MCQs

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1. Which of the following best describes active reconnaissance in cybersecurity?
   a. Observing social media quietly
   b. Interacting directly with the target system
   c. Reviewing old emails
   d. Collecting leaked passwords from public sites
   Answer: b. Interacting directly with the target systemcycognito+1
2. What is an example of an active reconnaissance technique?
   a. Reading company blog posts
   b. Email scraping
   c. Port scanning
   d. Reviewing DNS cache
   Answer: c. Port scanningtryhackme+2
3. Which tool is commonly used for active port scanning?
   a. Nessus
   b. Nmap
   c. LastPass
   d. PyCharm
   Answer: b. Nmaplinkedin+1
4. Why is active reconnaissance considered riskier than passive reconnaissance?
   a. It uses outdated tools
   b. It may alert the target
   c. It provides less detail
   d. It’s illegal in every context
   Answer: b. It may alert the targetccslearningacademy+1
5. Which of the following involves sending packets to a target to determine open ports?
   a. Passive fingerprinting
   b. Email phishing
   c. Port scanning
   d. Data exfiltration
   Answer: c. Port scanningtryhackme+1
6. What is the goal of active reconnaissance?
   a. To launch malware
   b. To gather information via direct engagement
   c. To encrypt data
   d. To disrupt services
   Answer: b. To gather information via direct engagementcycognito+1
7. Which method is NOT an active reconnaissance technique?
   a. Banner grabbing
   b. Social engineering phone calls
   c. Whois lookups
   d. Vulnerability scanning
   Answer: c. Whois lookupsplacementpreparation+1
8. What is banner grabbing used for during active reconnaissance?
   a. Identifying users
   b. Finding service version details
   c. Reading log files passively
   d. Tracing email headers
   Answer: b. Finding service version detailsituonline+1
9. Which is a legal concern with active reconnaissance?
   a. It breaks encryption
   b. It frequently results in copyright violation
   c. It may violate laws without permission
   d. It always leaks credentials
   Answer: c. It may violate laws without permissionituonline+1
10. When performing social engineering actively, what is a common approach?
    a. Reading published policy documents
    b. Reviewing website analytics
    c. Posing as helpdesk staff
    d. Collecting leaked data from forums
    Answer: c. Posing as helpdesk staffsanfoundry+2
11. Which scanning method tries to fingerprint the operating system in use?
    a. Malware scanning
    b. OS fingerprinting
    c. DNS poisoning
    d. ARP spoofing
    Answer: b. OS fingerprintinglinkedin+1
12. Which protocol is commonly probed during active reconnaissance for remote administration?
    a. SMTP
    b. HTTP
    c. SSH
    d. POP3
    Answer: c. SSHtryhackme+1
13. Which network tool is specifically designed for DNS enumeration tasks?
    a. Burp Suite
    b. Nikto
    c. DNSrecon
    d. Wireshark
    Answer: c. DNSrecontryhackme
14. What is the primary disadvantage of active reconnaissance?
    a. It is very slow
    b. It is undetectable
    c. It may be noticed and logged
    d. It cannot discover vulnerabilities
    Answer: c. It may be noticed and loggedccslearningacademy+1
15. Which is an example of direct interaction with the target during reconnaissance?
    a. Downloading press releases
    b. ICMP echo requests (ping sweep)
    c. Google search
    d. Checking LinkedIn profiles
    Answer: b. ICMP echo requests (ping sweep)projectdiscovery+1
16. Which of the following is a vulnerability scanning tool used in active reconnaissance?
    a. OpenVAS
    b. Google Dorks
    c. Pandas
    d. Slack
    Answer: a. OpenVAStryhackme
17. What type of information can banner grabbing reveal?
    a. Disk space
    b. Service version and software details
    c. Employee salaries
    d. Email inboxes
    Answer: b. Service version and software detailsplacementpreparation+1
18. Which is NOT associated with active reconnaissance?
    a. Running a port scanner
    b. Using vulnerability scanners
    c. Viewing DNS records on public tools
    d. Attempting login via brute force
    Answer: c. Viewing DNS records on public toolsccslearningacademy+1
19. Which tool is primarily GUI-based and simplifies network mapping?
    a. Metasploit
    b. Zenmap
    c. Aircrack-ng
    d. Burp Suite
    Answer: b. Zenmaptryhackme
20. Which reconnaissance method is used to identify devices on a network?
    a. ARP poisoning
    b. Network mapping
    c. Keylogging
    d. SQL injection
    Answer: b. Network mappinglinkedin+1
21. Which of the following is typically performed early in a penetration test?
    a. Ransomware deployment
    b. Active reconnaissance
    c. Phishing campaigns
    d. Data exfiltration
    Answer: b. Active reconnaissancecycognito+1
22. Which of the following techniques could result in detection by IDS/IPS systems?
    a. Passive reconnaissance
    b. Passive sniffing
    c. Active reconnaissance
    d. Reading documentation
    Answer: c. Active reconnaissancecycognito
23. What is a main objective of network mapping in active reconnaissance?
    a. Finding broken links
    b. Creating a map of network topology and connected devices
    c. Backing up databases
    d. Defacing web pages
    Answer: b. Creating a map of network topology and connected deviceslinkedin+1
24. What is a risk of running a vulnerability scanner on a live network?
    a. Slows internet browsing
    b. Causes legal issues if unauthorized
    c. Emails users about scans
    d. Fixes vulnerabilities automatically
    Answer: b. Causes legal issues if unauthorizedccslearningacademy+1
25. Which technique aims to identify the underlying OS of hosts?
    a. OS fingerprinting
    b. Social engineering
    c. Data mining
    d. Email spoofing
    Answer: a. OS fingerprintinglinkedin+1
26. Which protocol is often targeted in active reconnaissance for file sharing details?
    a. SMTP
    b. SMB
    c. IMAP
    d. FTP
    Answer: b. SMBccslearningacademy
27. What is the main benefit of active reconnaissance over passive reconnaissance?
    a. No chance of detection
    b. More detailed and specific information
    c. It is legal everywhere
    d. Zero impact on networks
    Answer: b. More detailed and specific informationcycognito+1
28. Which action is considered active enumeration?
    a. Parsing robots.txt
    b. Sending crafted packets for service discovery
    c. Reading company news
    d. Analyzing Google search metadata
    Answer: b. Sending crafted packets for service discoveryccslearningacademy+1
29. Which of these is a tool used for social engineering active reconnaissance?
    a. SET (Social Engineer Toolkit)
    b. nmap
    c. Nessus
    d. Gobuster
    Answer: a. SET (Social Engineer Toolkit)codecademy+1
30. What information does DNS enumeration target?
    a. Domain owner’s name only
    b. All DNS records and servers
    c. Employee emails
    d. Switch MAC addresses
    Answer: b. All DNS records and serverstryhackme
31. Which reconnaissance technique will likely get detected and logged?
    a. Whois lookup
    b. Port scanning
    c. Web scraping
    d. Searching breach databases
    Answer: b. Port scanningblumira+1
32. Which tool automates the scanning of known vulnerabilities during active reconnaissance?
    a. Angry IP Scanner
    b. Nessus
    c. Slack
    d. WinRAR
    Answer: b. Nessustryhackme
33. What is normally the first phase before any cyber-offensive operation?
    a. Data mining
    b. Reconnaissance
    c. Exploitation
    d. Phishing
    Answer: b. Reconnaissanceyeahhub+1
34. What is one disadvantage of using active reconnaissance during penetration testing?
    a. Only works during office hours
    b. Often triggers alerts
    c. Is completely anonymous
    d. Provides inaccurate data
    Answer: b. Often triggers alertsituonline+1
35. Which enumeration approach can reveal all subdomains for a given domain?
    a. HTTPS inspection
    b. DNS enumeration
    c. Remote desktop connection
    d. ARP spoofing
    Answer: b. DNS enumerationlinkedin+1
36. What does service enumeration typically reveal?
    a. Website traffic patterns
    b. Names and versions of running services
    c. Password hashes
    d. Hardware serial numbers
    Answer: b. Names and versions of running servicesituonline+1
37. Which technique would an attacker use to determine if employees fall for impersonation?
    a. Social engineering
    b. Banner grabbing
    c. Data mining
    d. DNS lookup
    Answer: a. Social engineeringjanbasktraining+2
38. Which tool is especially useful for vulnerability assessments during active reconnaissance?
    a. Nessus
    b. Nmap
    c. Wireshark
    d. Firefox
    Answer: a. Nessustryhackme
39. Which port is often scanned during active reconnaissance for Microsoft systems?
    a. 3389 (RDP)
    b. 80 (HTTP)
    c. 22 (SSH)
    d. 21 (FTP)
    Answer: a. 3389 (RDP)linkedin+1
40. What is the chief ethical requirement before initiating active reconnaissance?
    a. Use only open-source tools
    b. Obtain proper authorization
    c. Run scans after business hours
    d. Only scan public IPs
    Answer: b. Obtain proper authorizationcycognito+2
41. Which scanning technique involves detecting live hosts via ICMP messages?
    a. Banner grabbing
    b. Ping sweep
    c. Brute force attack
    d. Packet sniffing
    Answer: b. Ping sweepprojectdiscovery+1
42. Why are vulnerability scanners like OpenVAS important in active reconnaissance?
    a. They encrypt data by default
    b. They can identify system weaknesses
    c. They manage user accounts
    d. They analyze website metadata
    Answer: b. They can identify system weaknessesccslearningacademy+1
43. Which reconnaissance tool is best for mapping wireless networks during “war driving”?
    a. Kismet
    b. Nessus
    c. Hydra
    d. Burp Suite
    Answer: a. Kismetcodecademy
44. Which method is NOT considered part of active reconnaissance?
    a. Using Nmap to scan ports
    b. Querying DNS records with DNSrecon
    c. Reading LinkedIn employee profiles
    d. Sending fake helpdesk emails
    Answer: c. Reading LinkedIn employee profilescodecademy+1
45. What is the purpose of automating active reconnaissance tasks?
    a. Avoid legal compliance
    b. Reduce manual errors and speed up data gathering
    c. Make it undetectable
    d. Hide from network logs
    Answer: b. Reduce manual errors and speed up data gatheringtryhackme
46. Why should actions be documented during active reconnaissance?
    a. For legal compliance and later analysis
    b. So colleagues can repeat mistakes
    c. To avoid generating scan reports
    d. To impress the target organization
    Answer: a. For legal compliance and later analysistryhackme
47. What can port scanning reveal about a system?
    a. Open services and possible vulnerabilities
    b. Physical location only
    c. Number of employees
    d. CPU type
    Answer: a. Open services and possible vulnerabilitiescycognito+1
48. Which is a physical active reconnaissance technique?
    a. War driving
    b. Reading press releases
    c. Checking GitHub repos
    d. Watching security camera feeds
    Answer: a. War drivingcodecademy
49. What should penetration testers avoid during unauthorized active reconnaissance?
    a. Using only free tools
    b. Probing systems without permission
    c. Taking screenshots
    d. Reading company policies
    Answer: b. Probing systems without permissioncycognito+1
50. What is the best defense for organizations against active reconnaissance?
    a. Disabling all firewalls
    b. Regular network monitoring and alerting
    c. Publishing all configuration files
    d. Ignoring all network activity
    Answer: b. Regular network monitoring and alertingcycognito+1

1. https://www.cycognito.com/learn/exposure-management/active-vs-passive-reconnaissance.php
2. https://www.codecademy.com/article/passive-active-reconnaissance
3. https://tryhackme.com/resources/blog/active-passive-reconnaissance-techniques
4. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/active-reconnaissance-rajesh-gopalakrishnan
5. https://www.ccslearningacademy.com/what-is-reconnaissance-in-cyber-security/
6. https://www.placementpreparation.io/mcq/ethical-hacking/
7. https://www.ituonline.com/blogs/active-reconnaissance/
8. https://www.sanfoundry.com/cyber-security-questions-answers-generic-steps-security-1/
9. https://www.janbasktraining.com/interview-questions/cybersecurity-ceh-reconnaissance/
10. https://projectdiscovery.io/blog/reconnaissance-a-deep-dive-in-active-passive-reconnaissance
11. https://www.blumira.com/glossary/reconnaissance
12. https://www.yeahhub.com/cyber-security-ethical-hacking-mcq-questions-answers-part1/
13. https://www.vinsys.com/blog/top-30-mcqs-ceh-exam-preparation
14. https://www.scribd.com/document/441983457/Cyber-Security-MCQ
15. https://zerotomastery.io/blog/active-vs-passive-reconnaissance/
16. https://infosecwriteups.com/recon-basics-for-beginners-a-simple-guide-e76885cdd333
17. https://itexamanswers.net/3-5-3-quiz-information-gathering-and-vulnerability-scanning-answers.html
18. https://www.sanfoundry.com/1000-cyber-security-questions-answers/
19. https://thetechrix.com/2024/04/04/mastering-reconnaissance-in-cyber-security-a-beginners-guide-to-footprinting/
20. https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-notes/21573756