Which of the following is a common hardware-based attack surface that can be exploited to gain unauthorized access to a system?

Weak passwords on user accounts

A firewall misconfiguration that allows inbound traffic

USB ports that allow booting from external devices

Unpatched operating system vulnerabilities

A company uses Secure Boot on all workstations. A user reports that their workstation fails to boot after a BIOS update. The error message indicates that the bootloader is not signed. What is the most likely cause and solution?

The BIOS password is incorrect. Reset the password.

The BIOS update changed the Secure Boot keys, invalidating the bootloader signature. Re-enroll the original keys or update the bootloader.

The bootloader is corrupted. Reinstall the operating system.

The TPM has failed. Replace the TPM.

A security administrator notices that a workstation is booting an unauthorized Linux distribution from a USB drive. The BIOS is set to boot from USB before the hard drive. Which configuration change would most directly prevent this?

Disable USB boot in the UEFI firmware and set the hard drive as the first boot device

Enable Secure Boot and add the Linux distribution's key to the database

Set a BIOS supervisor password and enable the TPM

Change the boot order to network first and disable the USB ports

A company is decommissioning a data center and needs to dispose of servers that contain encrypted data. The encryption keys are stored in the TPMs of the servers. The security policy requires that data be unrecoverable. What is the most secure disposal method?

Degauss the drives and reuse the TPMs

Format the drives and donate the servers

Physically destroy the storage drives and the TPMs

Cryptographically erase the drives and then recycle them

LPI Security Essentials

Domain 3Objective 1

023.1 Hardware Security (weight: 2) SECURITY-ESSENTIALS Practice Questions (Page 3)

Part of the 023 Device and Storage Security domain, which makes up ~24% of our current practice bank. Linux Professional Institute does not publish an official question count, but from its 60-minute exam (~25–40 total, ~6–10 in this domain), expect 2–3 from this objective — we provide 38 practice questions to prepare you well beyond it. (estimate)

38questions here

8free pages

10concepts

Questions 11–15

11foundation · easy
Which of the following is a common hardware-based attack surface that can be exploited to gain unauthorized access to a system?
Select an answer first
12expert · hard
A company uses Secure Boot on all workstations. A user reports that their workstation fails to boot after a BIOS update. The error message indicates that the bootloader is not signed. What is the most likely cause and solution?
Select an answer first
13foundation · easy
Which BIOS/UEFI setting is commonly configured to prevent a system from booting from unauthorized external media?
Select an answer first
14application · medium
A security administrator notices that a workstation is booting an unauthorized Linux distribution from a USB drive. The BIOS is set to boot from USB before the hard drive. Which configuration change would most directly prevent this?
Select an answer first
15expert · hard
A company is decommissioning a data center and needs to dispose of servers that contain encrypted data. The encryption keys are stored in the TPMs of the servers. The security policy requires that data be unrecoverable. What is the most secure disposal method?
Select an answer first

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