Security Operations Center (SOC) Analysts play a crucial role in identifying, analyzing, responding to and mitigating cyber attacks in an organization. The Tier 2 SOC Analysts are incident responders responsible for performing threat intelligence analysis to identify and respond to threats. This article provides the interview questions for SOC Analysts L2 and helps to take a quick revision before cracking an interview.
1.
What is a TCP
three-way handshake?
The three-way handshake is a protocol to create a reliable connection between client and server. It includes three essential interactions between client and server to exchange synchronize (SYN) and acknowledge (ACK) data packets.
2.
What is an IDS?
An Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is a system that scans a network or system to identify suspicious activities and monitor network traffic. It generates alerts when suspicious activities are identified. The SOC Analysts can analyze the issue and implement various remediation techniques based on the alerts.
3.
What is an IPS?
An Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) is a network security tool that continuously monitors the system or network traffic flow to identify and prevent malicious threats. It sends an alert to the security team, drops the malicious data packets, blocks or stops the network traffic, resets the connection, and configures the firewall to prevent future attacks.
4.
How is
vulnerability assessment different from penetration testing?
Vulnerability Assessment is an automated approach used to identify and prioritize the weaknesses in the network, system, hardware, or firewall using vulnerability scanning tools. In contrast, penetration testing is a manual approach that includes a deep simulation process to identify weaknesses in the system and fix them.
5.
What is the XDR?
XDR stands for Extended Detection and Response, an advanced endpoint detection and response security approach used to detect threats by analyzing the data collected from various sources.
6.
What is port
scanning?
Port scanning is a method used by attackers to identify the open ports or weak ports in the network for exploitation. These ports enable sending or receiving data, and it also helps to understand the status of the security firewalls used by the organization.
7. What is the difference between TCP and UDP?
|
TCP |
UDP |
|
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is a
connection-oriented protocol. |
User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is a
connectionless protocol, and no connections are established. |
|
It arranges the data packets in sequential
order for data transmission. |
In UDP, data packets are independent of
others. |
|
It is highly reliable. |
It is moderately reliable. |
|
It supports the error control mechanism. |
It does not support the error control
mechanism. |
8.
Explain the
incident response life cycle.
The incident response life cycle is a step-by-step framework to identify and respond to cyber security incidents. The Incident response life cycle varies based on the framework used by the organization. The NIST framework includes four phases:
- Preparation
- Detection and Analysis
- Containment, Eradication, and recovery
- Post-Event Activity
9.
What are the
various types of IDS?
The following are the various types of Intrusion Detection Systems:
- Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS)
- Host Intrusion Detection System (HIDS)
- Hybrid Intrusion Detection System
- Protocol-based Intrusion Detection System (PIDS)
- Application Protocol-based Intrusion Detection System (APIDS)
10. What are the best practices required to secure a server?
- Update the operating system and software regularly
- Regular backup of the data or files
- Install SSL Certificates
- Use VPNs
- Use Firewall protection
- Use Strong authentication passwords
SOC Analyst training with InfosecTrain
InfosecTrain’s SOC Analyst training program is
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(L1/L2/L3) improve their skills in managing and responding to security threats.
