Task itemization for approval is more relevant to project management tools.

D. Minimize setup complexity: SOAR solutions often require significant setup and integration with existing tools.

E. Define a security strategy: SOAR is more focused on automating response rather than strategy definition.

A compensating control is an alternative measure that provides a similar level of protection as the original control, but is used when the original control is not feasible or cost-effective. In this case, the CISO should develop a compensating control to mitigate the risk of the vulnerability in the ACE software, such as implementing additional monitoring, firewall rules, or encryption, until the issue can be fixed permanently by the developers. References: CompTIA CySA+ Study Guide: Exam CS0-003, 3rd Edition, Chapter 5, page 197; CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 Certification Study Guide, Chapter 5, page 205.