312-39 ECCouncil Certified SOC Analyst (CSA) Free Practice Exam Questions (2025 Updated)

The step in the incident handling and response process that focuses on limiting the scope and extent of an incident is Containment. This phase aims to isolate affected systems to prevent the spread of the incident and to minimize its impact. Containment strategies may involve disconnecting affected systems from the network, blocking malicious traffic, or taking systems offline. The goal is to contain the incident quickly to reduce damage and to maintain business operations1.

References: The EC-Council’s Certified Incident Handler (E|CIH) program outlines the incident handling and response process, which includes the containment phase as a critical step. The program provides knowledge and skills necessary to effectively manage and mitigate cybersecurity incidents1

The level of risk is typically calculated by considering the consequence (or impact) of an event and the likelihood (or probability) of its occurrence. The formula represents a fundamental risk assessment concept where risk is the product of the two factors:

Consequence (Impact): The outcome or result if a threat does exploit a vulnerability.

Likelihood (Probability): The chance that a given threat will exploit a vulnerability.

By multiplying these two factors, one can determine the level of risk, which helps in prioritizing risks and deciding on the appropriate level of controls and mitigation strategies.

References: The EC-Council’s Certified SOC Analyst (CSA) course materials and study guides cover the concepts of risk assessment and management, which include the formula for calculating risk levels as the product of consequence and likelihood. These concepts are aligned with industry best practices and standards for security operations centers.

 The regex pattern /(\.|(%|%25)2E)(\.|(%|%25)2E)(\/|(%|%25)2F|\\|(%|%25)5C)/i is indicative of a Directory Traversal Attack. This type of attack exploits insufficient security controls to gain unauthorized access to files and directories that are stored outside the web root folder. Here’s a breakdown of the regex pattern:

(\.|(%|%25)2E) matches a period . or its URL-encoded forms %2E or %252E. In file systems, a period can represent the current directory or, when used as .., the parent directory.

(\/|(%|%25)2F|\\|(%|%25)5C) matches a forward slash /, its URL-encoded form %2F or %252F, or a backslash \, which is %5C in URL encoding. These characters are used in file paths to navigate directories.

When combined, this pattern can match sequences like ../ or ..%2F, which are commonly used in directory traversal attempts to navigate up the directory tree and access files outside of the intended directory.

References: The EC-Council’s Certified SOC Analyst (CSA) program includes training on recognizing and responding to various types of cyber threats, including Directory Traversal Attacks12. The program emphasizes the importance of understanding and identifying different attack vectors, including those that involve manipulating file paths, which is a critical skill for SOC analysts. The regex pattern provided is a typical example of what SOC analysts might encounter and need to recognize as part of their role in monitoring and analyzing web server logs12.

URL encoding, also known as percent-encoding, is a mechanism for encoding information in a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) under certain circumstances. When characters are not allowed in a URI, they are replaced with a percent sign (%) followed by two hexadecimal digits that represent the ASCII code of the character. For example, a space character is not allowed in a URI and is replaced with %20.

References:The answer is verified as per the EC-Council’s Certified SOC Analyst (CSA) course materials and study guides, which discuss various encoding schemes used in cybersecurity practices. URL encoding is specifically mentioned as the method for replacing unusual ASCII characters with a percent sign followed by two hexadecimal digits123.

 The command to enable logging in iptables for incoming packets is $ iptables -A INPUT -j LOG. This command appends a rule to the INPUT chain that logs the packet information. The -A flag is used to append the rule to the end of the specified chain, which in this case is INPUT, indicating that the rule applies to incoming packets. The -j LOG part of the command specifies the target of the rule, which is LOG, meaning that the packet will be logged.

References:

EC-Council’s Certified SOC Analyst (CSA) training materials and certification guidelines1

InfraExam 2024, Certified SOC Analyst Part 01, which includes details on iptables commands2

In a Risk Matrix, risk levels are determined by the intersection of the likelihood of an occurrence (probability) and the consequence of that occurrence (impact). When the probability of an event is very high and the impact is major, it typically falls into the ‘Extreme’ category. This is because the combination of a high likelihood and major impact represents a scenario where the risk is unacceptable and requires immediate attention and mitigation measures.

References: The EC-Council’s Certified SOC Analyst (CSA) course materials and study guides provide detailed information on assessing risks using a Risk Matrix. The course emphasizes the importance of understanding the Risk Matrix for effective security operations center (SOC) analysis. For more in-depth information, refer to the official EC-Council CSA study materials and resources12.

A DHCP Starvation Attack is a type of network attack that aims to deplete the pool of available IP addresses on the DHCP server. The attacker floods the DHCP server with fake DHCP DISCOVER messages using spoofed MAC addresses. If successful, the server will exhaust its address space, denying IP configuration to legitimate clients. This can lead to a denial of service (DoS) for new devices attempting to join the network. Additionally, the attacker may set up a rogue DHCP server to issue malicious IP configurations to clients, potentially redirecting traffic or causing further disruption1.

References: The EC-Council SOC Analyst course and study materials cover various network attacks, including DHCP Starvation Attacks. These resources provide insights into the nature of these attacks, their potential impact, and strategies for prevention and mitigation213.

The regular expression provided in the question is designed to detect patterns that are typically found in XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) attacks. Here’s a breakdown of the regex pattern:

/((\%3C)|<) - This part of the pattern matches the encoded version of < which is %3C, or the symbol < itself. In HTML, this symbol denotes the start of a tag.

((\%69)|i|(\%49)) - This matches the encoded version of i which is %69, the lowercase i, or the encoded version of I which is %49.

((\%6D)|m|(\%4D)) - This matches the encoded version of m which is %6D, the lowercase m, or the encoded version of M which is %4D.

((\%67)|g|(\%47)) - This matches the encoded version of g which is %67, the lowercase g, or the encoded version of G which is %47.

[^\n]+ - This part of the pattern matches one or more characters that are not a newline character.

((\%3E)|>) - This matches the encoded version of > which is %3E, or the symbol > itself, denoting the end of an HTML tag.

The combination of these patterns is looking for a string that resembles an HTML img tag, which is a common vector for XSS attacks. XSS attacks involve injecting malicious scripts into webpages viewed by other users, exploiting the trust a user has for a particular site. XSS attacks can occur when a web application uses unsanitized user input in the output it generates.

References: The EC-Council’s Certified SOC Analyst (CSA) program covers the knowledge required to detect and analyze various types of cyber threats, including XSS attacks. The CSA program’s curriculum includes understanding of IDS logs and the ability to interpret and respond to potential security events indicated by such logs. For further study and verification, please refer to the official EC-Council CSA study guides and course materials.

 TTPs in the context of cybersecurity and SOC (Security Operations Center) refer to the patterns of activities or methods associated with a specific threat actor or group of threat actors. Understanding TTPs is crucial for the SOC team as it allows them to identify, prepare, and respond to potential threats more effectively. Here’s a breakdown of the term:

Tactics: The adversary’s overall strategy or the ‘what’ they are trying to accomplish.

Techniques: The general methods the adversary uses to achieve their tactical goals.

Procedures: The specific, detailed methods the adversary employs, which can include tools, scripts, commands, and sequences of actions.

By analyzing TTPs, SOC teams can develop a more proactive defense posture, anticipate likely attack methods, and implement appropriate countermeasures.

References: The EC-Council’s Certified SOC Analyst (CSA) program covers the fundamentals of SOC operations, including the identification and validation of intrusion attempts, which would involve understanding TTPs12. This program is designed for current and aspiring Tier I and Tier II SOC analysts to achieve proficiency in performing entry-level and intermediate-level operations, where the knowledge of TTPs is essential12.