220-1002 · Question #338
Joe, a user, believes his computer is infected with malware. The device is having difficulty accessing some websites, and web services are not responding from any of the web browsers, although Joe…
The correct answer is A. Expired root certificate. The key clues here are: (1) websites are inaccessible on the computer but accessible on the smartphone, (2) the malware scanner is up to date. An expired root certificate in the Windows certificate store would cause SSL/TLS handshake failures for HTTPS sites - browsers would…
Question
Joe, a user, believes his computer is infected with malware. The device is having difficulty accessing some websites, and web services are not responding from any of the web browsers, although Joe can access these services from his smartphone without issue. The computer's malware scanner has the latest definitions installed. Which of the following would BEST explain why the computer is functioning this way?
Options
- AExpired root certificate
- BOS update failures
- CPop-up blocker
- DHijacked email
How the community answered
(28 responses)- A61% (17)
- B11% (3)
- C7% (2)
- D21% (6)
Explanation
The key clues here are: (1) websites are inaccessible on the computer but accessible on the smartphone, (2) the malware scanner is up to date. An expired root certificate in the Windows certificate store would cause SSL/TLS handshake failures for HTTPS sites - browsers would refuse to connect because they can't establish a trusted chain of trust. This would appear as websites being unreachable or throwing certificate errors, while the smartphone (with its own valid certificate store) works fine. Malware is known to modify or delete trusted root certificates to intercept traffic or prevent security updates. OS update failures (B) wouldn't selectively block websites. A pop-up blocker (C) blocks pop-ups, not full page loads. Hijacked email (D) would affect email, not web browsing. Expired/corrupted root certificates directly explain browser-based web access failures.
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