Ethical Hacking Basics Quiz
Grade 11 · Technology · Quiz
Eight questions on penetration testing methodology, common attack types, and responsible security practices.
Questions
Which penetration testing phase involves documenting findings with severity ratings and remediation steps?
- Reconnaissance
- Exploitation
- Post-exploitation
- Reporting
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Answer: Reporting
The reporting phase captures every finding — including screenshots, exploit steps, severity (critical/high/medium/low/info), and recommended fixes — so the client can remediate.
A man-in-the-middle attack intercepts communications between two parties without either being aware.
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Answer: True
In a successful MitM attack, the attacker positions themselves silently between two communicating parties, relaying (and potentially altering) traffic without either victim knowing.
An XSS attack injects malicious ________ into web pages that are then executed in other users' browsers.
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Answer: scripts
XSS injects JavaScript (or other client-side scripts) into pages served by a trusted site; when other users load those pages, the scripts execute in their browsers with the site's privileges.
Which tool is commonly used during the reconnaissance phase to search for internet-connected devices and open services?
- Metasploit
- Wireshark
- Shodan
- Burp Suite
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Answer: Shodan
Shodan indexes internet-connected devices and their open ports/banners, making it a powerful passive reconnaissance tool for discovering exposed services without touching the target.
A buffer overflow attack works by writing data within its allocated memory boundary.
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Answer: False
A buffer overflow works by writing BEYOND the allocated memory boundary, overwriting adjacent memory — potentially overwriting a return address to redirect code execution.
Which phase follows exploitation in a penetration test and involves activities like privilege escalation and lateral movement?
- Reconnaissance
- Scanning
- Post-exploitation
- Reporting
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Answer: Post-exploitation
Post-exploitation begins after an initial foothold is established and includes escalating privileges, moving to other systems (lateral movement), and assessing what data could be exfiltrated.
Bug bounty programs are designed to discourage security researchers from reporting vulnerabilities.
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Answer: False
Bug bounty programs actively encourage responsible disclosure by offering monetary rewards, creating a legitimate channel for researchers to report vulnerabilities safely.
The ________ framework provides a collection of exploit modules and payloads widely used in penetration testing.
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Answer: Metasploit
Metasploit is an open-source penetration testing framework with hundreds of exploit modules, payload generators, and auxiliary tools used by professionals and researchers worldwide.
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