CompTIA CAS-004 Actual Questions

Containerization is a technology that allows applications to run in isolated and portable environments called containers. Containers are lightweight and self-contained units that include all the dependencies, libraries, and configuration files needed for an application to run. Containers can be deployed on any platform that supports the container runtime engine, such as Docker or Kubernetes.

Containerization would allow the company to refactor a monolithic application to take advantage of cloud native services and service microsegmentation to secure sensitive application components, because containerization would:

Enable the application to be split into smaller and independent components (microservices) that can communicate with each other through APIs or message queues.

Allow the application to leverage cloud native services, such as load balancers, databases, or serverless functions, that can be integrated with containers through configuration files or environment variables.

Enhance the security of the application by isolating each container from other containers and the host system, and applying fine-grained access control policies and network rules to each container or group of containers.

Ensure the portability of the application by enabling it to run on any cloud provider or platform that supports containers, without requiring any changes to the application code or configuration.

The company should use CASB for OAuth application permission control to help prevent this type of attack in the future. CASB stands for cloud access security broker, which is a software tool that monitors and enforces security policies for cloud applications. CASB can help control which third-party applications can access the company’s cloud file storage service and what permissions they have. CASB can also detect and block any unauthorized or malicious applications that try to access the company’s data. Verified References:

https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/threats/how-to-avoid-social-engineering-attacks

https://www.eccouncil.org/cybersecurity-exchange/ethical-hacking/understanding-preventing-social-engineering-attacks/

https://www.indusface.com/blog/10-ways-businesses-can-prevent-social-engineering-attacks/

The company should use HMAC SHA256 as a cryptographic technique to ensure that packets received between two parties have not been tampered with and the connection remains private. HMAC stands for hash-based message authentication code, which is a method of generating a message authentication code using a cryptographic hash function and a secret key. HMAC can provide both integrity and authenticity of the packets, as well as resistance to replay attacks. SHA256 is a specific hash function that produces a 256-bit output. SHA256 is considered secure and widely used in various cryptographic applications. Verified References:

https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2021/7/cryptography-and-privacy-protecting-private-data

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/cryptography/special_issues/Preserve_Enhance_Privacy

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11432-021-3393-x

Deploying a web application firewall (WAF) signature is a way to detect and block attempts to exploit the Heartbleed vulnerability on the web server. A WAF signature is a pattern that matches a known attack vector, such as a malicious heartbeat request. By deploying a WAF signature, the company can protect its web application from Heartbleed attacks until the underlying vulnerability is fixed.

Updating the OpenSSL library is the ultimate way to fix and mitigate the Heartbleed vulnerability. The OpenSSL project released version 1.0.1g on April 7, 2014, which patched the bug by adding a bounds check to the heartbeat function. By updating the OpenSSL library on the web server, the company can eliminate the vulnerability and prevent any future exploitation.

B. Fixing the PHP code is not a way to resolve or mitigate the Heartbleed vulnerability, because the vulnerability is not in the PHP code, but in the OpenSSL library that handles the SSL/TLS encryption for the web server.

C. Changing the web server from HTTPS to HTTP is not a way to resolve or mitigate the Heartbleed vulnerability, because it would expose all the web traffic to eavesdropping and tampering by attackers. HTTPS provides confidentiality, integrity, and authentication for web communications, and should not be disabled for security reasons.

D. Using SSLv3 is not a way to resolve or mitigate the Heartbleed vulnerability, because SSLv3 is an outdated and insecure protocol that has been deprecated and replaced by TLS. SSLv3 does not support modern cipher suites, encryption algorithms, or security features, and is vulnerable to various attacks, such as POODLE.

E. Changing the code from PHP to ColdFusion is not a way to resolve or mitigate the Heartbleed vulnerability, because the vulnerability is not related to the programming language of the web application, but to the OpenSSL library that handles the SSL/TLS encryption for the web server.

https://owasp.org/www-community/vulnerabilities/Heartbleed_Bug

https://heartbleed.com/