Explanation: Traceroute is the network troubleshooting utility employed by Steve in the above scenario. Traceroute is a utility that traces the route of packets from a source host to a destination host over a network. Traceroute sends ICMP echo request packets with increasing TTL (Time to Live) values and records the ICMP echo reply packets from each intermediate router or gateway along the path. Traceroute can help identify the network hops, latency, and packet loss between the source and destination hosts . Dnsenum is a utility that enumerates DNS information from a domain name or an IP address. Arp is a utility that displays and modifies the ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) cache of a host. Ipconfig is a utility that displays and configures the IP (Internet Protocol) settings of a host.

Explanation: Permissive policy is the type of Internet access policy implemented by George in this scenario. An Internet access policy is a policy that defines the rules and guidelines for accessing the Internet from a system or network. An Internet access policy can be based on various factors, such as security, productivity, bandwidth, etc. An Internet access policy can have different types based on its level of restriction or control. A permissive policy is a type of Internet access policy that allows users to access any site, download any application, and access any computer or network without any restrictions. A permissive policy can be used to provide maximum flexibility and freedom to users, but it can also pose significant security risks and challenges. In the scenario, George implemented an Internet access policy that allowed employees working from a remote location to access any site, download any application, and access any computer or network without any restrictions. This means that he implemented a permissive policy for those employees. A paranoid policy is a type of Internet access policy that blocks or denies all Internet access by default and only allows specific sites, applications, or computers that are explicitly authorized. A prudent policy is a type of Internet access policy that allows most Internet access but blocks or restricts some sites, applications, or computers that are deemed inappropriate, malicious, or unnecessary. A promiscuous policy is not a type of Internet access policy, but a term that describes a network mode that allows a network interface card (NIC) to capture all packets on a network segment, regardless of their destination address.

Explanation:
RSA Overview:
Reference: NIST SP 800-57, Recommendation for Key Management.
Strong Security:
RSA provides strong security through its use of large key sizes (typically 2048 bits or higher), making it resistant to brute force and other cryptographic attacks.
Reference: RSA Laboratories' "PKCS #1: RSA Cryptography Specifications."
International Acceptance:
RSA is widely used and accepted internationally, making it suitable for PolarFin's requirements to comply with various global financial regulations.
Reference: ISO/IEC 18033-2:2006, Information technology — Security techniques — Encryption algorithms.
Encryption and Decryption:
RSA supports secure encryption of data, ensuring confidentiality, and decryption, allowing authorized parties to access the encrypted information.
Reference: "Applied Cryptography" by Bruce Schneier.
Given the need for strong security and international acceptance, RSA is the best cryptographic algorithm for PolarFin's new transactional system.

Explanation: The correct answer is A, as it identifies the type of Internet access policy implemented by Ashton in the above scenario. An Internet access policy is a set of rules and guidelines that defines how an organization’s employees or members can use the Internet and what types of websites or services they can access. There are different types of Internet access policies, such as:
Paranoid policy: This type of policy forbids everything and imposes strict restrictions on all company computers, whether it is system or network usage. This policy is suitable for organizations that deal with highly sensitive or classified information and have a high level of security and compliance requirements.
Prudent policy: This type of policy allows some things and blocks others and imposes moderate restrictions on company computers, depending on the role and responsibility of the user. This policy is suitable for organizations that deal with confidential or proprietary information and have a medium level of security and compliance requirements.
Permissive policy: This type of policy allows most things and blocks few and imposes minimal restrictions on company computers, as long as the user does not violate any laws or regulations. This policy is suitable for organizations that deal with public or general information and have a low level of security and compliance requirements.
Promiscuous policy: This type of policy allows everything and blocks nothing and imposes no restrictions on company computers, regardless of the user’s role or responsibility. This policy is suitable for organizations that have no security or compliance requirements and trust their employees or members to use the Internet responsibly.
In the above scenario, Ashton implemented a paranoid policy that forbids everything and imposes strict restrictions on all company computers, whether it is system or network usage. Option B is incorrect, as it does not identify the type of Internet access policy implemented by Ashton in the above scenario. A prudent policy allows some things and blocks others and imposes moderate restrictions on company computers, depending on the role and responsibility of the user. In the above scenario, Ashton did not implement a prudent policy, but a paranoid policy. Option C is incorrect, as it does not identify the type of Internet access policy implemented by Ashton in the above scenario. A permissive policy allows most things and blocks few and imposes minimal restrictions on company computers, as long as the user does not violate any laws or regulations. In the above scenario, Ashton did not implement a permissive policy, but a paranoid policy. Option D is incorrect, as it does not identify the type of Internet access policy implemented by Ashton in the above scenario. A promiscuous policy allows everything and blocks nothing and imposes no restrictions on company computers, regardless of the user’s role or responsibility. In the above scenario, Ashton did not implement a promiscuous policy, but a paranoid policy.

Explanation: Masking is the technique that Andre employed in the above scenario. Masking is a deidentification technique that can replace the critical information in database fields with special characters such as asterisks (*) and hashes (#). Masking can help protect sensitive data from unauthorized access or disclosure, while preserving the format and structure of the original data . Tokenization is a deidentification technique that can replace the critical information in database fields with random tokens that have no meaning or relation to the original data. Hashing is a deidentification technique that can transform the critical information in database fields into fixed-length strings using a mathematical function. Bucketing is a deidentification technique that can group the critical information in database fields into ranges or categories based on certain criteria.

Explanation: Obfuscating is the technique used by Kevin to evade the IDS system in the above scenario. Obfuscating is a technique that involves encoding or modifying packets or data with various methods or characters to make them unreadable or unrecognizable by an IDS (Intrusion Detection System). Obfuscating can be used to bypass or evade an IDS system that relies on signatures or patterns to detect malicious activities. Obfuscating can include encoding packets with Unicode characters, which are characters that can represent various languages and symbols. The IDS system cannot recognize the packet, but the target web server can decode them and execute them normally. Desynchronization is a technique that involves creating discrepancies or inconsistencies between the state of a connection as seen by an IDS system and the state of a connection as seen by the end hosts. Desynchronization can be used to bypass or evade an IDS system that relies on stateful inspection to track and analyze connections. Desynchronization can include sending packets with invalid sequence numbers, which are numbers that indicate the order of packets in a connection. Session splicing is a technique that involves splitting or dividing packets or data into smaller fragments or segmentsto make them harder to detect by an IDS system. Session splicing can be used to bypass or evade an IDS system that relies on packet size or content to detect malicious activities. Session splicing can include sending packets with small MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) values, which are values that indicate the maximum size of packets that can be transmitted over a network. An urgency flag is a flag in the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) header that indicates that the data in the packet is urgent and should be processed immediately by the receiver. An urgency flag is not a technique to evade an IDS system, but it can be used to trigger an IDS system to generate an alert or a response.

Explanation: Archival media is the type of data that Kaison acquired in the above scenario. Archival media is a type of data that is stored on removable media such as DVDROMs, CD-ROMs, tapes, or flash drives. Archival media can be used to backup or transfer data from one system to another. Archival media can be acquired using forensic tools that can read and copy the data from the media.

Explanation: Anomaly detection is a type of IDS detection method that involves first creating models for possible intrusions and then comparing these models with incoming events to make a detection decision. It can detect unknown or zero-day attacks by looking for deviations from normal or expected behavior.

Explanation:
Common Usage of SSH and VNC:
Reference: NIST SP 800-46, Guide to Enterprise Telework, Remote Access, and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Security.
Secure Remote Access:
Both SSH and VNC are legitimate tools for remote access and are commonly used in development environments for secure communications and remote collaboration.
Reference: OWASP Secure Coding Practices.
Regular Traffic Patterns:
The steady stream of data packets between the server and workstations indicates regular usage patterns typical of development activities, suggesting that the traffic is normal.
Reference: IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials on Secure Remote Access.
Monitoring and Verification:
Continuous monitoring and verification of traffic patterns can help ensure that these connections remain secure and are not being misused for malicious purposes.
Reference: CIS Controls, Control 6 - Maintenance, Monitoring, and Analysis of Audit Logs.
Given the context, the observed traffic patterns involving SSH and VNC connections are consistent with normal, secure remote access and collaboration activities among programmers.

Explanation: TCP Timestamps is the vulnerability with a severity score of 8.0. This can be verified by performing a vulnerability assessment of the web server located at IP address 20.20.10.26 using the OpenVAS vulnerability scanner, available with the Parrot Security machine, with credentials admin/password. To perform the vulnerability assessment, one can follow these steps:
Launch the Parrot Security machine and open a terminal.
Enter the command sudo openvas-start to start the OpenVAS service and wait for a few minutes until it is ready.
Open a web browser and navigate to https://127.0.0.1:9392 to access the OpenVAS web interface.
Enter the credentials admin/password to log in to OpenVAS.
Click on Scans -> Tasks from the left menu and then click on the blue icon with a star to create a new task.
Enter a name and a comment for the task, such as “Web Server Scan”.
Select “Full and fast” as the scan config from the drop-down menu.
Click on the icon with a star next to Target to create a new target.
Enter a name and a comment for the target, such as “Web Server”.
Enter 20.20.10.26 as the host in the text box and click on Save.
Select “Web Server” as the target from the drop-down menu and click on Save.
Click on the green icon with a play button next to the task name to start the scan and wait for it to finish.
Click on the task name to view the scan report and click on Results from the left menu to see the list of vulnerabilities found.
Sort the list by Severity in descending order and look for the vulnerability with a severity score of 8.0. The screenshot below shows an example of performing these steps:
The vulnerability with a severity score of 8.0 is TCP Timestamps, which is an option in TCP packets that can be used to measure round-trip time and improve performance, but it can also reveal information about the system’s uptime, clock skew, or TCP sequence numbers, which can be used by attackers to launch various attacks, such as idle scanning, OS fingerprinting, or TCP hijacking1. The vulnerability report provides more details about this vulnerability, such as its description, impact, solution, references, and CVSS score2.

Explanation: Risk treatment is the risk management phase that Cassius was instructed to perform in the above scenario. Risk management is a process that involves identifying, analyzing, evaluating, treating, monitoring, and reviewing risks that can affect an organization’s objectives, assets, or operations. Risk management phases can be summarized as follows: risk identification, risk analysis, risk prioritization, risk treatment, and risk monitoring . Risk identification is the risk management phase that involves identifying and documenting potential sources, causes, events, and impacts of risks. Risk analysis is the risk management phase that involves assessing and quantifying the likelihood and consequences of risks. Risk prioritization is the risk management phase that involves ranking risks based on their severity level and determining which risks need immediate attention or action. Risk treatment is the risk management phase that involves selecting and implementing appropriate controls or strategies to address risks based on their severity level . Risk treatment can include avoiding, transferring, reducing, or accepting risks. Risk monitoring is the risk management phase that involves tracking and reviewing the performance and effectiveness of risk controls or strategies over time.

Explanation:
4 is the UID (user ID) of a user, John, in the database in the above scenario.
A web application is a software application that runs on a web server and can be accessed by users through a web browser. A web application can be vulnerable to SQL injection attacks, which are a type of web application attack that exploit a vulnerability in a web application that allows an attacker to inject malicious SQL statements into an input field, such as a username or password field, and execute them on the database server. SQL injection can be used to bypass authentication, access or modify sensitive data, execute commands, etc. To exploit the web application and extract the user credentials from the moviescope database, one has to follow these steps:
Open a web browser and type www.moviescope.com
Press Enter key to access the web application.
Enter sam as username and test as password.
Click on Login button.
Observe that a welcome message with username sam is displayed.
Click on Logout button.
Enter sam’ or ‘1’='1 as username and test as password.
Click on Login button.
Observe that a welcome message with username admin is displayed, indicating that SQL injection was successful.
Click on Logout button.
Enter sam’; SELECT * FROM users; – as username and test as password.
Click on Login button.
Observe that an error message with user credentials from users table is displayed.