Cisco 300-215 Conducting Forensic Analysis and Incident Response Using Cisco CyberOps Technologies (CBRFIR) Exam Practice Test

Once an incident has occurred, the appropriate course of action is to engage the organization's Incident Response (IR) plan. This is a structured approach to contain, analyze, and eradicate threats before they spread across the network.

The Cisco CyberOps Associate study guide emphasizes:

“Incident response and handling are essential within an organization… The main objective of implementing an incident handling process is to reduce the impact of a cyber-attack, ensure the damages caused are assessed, and implement recovery procedures”.

In particular, the containment phase of IR is focused on isolating the threat and preventing lateral movement or further compromise.

Options such as "root cause" or "attack surface" are relevant at later stages of analysis and mitigation, not immediate containment. Therefore, the correct answer is C.

The code in the exhibit is written in Python. Here’s how we can confirm:

The function definition uses Python syntax: def function_name(args):

It uses the b64encode and decode functions — typical of Python’s base64 module.

Data structures such as dictionaries are used with curly braces (e.g., form_data = {entry1: enc1, ...}).

The conditional syntax uses “if r.status_code == 200:” which is Pythonic.

The request object “r = post(...)” and use of headers show standard use of the Python requests library.

This type of script is typical in exfiltration scenarios where encoded information is sent via a web form (in this case Google Forms), bypassing detection systems.

The STIX data structure shows apatternfield with this entry:

file:hashes.'SHA-256' = '3299f07bc0711b3587fe8a1c6bf3ee6cbcc14cb775f64b28a61d72ebcb8968d3'

This value is aSHA-256 file hash, a well-knownindicator of compromise (IoC)for identifying malicious files.

Therefore, the correct answer is:

A. SHA256 file hash.

Cisco Secure Malware Analytics (formerly Threat Grid) enables deep file behavior analysis, including TCP/IP stream analysis and behavioral indicators such as file system activity, process injection, registry changes, and command and control communication. These are essential in understanding what the suspicious file does post-execution, especially given the described behavior of creating a fake folder and outbound connection attempts.

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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.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

From the exhibit, Cisco Secure Malware Analytics (formerly Threat Grid) has captured outbound HTTP POST communication to the IP address 51.38.124.206 on port 80. This destination is highlighted in the analysis under “Outbound HTTP POST Communications,” indicating exfiltration behavior or command-and-control (C2) signaling.

Key indicators:

The report shows that binary data was POSTed to this IP.

The source system generated 22 packets and sent 6,192 bytes.

The system has flagged the behavior with a severity of 25 and confidence of 25—suggesting that this is an IoC worth acting on.

Therefore, the artifacts suggest that the destination IP 51.38.124.206 is involved in malicious activity, and the correct answer is:

Answer: A. Destination IP 51.38.124.206 is identified as malicious.

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.

In therecovery phase, the goal is to restore affected systems to normal operations and ensure the threat has been completely eradicated. According to the CyberOps Associate guide:

"This phase may include restoring data from clean backups, replacing compromised systems, and the re-installation of the Operating System (OS) and applications".

Also:

"During recovery, scanning hosts with updated antivirus and removing vulnerabilities ensures systems do not get reinfected".

The key goal during lateral movement analysis is to determine whether the malware spread or attempted to spread beyond the initially compromised system. This is crucial for containment and scoping of the incident. Logs, sandbox behavior, or network activity may show if Patient 0 initiated outbound connections to other systems, potentially propagating malware across the environment.

Correct answer: D. if Patient 0 tried to connect to another workstation.

According to theCyberOps Technologies (CBRFIR) 300-215 study guide, during thepost-incident activityphase, it is critical to analyze lessons learned and update processes to ensure quicker and more efficient response in the future. Specifically:

Introducing a priority rating for incident response workloads(A) helps address the issue of team members being occupied with other tasks and unable to prioritize abnormal system activity. This ensures incidents are handled based on severity, not just workload.

Creating an executive team delegation plan(D) addresses the issue of delays due to unavailability of management for approvals. It ensures alternative decision-makers are available for swift action.

These strategies are based on the NIST SP 800-61 Rev. 2 recommendations and are highlighted in the Cisco guide’s post-incident activity phase (page 418), which emphasizeslessons learnedand how to reduce detection and response times for future incidents.

The magic number (also known as a magic byte) is a sequence of bytes used to identify the format of a file. For PDF files, the standard magic number is:

25 50 44 46, which translates to%PDFin ASCII. OptionC(255044462d) begins with25 50 44 46, confirming it's a PDF file signature. This is a key forensic detail when performing file type identification and validation of potentially obfuscated or renamed files.

The root cause analysis report’s main goal is to identify what allowed the ransomware to successfully infect systems. The Cisco CyberOps Associate guide emphasizes the importance of uncovering and mitigating the actual vulnerabilities that were exploited during an incident. These could include outdated software, unpatched systems, or poor access control. While understanding the encryption technique or C2 server is helpful for threat intelligence, it does not address the root cause.

The guide states:

"Effective IR helps professionals to leverage the information collected from a security incident to better understand the intrusion and its functionality… this data helps the security team to be better prepared and equipped to handle future incidents".

Identifying the exploited vulnerabilities enables future prevention strategies such as patch management, configuration hardening, and reducing attack surfaces.

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The string shown is long, alphanumeric, and includes both uppercase and lowercase letters with numbers—characteristics of Base64 encoding. This format is widely used to obfuscate payloads in malicious scripts, particularly in phishing or malware campaigns. Base64 encoding is also supported by Python and other platforms for data transformation.

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Steganography is the anti-forensics technique of hiding malicious content within seemingly innocent files, such as image, audio, or video files. The goal is to conceal data or code in a way that avoids suspicion and detection, thereby making traditional security inspection tools ineffective unless they are explicitly designed to detect hidden data within media files.

Steganography differs from encryption because it does not simply make data unreadable; it hides the existence of the data itself. It is commonly used in cyber operations to hide command-and-control instructions or to exfiltrate sensitive information in covert ways.

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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The syntax in the code snippet includes:

On Error Resume Next– a classic VBScript error-handling directive.

function ... end functionstructure.

Use ofMid(),Chr(), andAsc()functions – all commonly used in VBScript for string manipulation.

CInt()for conversion – typical in VBScript.

These characteristics alignexactly with VBScript, which is frequently used in malicious macros and obfuscated payloads for malware distribution, as covered in the Cisco CyberOps Associate curriculum when analyzing scripts and encoded threats.

The exhibit shows multipleARP reply packetswith the same IP addresses (192.168.51.105and192.168.51.201) being mapped todifferent MAC addresses, which triggers the message: "duplicate use of [IP] detected". This is a strong indicator of anARP spoofing(or poisoning) attack.

ARP spoofing occurs when a malicious actor sends falsified ARP messages to associate their MAC address with the IP address of another host. This misleads other devices on the network and allows interception or redirection of traffic.

The Cisco CyberOps Associate guide specifically recommendsconfiguring port securityon switches as a method tomitigate ARP spoofing, by limiting the number of MAC addresses allowed per port or statically assigning legitimate MAC addresses to switch ports.

Fileless malwareoperates in memory and often leverages legitimate tools such asPowerShellto avoid traditional file-based detection. Since these threats don't leave typical file traces, analysts must rely onPowerShell event logsto trace suspicious or unauthorized script execution.

The Cisco CyberOps Associate guide explicitly states:

“PowerShell logs provide insight into script block execution and can reveal indicators of fileless attacks that reside in memory.”

Hence,PowerShell event logsare the most effective forensic source for detecting fileless malware activity on Windows systems.

The Python code snippet:

Usessocket.socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM), which indicatesTCP communication

Connects to a remote server (192.168.1.10on port 80)

Sends a manual HTTPGETrequest

Receives the response usings.recv()

This is a classic example ofTCP/IP socket programming, specifically creating asimple TCP clientto communicate with a web server. It does not monitor traffic or crawl websites — it sends a crafted request and prints the response.

Thus, this code best fits:

D. socket programming listener for TCP/IP communication.

From the exhibit, the first artifact (PE32 executable fromsyracusecoffee.com) and the second artifact (HTML fromqstride.com) suggest astaged malware deliverymethod. The executable and the HTML file are linked to different domains, often indicating redirection or multi-stage infection strategies, which is common in phishing or malvertising campaigns.

The Cisco guide explains this tactic as:“One file may appear benign but can initiate downloads or connections to external resources to fetch additional payloads or redirect users”. This pattern of domain redirection strongly supportsOption B.

Hex Fiend is a hex editor that allows analysts to examine the raw byte content of files. One key use case is identifying and extracting byte-level patterns or signatures that can be translated into YARA rules for detecting malware. These hex patterns can be used to define precise signature-based detections.

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 URL .

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.

TCPdumpis a CLI-based packet capture tool that is widely used for real-time traffic inspection and analysis on Unix/Linux systems.

TCPsharkis a variant CLI tool used similarly for packet analysis.

AlthoughWiresharkis a powerful network protocol analyzer, it requires a GUI. Therefore, it is not suitable for environments without a graphical interface.

The exhibit shows a PowerShell script that modifies registry keys under:

HKCU:\Software\Classes\Folder\shell\open\command

This technique is commonly associated with aUAC (User Account Control) bypass. Specifically:

It creates a new custom shell command path for opening folders.

The key registry property"DelegateExecute"is set, which is a known bypass method. If set without a value, it may cause Windows to run commands with elevated privileges without showing the UAC prompt.

The use ofHKCU(HKEY_CURRENT_USER) rather thanHKLM(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE) allows the attacker to bypass permissions since HKCU is writable by the current user. This registry hijack can be leveraged by a malicious actor to execute arbitrary commands with elevated rights.

This is identified in the Cisco CyberOps study material under “UAC bypass techniques,” which describes:

“Attackers often create or modify registry keys like DelegateExecute to hijack the default behavior of applications and elevate privileges”.

Thus, option B is correct: the exhibit demonstrates a UAC bypass using user-accessible registry modification.

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.

The goal of an incident response plan (IRP) is to provide structured procedures for responding to cybersecurity incidents in a way that limits damage, contains the threat, and ensures business continuity. As outlined in the NIST SP 800-61 and Cisco CyberOps Associate study guide, containment and minimizing the impact of incidents is the primary goal of an IRP.

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TCPdump is a command-line packet analyzer used to capture and inspect network packets. As described in the study guide, "tcpdump is a command-line interface tool that is used to capture packets on a network. It is a very powerful and popular network protocol analyzer". The tool allows cybersecurity professionals to analyze headers and payloads of network traffic, making it valuable in forensic investigations and network diagnostics.

The STIX intelligence feed in the exhibit identifies specific malicious domains, such as:

fightcovid19.shop

nocovid19.shop

stopcovid19.shop

These are categorized as “Malicious FQDN Indicator.” The recommended cybersecurity actions when such threat intelligence is received are:

D. Block network access to identified domains: This directly prevents users or systems from communicating with known malicious infrastructure and is a critical first step in threat mitigation.

B. Add a SIEM rule to alert on connections to identified domains: This ensures that any attempted communication with these domains is flagged for immediate review and action, enabling real-time threat detection and incident response.

Blocking all .shop domains (Option A or C) would be overbroad and potentially disruptive, as many legitimate websites also use that TLD. Option E (routing to block hole) could be valid as a DNS strategy, but B and D represent the most actionable and precise responses per standard incident response practices.

The most relevant log for system-level events such as memory exhaustion and shutdown is/var/log/messages.log, which contains kernel and service-level logs including OOM (Out-Of-Memory) events.

As detailed in Linux investigations:

"Logs located in/var/log/messagesprovide critical system error reporting including shutdowns, memory errors, and service failures".

When dealing with suspected malicious activity involving obfuscated PowerShell scripts—especially when launched from Microsoft Word documents—behavioral analysis is the most critical next step. This approach helps in determining if the process chain is part of a known attack pattern, such as a phishing attempt using malicious macros that launch PowerShell for data exfiltration or payload download.

As highlighted in theCyberOps Technologies (CBRFIR) 300-215 study guide, understanding behavior and deobfuscating PowerShell scripts is an essential part of the forensic and incident response process. Specifically:

During the detection and analysis phase, if PowerShell is used with obfuscated or encoded commands, responders should investigate the intent and behavior of the command.

Deobfuscation allows analysts to see what the script is doing (e.g., downloading files, creating persistence mechanisms, or opening a reverse shell).

The guide states:

“For example, if the threat is malware, the compromised system should be immediately isolated and the malware should be placed in a sandbox or a detonation chamber to understand what it is trying to do”.

This confirms that understanding execution behavior (such as what the PowerShell script intends to perform) is key to uncovering indicators of compromise (IoCs).

Thus, option C—conducting a behavioral analysis and deobfuscating PowerShell—is the most critical and effective response at this stage.

To prevent macro-based attacks, the Cisco CyberOps study guide emphasizes the importance of limiting execution of unauthorized or unsigned macros. "Requiring that all macros be digitally signed and limiting execution only to those that meet the required trust level is a key mitigation strategy against malicious macros." Additionally, enabling features likeControlled Folder Accesshelps in protecting sensitive directories from unauthorized changes by untrusted applications, including those launched via malicious macros .

These two measures—enforcing signed macro policies and leveraging controlled folder access—directly help in mitigating the risk posed by embedded malicious macros in documents.

In VMware ESXi systems, the vmksummary.log file is responsible for capturing general system events, including uptime, reboot statistics, and key service-related issues. It serves as a valuable source for troubleshooting persistent or unexplained system behaviors.

The Cisco CyberOps study guide references log file paths used in system diagnostics and incident response, and for authentication-related issues on ESXi where standard logs don't yield insights, vmksummary.log is the recommended next source for identifying systemic service faults or anomalies.

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The safest and most effective approach is to isolate the files and subject them to heuristic and behavioral analysis. This can reveal obfuscated malware or unauthorized data storage techniques, even if signature-based antivirus fails to flag them.