Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) — Question 106

What mechanism in Windows prevents a user from accidentally executing a potentially malicious batch (.bat) or PowerShell (.ps1) script?

Answer options

• A. User Access Control (UAC)
• B. Data Execution Prevention (DEP)
• C. Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR)
• D. Windows firewall

Correct answer: B

Explanation

Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is designed to prevent the execution of code from non-executable memory regions, thereby blocking potentially malicious scripts from running. User Access Control (UAC), Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), and Windows firewall serve different security purposes, such as managing user permissions, protecting against memory exploitation, and controlling network traffic, respectively, but they do not specifically prevent the execution of scripts.