Practice for the CompTIA A+ Core 2 exam with 17 exam-style practice questions, instant answer reveals, and concise explanations of every correct answer. Topics include: An attacker is using a word list that contains 1 million possible passwords as they attempt to crack your Windows passwo. Follow @CertPunch and visit certpunch.com for more certification practice exams and study content.
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What you will practice
- An attacker is using a word list that contains 1 million possible passwords as they attempt to crack your Win…
- Which of the following is the LEAST secure wireless security and encryption protocol?
- A company's new policy states employees can only access resources needed for their specific job functions. Wh…
- A user reports they can't access websites. You want to figure out whether the problem is with their internet…
- Which command-line entry would be used on a Windows system to test if your system can reach diontraining.com?
- A Windows laptop is malfunctioning, and you believe that some system files are missing or corrupted. Which of…
Answers and explanations
Tap a question to expand the answer and the exam reasoning. Try to commit to your own pick first.
Q1. An attacker is using a word list that contains 1 million possible passwords as they attempt to crack your Windows password. What type of password attack is this?
Answer: D. Dictionary
A dictionary attack uses a predefined list of common words and passwords to guess credentials. A brute-force attack tries every possible combination of characters, while a hybrid attack appends extra characters to a standard dictionary list.
Q2. Which of the following is the LEAST secure wireless security and encryption protocol?
Answer: D. WEP
WEP is the weakest wireless security protocol because it uses a flawed initialization vector that is easily cracked. WPA3 is currently the most secure option, followed by WPA2 and WPA, which all provide significantly stronger encryption and key management.
Q3. A company's new policy states employees can only access resources needed for their specific job functions. Which security principle does this describe?
Answer: D. Least privilege
The principle of least privilege grants users only the minimum access required to perform their specific job duties. Separation of duties divides critical tasks among multiple people, preventing a single individual from controlling an entire sensitive process.
Q4. A user reports they can't access websites. You want to figure out whether the problem is with their internet connection or specifically with DNS resolution. Which of the following would be the best IP address to ping to determine the probl…
Answer: D. 8.8.8.8
Pinging an external IP address like a public DNS server tests general internet connectivity without relying on domain name resolution. If numbers succeed but website names fail, the issue is definitely DNS. Private IP addresses only test local network routing.
Q5. Which command-line entry would be used on a Windows system to test if your system can reach diontraining.com?
Answer: D. ping diontraining.com
The ping command tests reachability by sending ICMP echo requests to a target host. For the exam, remember ipconfig displays TCP/IP settings, while sfc repairs system files.
Q6. A Windows laptop is malfunctioning, and you believe that some system files are missing or corrupted. Which of the following commands should you use to verify this and, if needed, repair the files?
Answer: C. sfc
The system file checker scans for and restores corrupted Windows system files. The chkdsk command scans the file system for logical and physical errors on the disk.
Q7. You are applying for a job at a cybersecurity firm. The application requests you enter your social security number, date of birth, and email address to conduct a background check as part of the hiring process. Which of the following types…
Answer: B. PII
Personally identifiable information includes data like social security numbers used to identify an individual. Protected health information relates to medical records, distinguishing it from standard employment data.
Q8. Dion Training needs an open wireless network for instructors to use IoT devices that don't support encryption, but wants to prevent students from connecting to the IoT devices. Which configuration setting would BEST meet these requirements?
Answer: B. MAC filtering
MAC filtering creates an allow list of specific devices permitted to connect to the open network. Quality of Service prioritizes bandwidth, but it does not restrict unauthorized network access.
Q9. Which of the following security controls provides Windows system administrators with an efficient way to deploy system configuration settings across many devices?
Answer: C. GPO
A Group Policy Object centrally manages and deploys configuration settings across Windows devices in an Active Directory environment. Patch management focuses on operating system updates, not configurations.
Q10. Which of the following best describes how a new application can impact daily operations?
Answer: D. A resource-intensive application may slow down overall system performance for users.
A resource-intensive application consumes heavy CPU and memory, which slows down overall system performance. Applications do not automatically optimize system settings, and meeting requirements does not guarantee flawless execution.
Q11. An employee at Dion Training is complaining that every time they reboot their Windows 10 workstation a music application is loaded. Which of the following tools would you use to disable the program from starting up each time Windows reboot…
Answer: D. Task manager
The Task Manager Startup tab allows users to easily disable programs launching during the Windows boot process. Event Viewer is used for reviewing system logs rather than managing active startup applications.
Q12. What anti-malware solution is installed as a dedicated on-premise appliance to scan all incoming traffic and prevent malware from being installed on any of your clients without requiring the installation of any software on your clients?
Answer: B. Network-based anti-malware
A network-based anti-malware appliance scans incoming traffic at the network edge to protect all clients without requiring local software installations. Remember that host-based solutions require agents, while cloud-based solutions rely on off-site processing rather than an on-premise rack appliance.
Q13. Employees at a company report security warnings after a commonly used browser plug-in is identified as vulnerable. Which immediate action should IT staff instruct employees to take?
Answer: D. Temporarily disable the vulnerable plug-in within browser settings.
Temporarily disabling the vulnerable plug-in immediately protects the browser from active exploitation. While increasing browser security settings helps generally, it does not directly address or neutralize a specific plug-in vulnerability like disabling it does.
Q14. You attempt to boot a Windows 10 laptop and receive an "Operating System Not Found" error on the screen. You can see the hard disk listed in the EFI/BIOS of the system. Which of the following commands should you use to add the Windows inst…
Answer: D. bootrec /rebuildbcd
The bootrec /rebuildbcd command scans for valid Windows installations and adds them to the Boot Configuration Data store. The /fixmbr and /fixboot commands repair the master boot record and boot sector, respectively, but do not rebuild the BCD.
Q15. A customer is purchasing a laptop for video editing and 3D rendering. They are deciding between a model with integrated graphics and another with a dedicated graphics card. What is the best reason to choose the dedicated graphics option?
Answer: A. The dedicated graphics card has its own memory, reducing strain on system RAM when rendering videos.
A dedicated graphics card utilizes its own VRAM, freeing up system RAM for smoother video editing and rendering. Integrated graphics actually share system memory, making the system more efficient for general tasks rather than graphically intense workloads.
Q16. Your company is setting up a system to accept credit cards in their retail and online locations. Which of the following compliance types should you be MOST concerned with dealing with credit cards?
Answer: C. PCI-DSS
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI-DSS, applies to any organization accepting credit card payments. PII and PHI are data classifications, while GDPR focuses on European Union privacy regulations.
Q17. Multiple users with identical hardware report screens filled with static when moving their mouse. All systems received security patches and updates last night. What action should you take?
Answer: C. Rollback the video card driver and wait for a new driver to be released
Rolling back the video card driver addresses failures directly caused by recently applied updates. Safe Mode only bypasses the issue temporarily, whereas the System File Checker validates core Windows files rather than resolving driver incompatibilities.
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