Penetration testing technologies — Quiz

Penetration testing technologies

1. During the initial reconnaissance phase of a penetration test, a security professional needs to quickly identify all active hosts and map open ports on a target network segment. Which tool is the most appropriate and efficient for this task? (Choose one answer) a) OpenVAS b) Metasploit c) Nmap d) OWASP ZAP

2. A penetration tester uses the filter tcpdump 'tcp[tcpflags] == tcp-syn' on a network. What type of network activity is this filter specifically designed to capture? (Choose one answer) a) All encrypted HTTPS traffic on port 443 b) TCP packets with only the SYN flag set, indicating potential port scanning c) DNS query and response packets d) HTTP traffic containing cleartext passwords

3. What is the primary differentiator between Burp Suite Professional and the Community Edition? (Choose one answer) a) The presence of an intercepting Proxy tool b) The ability to manually send requests with the Repeater tool c) The inclusion of an automated, active vulnerability scanner d) The capability to decode a JWT token

4. Following the successful exploitation of a Windows host, a penetration tester uses the Meterpreter payload within Metasploit to dump hashes from the compromised system and pivot to another subnet. These activities are best classified as which phase of the penetration testing kill chain? (Choose one answer) a) Reconnaissance b) Vulnerability Analysis c) Post-Exploitation d) Weaponization

5. According to the section's comparison, what is the fundamental difference in how Nmap and OpenVAS approach authenticated scanning? (Choose one answer) a) Only Nmap is capable of performing any form of authenticated scan b) OpenVAS uses its core engine for authenticated checks, while Nmap relies on a separate scripting system c) Authenticated scanning is a core, integrated feature of OpenVAS, while in Nmap it is a limited capability powered by its Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE) d) Nmap's authenticated scans are more comprehensive and are used for compliance auditing