Ethical Hacking Essentials Practice Test

What countermeasure assists security teams against online threats in a cloud environment?

1. Employing strong passwords

2. Monitoring cloud performance

3. Verifying against public domain blacklists

4. Regularly updating software

The correct answer is: Verifying against public domain blacklists

Verifying against public domain blacklists serves as a proactive measure to protect against online threats in a cloud environment. Public domain blacklists maintain a list of known malicious websites, IP addresses, or domains that are associated with fraudulent or harmful activities. By checking against these blacklists, security teams can identify and block traffic from verified threats, thereby reducing the risk of attacks such as phishing or malware distribution. This approach enhances the overall security posture by providing an additional layer of defense, especially in cloud environments where resources can be exposed to a broader range of potential threats. It helps in preventing unauthorized access and data breaches, ensuring that only trusted entities interact with the cloud infrastructure. While employing strong passwords, monitoring cloud performance, and regularly updating software are important security practices, they do not specifically target online threats as effectively as utilizing blacklists does. Strong passwords help in protecting accounts but don’t address external threats directly. Monitoring performance is crucial for operational management rather than threat mitigation, and while updating software is vital for closing vulnerabilities, it doesn’t specifically counteract ongoing online threats in real-time like blacklist verification does.