Security+ Certification/Objectives/Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations

2.1 Compare and contrast common threat actors and motivations.

• Threat actors
  • Nation-state
  • Unskilled attacker
  • Hacktivist
  • Insider threat
  • Organized crime
  • Shadow IT
• Attributes of actors
  • Internal/external
  • Resources/funding
  • Level of sophistication/capability

• Motivations
  • Data exfiltration
  • Espionage
  • Service disruption
  • Blackmail
  • Financial gain
  • Philosophical/political beliefs
  • Ethical
  • Revenge
  • Disruption/chaos
  • War

2.2 Explain common threat vectors and attack surfaces.

• Message-based
  • Email
  • Short Message Service (SMS)
  • Instant messaging (IM)
• Image-based
• File-based
• Voice call
• Removable device
• Vulnerable software
  • Client-based vs. agentless
• Unsupported systems and applications
• Unsecure networks
  • Wireless
  • Wired
  • Bluetooth
• Open service ports

• Default credentials
• Supply chain
  • Managed service providers (MSPs)
  • Vendors
  • Suppliers
• Human vectors/social engineering
  • Phishing
  • Vishing
  • Smishing
  • Misinformation/disinformation
  • Impersonation
  • Business email compromise
  • Pretexting
  • Watering hole
  • Brand impersonation
  • Typosquatting

2.3 Explain various types of vulnerabilities.

• Application
  • Memory injection
  • Buffer overflow
  • Race conditions
    • Time-of-check (TOC)
    • Time-of-use (TOU)
  • Malicious update
• Operating system (OS)-based
• Web-based
  • Structured Query Language injection (SQLi)
  • Cross-site scripting (XSS)
• Hardware
  • Firmware
  • End-of-life
  • Legacy

• Virtualization
  • Virtual machine (VM) escape
  • Resource reuse
• Cloud-specific
• Supply chain
  • Service provider
  • Hardware provider
  • Software provider
• Cryptographic
• Misconfiguration
• Mobile device
  • Side loading
  • Jailbreaking
• Zero-day

2.4 Given a scenario, analyze indicators of malicious activity.

• Malware attacks
  • Ransomware
  • Trojan
  • Worm
  • Spyware
  • Bloatware
  • Virus
  • Keylogger
  • Logic bomb
  • Rootkit
• Physical attacks
  • Brute force
  • Radio frequency identification (RFID) cloning
  • Environmental
• Network attacks
  • Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS)
    • Amplified
    • Reflected
  • Domain Name System (DNS) attacks
  • Wireless
  • On-path
  • Credential replay
  • Malicious code

• Application attacks
  • Injection
  • Buffer overflow
  • Replay
  • Privilege escalation
  • Forgery
  • Directory traversal
• Cryptographic attacks
  • Downgrade
  • Collision
  • Birthday
• Password attacks
  • Spraying
  • Brute force
• Indicators
  • Account lockout
  • Concurrent session usage
  • Blocked content
  • Impossible travel
  • Resource consumption
  • Resource inaccessibility
  • Out-of-cycle logging
  • Published/documented
  • Missing logs

2.5 Explain the purpose of mitigation techniques used to secure the enterprise.

• Segmentation
• Access control
  • Access control list (ACL)
  • Permissions
• Application allow list
• Isolation
• Patching
• Encryption
• Monitoring
• Least privilege

• Configuration enforcement
• Decommissioning
• Hardening techniques
  • Encryption
  • Installation of endpoint protection
  • Host-based firewall
  • Host-based intrusion prevention system (HIPS)
  • Disabling ports/protocols
  • Default password changes
  • Removal of unnecessary software