CompTIA Security+ (SY0-601) — Question 626

An audit report showed that a former employee saved the following files to an external USB drive before the employee's termination date:

• annual_tax_form.pdf
• encrypted_passwords.db
• team_picture.jpg
• contact_list.db
• human_resources.txt

Which of the following could the former employee do to potentially compromise corporate credentials?

Answer options

• A. Perform an offline brute-force attack
• B. Use the files to create a rainbow table.
• C. Conduct a token replay.
• D. Release a network dictionary attack.

Correct answer: A

Explanation

The correct answer, A, is accurate because an offline brute-force attack can be conducted using passwords stored in files like encrypted_passwords.db. Options B, C, and D are less applicable; while a rainbow table uses precomputed hashes, it is not directly implied that the files contain suitable data for that. Token replay and network dictionary attacks do not directly relate to the actions possible with the saved files.