312-50v13 ECCouncil Certified Ethical Hacker Exam (CEHv13) Free Practice Exam Questions (2025 Updated)

To start the Computer Management Console from command line just type compmgmt.msc /computer:computername in your run box or at the command line and it should automatically open the Computer Management console.

Google hacking or Google dorking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_hacking

It is a hacker technique that uses Google Search and other Google applications to find security holes in the configuration and computer code that websites are using. Google dorking could also be used for OSINT.

Search syntax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Search

Google’s search engine has its own built-in query language. The following list of queries can be run to find a list of files, find information about your competition, track people, get information about SEO backlinks, build email lists, and of course, discover web vulnerabilities.

- [site:] - Search within a specific website

PKI uses public-key cryptography, which is widely used on the Internet to encrypt messages or

authenticate message senders. In public-key cryptography, a CA generates public and private

keys with the same algorithm simultaneously. The private key is held only by the subject (user,

company, or system) mentioned in the certificate, while the public key is made publicly available

in a directory that all parties can access. The subject keeps the private key secret and uses it to

decrypt the text encrypted by someone else using the corresponding public key (available in a

public directory). Thus, others encrypt messages for the user with the user's public key, and the user decrypts it with his/her private key.

The command shown is a Windows batch loop that attempts to mount a hidden administrative share (c$) on a remote machine (\10.1.2.3) using the username "Administrator" and a list of passwords from the file hackfile.txt.

for /f "tokens=1 %%a in (hackfile.txt) → Reads one password per line from the file

do net use * \10.1.2.3\c$ /user:"Administrator" %%a → Tries to authenticate to the share using the Administrator account and each password

This is a classic brute-force password attack attempting to crack the Administrator account using a wordlist.

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 4: Enumeration

Module 6: Malware and Password Cracking Techniques

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“Tools and scripts that automate login attempts using SMB shares and administrative credentials can be used to brute force user accounts. An attacker attempts access using a list of passwords (dictionary attack).”

Incorrect Options:

A: The connection attempt is made, but the success is dependent on password cracking.

B: This command does not enumerate users.

D: No null session involved; this is a brute-force attempt, not privilege escalation.

To perform a thorough password assessment, Bob can use:

Hardware Keyloggers: Installed between the keyboard and computer; captures keystrokes.

Software Keyloggers: Installed on the OS; logs keystrokes and system activity.

Network Sniffing: Captures plaintext passwords from unencrypted protocols (e.g., FTP, Telnet).

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 4: Enumeration

Module 6: Malware Threats

Module 8: Sniffing

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“A comprehensive password audit can involve passive sniffing of credentials on the wire, software keyloggers for direct input capture, and hardware keyloggers for stealthy physical surveillance.”

Incorrect Options:

B, C, D: Limiting to just one method misses out on broader techniques.

The security strategy that you would likely suggest is to adopt a Continual/Adaptive Security Strategy involving ongoing prediction, prevention, detection, and response actions to ensure comprehensive computer network defense. This strategy is based on the concept of continuous monitoring and improvement of the security posture of an organization, using a feedback loop that integrates various security activities and technologies. A Continual/Adaptive Security Strategy aims to proactively identify and mitigate emerging threats, vulnerabilities, and risks, as well as to respond effectively and efficiently to security incidents and breaches. A Continual/Adaptive Security Strategy can help enhance the organization’s security stance by providing the following benefits12:

It can reduce the attack surface and the exposure time of the organization’s network infrastructure, by applying timely patches, updates, and configurations, as well as by implementing security controls and policies.

It can increase the visibility and awareness of the organization’s network activity and behavior, by collecting, analyzing, and correlating data from various sources, such as logs, sensors, alerts, and reports.

It can improve the detection and prevention capabilities of the organization, by using advanced tools and techniques, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, threat intelligence, and behavioral analytics, to identify and block malicious or anomalous patterns and indicators.

It can enhance the response and recovery processes of the organization, by using automated and orchestrated actions, such as isolation, quarantine, remediation, and restoration, to contain and resolve security incidents and breaches, as well as by conducting lessons learned and root cause analysis to prevent recurrence.

The other options are not as appropriate as option C for the following reasons:

A. Develop an in-depth Risk Management process, involving identification, assessment, treatment, tracking, and review of risks to control the potential effects on the organization: This option is not sufficient because risk management is only one aspect of a comprehensive security strategy, and it does not address the dynamic and evolving nature of cyber threats and vulnerabilities. Risk management is a process of identifying, analyzing, evaluating, and treating the risks that may affect the organization’s objectives and operations, as well as monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of the risk treatment measures3. Risk management can help the organization prioritize and allocate resources for security, but it cannot guarantee the prevention or detection of security incidents and breaches, nor the response and recovery from them.

B. Establish a Defense-in-Depth strategy, incorporating multiple layers of security measures to increase the complexity and decrease the likelihood of a successful attack: This option is not optimal because defense-in-depth is a traditional and static approach to security, and it may not be able to cope with the sophisticated and persistent attacks that exploit unknown or zero-day vulnerabilities. Defense-in-depth is a strategy of implementing multiple and diverse security controls and mechanisms at different layers of the organization’s network infrastructure, such as perimeter, network, endpoint, application, and data, to provide redundancy and resilience against attacks4. Defense-in-depth can help the organization protect its assets and systems from unauthorized access or damage, but it cannot ensure the timely detection and response to security incidents and breaches, nor the continuous improvement of the security posture.

D. Implement an Information Assurance (IA) policy focusing on ensuring the integrity, availability, confidentiality, and authenticity of information systems: This option is not comprehensive because information assurance is a subset of cybersecurity, and it does not cover all the aspects of a holistic security strategy. Information assurance is a discipline of managing the risks associated with the use, processing, storage, and transmission of information and data, and ensuring the protection of the information and data from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction5. Information assurance can help the organization safeguard its information and data from compromise or loss, but it does not address the prevention, detection, and response to security incidents and breaches, nor the adaptation and innovation of the security technologies and processes.

In CEH v13 Module 14: Cryptography, CAST-128 is defined as a symmetric block cipher based on a Feistel structure with:

Block size of 64 bits

12 or 16 rounds, depending on key size

Uses 8×32-bit S-boxes with complex structures (including bent functions)

Operates with modular addition/subtraction, XOR, key-dependent rotations, and masking keys (Km) and rotation keys (Kr)

All features described in the scenario match the CAST-128 algorithm.

Option Clarification:

B. AES: Operates on 128-bit blocks, uses Substitution-Permutation Network (SPN), not Feistel.

C. GOST: Russian block cipher, also Feistel-based, but structure and key use differ.

D. DES: Feistel cipher with 64-bit block size, but uses 16 rounds and simpler S-boxes.

Correct answer is A. CAST-128

A hybrid attack combines the benefits of both dictionary and brute-force attacks. It takes words from a dictionary and applies modifications such as:

Appending or prepending numbers or symbols

Changing case (e.g., admin → Admin1!)

Leetspeak substitutions (e.g., p@ssw0rd)

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 6: Malware Threats

Topic: Password Cracking Methods

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“A hybrid attack is a combination of dictionary and brute-force techniques. It takes dictionary words and mutates them to cover common variations, making it more effective than pure dictionary attacks.”

Incorrect Options:

A/B/D: These are not standard terminology in cryptographic or password auditing literature.

The best practice to meet the client’s requirement is to encrypt data client-side before uploading to the cloud and retain control of the encryption keys. This practice is also known as client-side encryption or end-to-end encryption, and it involves encrypting the data on the client’s device using a software or hardware tool that generates and manages the encryption keys. The encrypted data is then uploaded to the cloud service, where it remains encrypted at rest. The encryption keys are never shared with the cloud service provider or any third party, and they are only used by the client to decrypt the data when needed. This way, the client can maintain full control over the encryption keys and the security of the data, even when the data is stored on a public cloud service12.

The other options are not as optimal as option D for the following reasons:

A. Use the cloud service provider’s encryption services but store keys on-premises: This option is not feasible because it contradicts the client’s requirement of maintaining full control over the encryption keys. Using the cloud service provider’s encryption services means that the client has to rely on the cloud service provider to generate and manage the encryption keys, even if the keys are stored on-premises. The cloud service provider may have access to the keys or the ability to decrypt the data, which may compromise the security and privacy of the data. Moreover, storing the keys on-premises may introduce additional challenges, such as key distribution, synchronization, backup, and recovery3.

B. Use the cloud service provider’s default encryption and key management services: This option is not desirable because it violates the client’s requirement of maintaining full control over the encryption keys. Using the cloud service provider’s default encryption and key management services means that the client has to trust the cloud service provider to encrypt and decrypt the data on the server-side, using the cloud service provider’s own encryption keys and mechanisms. The cloud service provider may have access to the keys or the ability to decrypt the data, which may compromise the security and privacy of the data. Furthermore, the cloud service provider’s default encryption and key management services may not meet the regulatory requirements or the security standards of the client4.

C. Rely on Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption for data at rest: This option is not sufficient because SSL encryption is not designed for data at rest, but for data in transit. SSL encryption is a protocol that encrypts the data as it travels over the internet between the client and the server, using certificates and keys that are exchanged and verified by both parties. SSL encryption can protect the data from being intercepted or modified by unauthorized parties, but it does not protect the data from being accessed or decrypted by the cloud service provider or any third party who has access to the server. Moreover, SSL encryption does not provide the client with any control over the encryption keys or the security of the data.

Sniffing attacks are a type of network attack that involves intercepting and analyzing data packets as they travel over a network. Sniffing attacks can be used to steal sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, etc. Sniffing attacks can also be used to perform reconnaissance, spoofing, or man-in-the-middle attacks.

The IT department of the company has implemented some security measures to prevent or mitigate sniffing attacks, such as:

Adding the MAC address of the gateway to the ARP cache: This prevents ARP spoofing, which is a technique that allows an attacker to redirect network traffic to their own device by sending fake ARP messages that associate their MAC address with the IP address of the gateway.

Switching to IPv6 instead of IPv4: This reduces the risk of IP spoofing, which is a technique that allows an attacker to send packets with a forged source IP address, pretending to be another device on the network.

Using encrypted sessions such as SSH instead of Telnet, and Secure File Transfer Protocol instead of FTP: This protects the data from being read or modified by an attacker who can capture the packets, as the data is encrypted and authenticated using cryptographic protocols.

However, these measures are not enough to completely eliminate the threat of sniffing, as an attacker can still use other techniques, such as:

Passive sniffing: This involves monitoring the network traffic without injecting any packets or altering the data. Passive sniffing can be done on a shared network, such as a hub, or on a switched network, using techniques such as MAC flooding, port mirroring, or VLAN hopping.

Active sniffing: This involves injecting packets or modifying the data to manipulate the network behavior or gain access to more traffic. Active sniffing can be done using techniques such as DHCP spoofing, DNS poisoning, ICMP redirection, or TCP session hijacking.

Therefore, the next step to enhance network security is to implement network scanning and monitoring tools, which can help detect and prevent sniffing attacks by:

Scanning the network for unauthorized devices, such as rogue access points, hubs, or sniffers, and removing them or isolating them from the network.

Monitoring the network for abnormal traffic patterns, such as excessive ARP requests, DNS queries, ICMP messages, or TCP connections, and alerting the network administrators or blocking the suspicious sources.

Analyzing the network traffic for malicious content, such as malware, phishing, or exfiltration, and filtering or quarantining the infected or compromised devices.

Employing a tool like Sublist3r, which is designed to enumerate the subdomains of websites using OSINT, would be the most effective method to accomplish this goal. This option works as follows:

Sublist3r is a python tool designed to enumerate subdomains of websites using OSINT (Open Source Intelligence). It helps penetration testers and bug hunters collect and gather subdomains for the domain they are targeting. Sublist3r enumerates subdomains using many search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, Baidu, and Ask. Sublist3r also enumerates subdomains using Netcraft, Virustotal, ThreatCrowd, DNSdumpster, and ReverseDNS. Subbrute was integrated with Sublist3r to increase the possibility of finding more subdomains using bruteforce with an improved wordlist1.

By using Sublist3r, the tester can quickly and efficiently discover the subdomains of the target organization’s website, which can provide valuable information about the network structure, the services offered, the potential vulnerabilities, and the attack surface. Sublist3r can also be used to perform passive reconnaissance, which does not send any packets to the target domain, and thus avoids detection by the target organization12.

The other options are not as effective as option A for the following reasons:

B. Analyzing Linkedin profiles to find employees of the target company and their job titles: This option is not relevant because it does not address the subdomain enumeration task, but the social engineering task. Linkedin is a social networking platform that allows users to create and share their professional profiles, which may include their name, job title, company, skills, education, and contacts. By analyzing Linkedin profiles, the tester may be able to find employees of the target company and their job titles, which can be useful for crafting phishing emails, impersonating employees, or exploiting human weaknesses. However, this option does not help to discover the subdomains of the target organization’s website, which is the goal of this scenario3.

C. Utilizing the Harvester tool to extract email addresses related to the target domain using a search engine like Google or Bing: This option is not sufficient because it does not provide a comprehensive list of subdomains, but only a partial list based on email addresses. The Harvester is a tool that can extract email addresses, subdomains, hosts, employee names, open ports, and banners from different public sources, such as search engines, PGP key servers, and SHODAN computer database. By using the Harvester, the tester may be able to extract some email addresses related to the target domain, which can reveal some subdomains, such as mail.target.com or support.target.com. However, this option does not guarantee to find all the subdomains of the target organization’s website, as some subdomains may not have any email addresses associated with them, or may not be indexed by the search engines4.

D. Using a people search service, such as Spokeo or Intelius, to gather information about the employees of the target organization: This option is not applicable because it does not address the subdomain enumeration task, but the personal information gathering task. Spokeo and Intelius are people search services that can provide various information about individuals, such as their name, address, phone number, email, social media, criminal records, and financial history. By using these services, the tester may be able to gather information about the employees of the target organization, which can be useful for performing background checks, identity theft, or blackmail. However, this option does not help to discover the subdomains of the target organization’s website, which is the goal of this scenario56.

Rootkits can deeply infect and compromise a system’s kernel, making them very difficult to detect or remove fully. Even advanced antivirus solutions may miss them.

The most secure and recommended response is:

Completely wipe the compromised system.

Reinstall the OS from known good (clean) media.

Apply all patches and updates.

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 6: Malware Threats → Rootkit Handling

Incorrect Options:

A: Copying files might transfer infected components.

B: Trap and trace is investigative, not remedial.

C: Deleting files may not fully remove the rootkit.

D: Backups might be infected if taken post-compromise.

Challenge/response authentication is designed to prevent replay attacks. In this mechanism:

The server sends a random “challenge” string.

The client uses its secret (like a password or private key) to generate a response.

The server verifies that the response matches what it expected for that challenge.

Since the challenge is random and changes each time, an attacker cannot simply capture and replay previous responses to gain unauthorized access.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 11: Session Hijacking

Module 6: Authentication Protocols

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“Challenge-response authentication prevents replay attacks by using dynamically generated nonces or challenge tokens that change with each session.”

Incorrect Options:

B: Scanning attacks are not related to authentication mechanisms.

C: Session hijacking involves active takeovers, not replaying login attempts.

D: Password cracking targets password hashes, not session tokens.

In LM hashing (used in legacy Windows systems), passwords are split into two 7-character chunks. If a password is fewer than 8 characters, the second half is padded with nulls and hashed to a constant value.

That constant is:

AAD3B435B51404EE

Thus, the second half of the LM hash (the rightmost 16 characters) is always the same if the password is < 8 characters.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 6: Malware Threats → LM Hash Characteristics

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“If the password is less than 8 characters, the second half of the LM hash will always be ‘AAD3B435B51404EE’, indicating the hash belongs to a short password.”

NIST Special Publication 800-53 provides a catalog of security and privacy controls for all U.S. federal information systems except those related to national security. It is published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. NIST develops and issues standards, guidelines, and other publications to assist federal agencies in implementing the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) and to help with managing cost-effective programs to protect their information and information systems.

The protocol that you would recommend to the team to achieve the secure exchange of the symmetric key is the Diffie-Hellman protocol. The Diffie-Hellman protocol is a key agreement protocol that allows two or more parties to establish a shared secret key over an unsecured communication channel, without having to exchange the key itself. The Diffie-Hellman protocol works as follows12:

The parties agree on a large prime number p and a generator g, which are public parameters that can be known by anyone.

Each party chooses a random private number a or b, which are kept secret from anyone else.

Each party computes a public value A or B, by raising g to the power of a or b modulo p, i.e., A = g^a mod p and B = g^b mod p.

Each party sends their public value A or B to the other party over the unsecured channel.

Each party computes the shared secret key K, by raising the received public value to the power of their own private number modulo p, i.e., K = A^b mod p = B^a mod p.

The parties can now use the shared secret key K to encrypt and decrypt the data using a symmetric key encryption algorithm, such as AES or 3DES.

The Diffie-Hellman protocol can ensure the secure exchange of the symmetric key because it relies on the mathematical difficulty of computing discrete logarithms, which means that it is hard to find the private numbers a or b given the public values A or B, g, and p. Therefore, an attacker who intercepts the public values A or B cannot easily compute the shared secret key K, and thus cannot decrypt the data encrypted with K12.

The other options are not as appropriate as option B for the following reasons:

A. Implementing SSL certificates on your company’s web servers: This option is not relevant because SSL certificates are not used to exchange symmetric keys, but to authenticate the identity of the web servers and to establish a secure connection using public key encryption. SSL certificates are digital certificates that contain the public key and the identity information of the web server, and are issued and signed by a trusted certificate authority (CA). When a client connects to a web server, the web server sends its SSL certificate to the client, who verifies it with the CA. If the verification is successful, the client and the web server use the public key in the certificate to exchange a symmetric key, which is then used to encrypt and decrypt the data. However, this option does not address the scenario of transmitting data over an unsecured communication channel, which may not involve web servers or SSL certificates34.

C. Switching all data transmission to the HTTPS protocol: This option is not sufficient because HTTPS protocol is not a protocol for exchanging symmetric keys, but a protocol for securing web traffic using SSL or TLS encryption. HTTPS protocol is a combination of HTTP protocol and SSL or TLS protocol, which means that it uses HTTP for the application layer communication and SSL or TLS for the transport layer encryption. When a client requests a web page from a web server using HTTPS protocol, the client and the web server establish a secure connection using SSL or TLS protocol, which involves the exchange of SSL certificates and a symmetric key, as explained in option A. Then, the client and the web server use the symmetric key to encrypt and decrypt the HTTP data. However, this option does not address the scenario of transmitting data over an unsecured communication channel, which may not involve web servers or HTTPS protocol5 .

D. Utilizing SSH for secure remote logins to the servers: This option is not applicable because SSH is not a protocol for exchanging symmetric keys, but a protocol for securing remote access to servers using public key authentication and encryption. SSH is a protocol that allows a client to securely connect to a server and execute commands or transfer files over an encrypted channel. SSH uses public key cryptography to authenticate the identity of the server and the client, and to exchange a symmetric key, which is then used to encrypt and decrypt the data. However, this option does not address the scenario of transmitting data over an unsecured communication channel, which may not involve remote logins or SSH protocol .

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

VCloud-based (also known as Cloud-based or Cloud-assisted) antivirus leverages cloud computing to:

Offload detection and analysis to powerful remote servers

Provide real-time updates and threat intelligence

Aggregate data from multiple endpoints to improve detection

This method is efficient, especially for zero-day threats and large-scale protection.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 6: Malware Threats → Modern Antivirus Technologies

Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) manipulation attacks involve an attacker injecting BPDUs (Bridge Protocol Data Units) to force a switch to recognize the attacker’s system as the root bridge. Once this is achieved, the attacker can:

Redirect traffic through their own machine

Create a SPAN (Switched Port Analyzer) session to mirror traffic

Intercept, sniff, or modify data passing through the network

This is typically the next logical step in an STP attack to facilitate a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) position.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Study Guide:

Module 8: Sniffing

Quote:

“An attacker who becomes the root bridge using STP manipulation can redirect traffic and use SPAN ports to mirror traffic to their system for analysis or manipulation.”

Incorrect Options:

B. OSPF is a Layer 3 routing protocol, not relevant here.

C. DoS is not the goal of this specific attack.

D. Attacking all switches is inefficient and unnecessary once root access is gained.

===========

Reconnaissance is the first phase of ethical hacking and also part of the cyber kill chain. It involves gathering publicly available information about a target, such as employee names, company structure, and branding, which is later used in social engineering or phishing attacks.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Study Guide:

Module 2: Footprinting and Reconnaissance

Quote:

“Reconnaissance involves gathering information from public sources such as websites, social networks, and press releases. This is used to craft targeted phishing messages or exploit organizational weaknesses.”

Incorrect Options Explained:

A & B. Not formal terms in ethical hacking.

D. Enumeration involves interacting with systems to extract technical data.

Adware, or advertising supported computer code, is computer code that displays unwanted advertisements on your pc. Adware programs can tend to serve you pop-up ads, will modification your browser’s homepage, add spyware and simply bombard your device with advertisements. Adware may be a additional summary name for doubtless unwanted programs. It’s roughly a virulent disease and it’s going to not be as clearly malicious as a great deal of different problematic code floating around on the net. create no mistake concerning it, though, that adware has to return off of no matter machine it’s on. Not solely will adware be extremely annoying whenever you utilize your machine, it might additionally cause semipermanent problems for your device.

Adware a network users the browser to gather your internet browsing history so as to ’target’ advertisements that appear tailored to your interests. At their most innocuous, adware infections square measure simply annoying. as an example, adware barrages you with pop-up ads that may create your net expertise markedly slower and additional labor intensive.

The described scenario is a textbook example of a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack. In such attacks, the attacker stealthily places themselves between two communicating systems, intercepts their communications, and may even modify the traffic. The communicating parties remain unaware that their traffic is being monitored or altered.

Eric is using the Dsniff toolset, which is well-known for enabling MITM attacks through techniques such as:

ARP spoofing (to redirect traffic)

Credential sniffing

Packet manipulation

From CEH v13 Official Courseware:

Module 8: Sniffing

Module 11: Session Hijacking

CEH v13 Study Guide states:

“In a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack, the attacker intercepts and potentially alters the communication between two systems without either party knowing. Tools like Dsniff, Cain & Abel, and Ettercap are commonly used to launch such attacks.”

Incorrect Options:

A: “Interceptor” is not a technical term in cybersecurity.

C: ARP Proxy is a network feature; while ARP spoofing can be part of a MITM attack, it’s not the attack classification itself.

D: Poisoning (like DNS or ARP poisoning) is often a technique used to initiate MITM but not the final classification.

CHNTPW (Change NT Password) is a Linux-based utility that allows attackers or administrators to:

Reset Windows user account passwords

Unlock disabled or locked user accounts

Remove password protection without knowing the original password

It works by editing the Windows SAM (Security Account Manager) file located in the Windows system directory.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Study Guide:

Module 5: System Hacking

Quote:

“CHNTPW is a tool that can reset or change passwords on Windows systems by directly editing the SAM database. It is commonly run from a Linux LiveCD.”

Incorrect Options:

A. John the Ripper is for cracking passwords, not resetting them directly.

B. SET (Social Engineering Toolkit) is for phishing and payloads, not password resets.

D. Cain & Abel is a password recovery tool for Windows but runs on Windows, not Linux.

===========

The scenario describes a cryptographic attack where the attacker (in this case, the student) uses a predefined list of commonly used passwords to try and unlock a secured PDF document. This technique is known as a Dictionary Attack.

According to the CEH v13 Official Courseware:

A Dictionary Attack is defined as “a method of breaking passwords by trying out a predefined list of words (dictionary) commonly used as passwords.”

Unlike a brute-force attack, which tries every possible character combination, a dictionary attack relies on known or likely password choices, which makes it faster but less exhaustive.

Dictionary attacks are commonly used against encrypted or password-protected files, login forms, and even hashes.

Relevant distinctions from other options:

A. Man-in-the-middle attack involves intercepting communication between two parties and is unrelated to offline password cracking.

B. Brute-force attack tries all possible character combinations, not just a list of known or common passwords.

D. Session hijacking involves taking over a user session and is unrelated to document password cracking.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Study Materials:

Module 20: Cryptography

Section: "Cryptanalysis Techniques"

Subsection: "Dictionary Attack vs. Brute-force Attack"

CEH v13 eBook or Study Guide — look for Table: “Types of Password Attacks” under “Cryptography Attack Vectors”

This exact technique is illustrated in CEH v13 labs involving John the Ripper, Hydra, and password recovery tools.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

Script Kiddies are individuals with minimal technical skills who use existing tools or scripts developed by others to perform attacks. They generally do not understand the underlying mechanisms and rely on publicly available hacking tools.

From CEH v13 Official Study Guide:

Module 1: Introduction to Ethical Hacking → Hacker Types

“Script kiddies are unskilled attackers who use tools created by others.”

An anomaly-based intrusion detection system is an intrusion detection system for detecting both network and computer intrusions and misuse by monitoring system activity and classifying it as either normal or anomalous. The classification is based on heuristics or rules, rather than patterns or signatures, and attempts to detect any type of misuse that falls out of normal system operation. This is as opposed to signature-based systems, which can only detect attacks for which a signature has previously been created.

In order to positively identify attack traffic, the system must be taught to recognize normal system activity. The two phases of a majority of anomaly detection systems consist of the training phase (where a profile of normal behaviors is built) and the testing phase (where current traffic is compared with the profile created in the training phase). Anomalies are detected in several ways, most often with artificial intelligence type techniques. Systems using artificial neural networks have been used to great effect. Another method is to define what normal usage of the system comprises using a strict mathematical model, and flag any deviation from this as an attack. This is known as strict anomaly detection.[3] Other techniques used to detect anomalies include data mining methods, grammar-based methods, and the Artificial Immune System.

Network-based anomalous intrusion detection systems often provide a second line of defense to detect anomalous traffic at the physical and network layers after it has passed through a firewall or other security appliance on the border of a network. Host-based anomalous intrusion detection systems are one of the last layers of defense and reside on computer endpoints. They allow for fine-tuned, granular protection of endpoints at the application level.

Anomaly-based Intrusion Detection at both the network and host levels have a few shortcomings; namely a high false-positive rate and the ability to be fooled by a correctly delivered attack. Attempts have been made to address these issues through techniques used by PAYL and MCPAD.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

An Information Security Policy (ISP) is a high-level document that defines:

What employees can and cannot do with IT systems.

What data is protected and how.

The consequences of policy violations.

The company's commitment to security.

It must be signed by users to enforce compliance and protect organizational assets.

From CEH v13 Courseware:

Module 20: Information Security Policies

Module 1: Governance, Risk, and Compliance

Public-key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is a cryptographic system that uses pairs of keys: public keys (which may be known to others), and private keys (which may never be known by any except the owner). The generation of such key pairs depends on cryptographic algorithms which are based on mathematical problems termed one-way functions. Effective security requires keeping the private key private; the public key can be openly distributed without compromising security.

In such a system, any person can encrypt a message using the intended receiver's public key, but that encrypted message can only be decrypted with the receiver's private key. This allows, for instance, a server program to generate a cryptographic key intended for a suitable symmetric-key cryptography, then to use a client's openly-shared public key to encrypt that newly generated symmetric key. The server can then send this encrypted symmetric key over an insecure channel to the client; only the client can decrypt it using the client's private key (which pairs with the public key used by the server to encrypt the message). With the client and server both having the same symmetric key, they can safely use symmetric key encryption (likely much faster) to communicate over otherwise-insecure channels. This scheme has the advantage of not having to manually pre-share symmetric keys (a fundamentally difficult problem) while gaining the higher data throughput advantage of symmetric-key cryptography.

With public-key cryptography, robust authentication is also possible. A sender can combine a message with a private key to create a short digital signature on the message. Anyone with the sender's corresponding public key can combine that message with a claimed digital signature; if the signature matches the message, the origin of the message is verified (i.e., it must have been made by the owner of the corresponding private key).

Public key algorithms are fundamental security primitives in modern cryptosystems, including applications and protocols which offer assurance of the confidentiality, authenticity and non-repudiability of electronic communications and data storage. They underpin numerous Internet standards, such as Transport Layer Security (TLS), S/MIME, PGP, and GPG. Some public key algorithms provide key distribution and secrecy (e.g., Diffie–Hellman key exchange), some provide digital signatures (e.g., Digital Signature Algorithm), and some provide both (e.g., RSA). Compared to symmetric encryption, asymmetric encryption is rather slower than good symmetric encryption, too slow for many purposes. Today's cryptosystems (such as TLS, Secure Shell) use both symmetric encryption and asymmetric encryption.

PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), and IKE (Internet Key Exchange) use Public Key Cryptography for secure communication. They utilize:

Public and private key pairs

Asymmetric encryption for key exchange

Symmetric encryption for data confidentiality (after key exchange)

These protocols ensure secure data transfer over insecure networks.

Reference – CEH v13 Official Study Guide:

Module 20: Cryptography

Quote:

“Public key cryptography uses asymmetric key pairs for encryption and authentication. Protocols like PGP, SSL/TLS, and IKE rely on this to exchange keys and establish trust.”

Incorrect Options:

A & D. Digest/hash algorithms (e.g., MD5, SHA) ensure integrity, not encryption

B. Secret key refers to symmetric encryption, which is used after the public key exchange, not as the basis for these protocols