220-1002 · Question #641
A technician connected to a network switch remotely from a workstation. During an audit, a Security analyst discovered the technician transmitted the username and password in plaintext over the…
The correct answer is A. Telnet. Telnet (A) is a legacy remote access protocol that transmits all data - including usernames, passwords, and commands - in unencrypted plaintext. This makes it trivially easy for anyone sniffing the network to capture credentials. SSH (B) is Telnet's secure replacement and…
Question
A technician connected to a network switch remotely from a workstation. During an audit, a Security analyst discovered the technician transmitted the username and password in plaintext over the network. Which of the following remote access technologies did the technician use to connect?
Options
- ATelnet
- BSSH
- CSFTP
- DRDP
How the community answered
(19 responses)- A89% (17)
- B5% (1)
- C5% (1)
Explanation
Telnet (A) is a legacy remote access protocol that transmits all data - including usernames, passwords, and commands - in unencrypted plaintext. This makes it trivially easy for anyone sniffing the network to capture credentials. SSH (B) is Telnet's secure replacement and encrypts all traffic, including authentication data. SFTP (C) is Secure File Transfer Protocol, which also uses SSH encryption. RDP (D) encrypts its sessions by default using TLS/SSL. Since the analyst found plaintext credentials in the network capture, the only protocol in this list that would produce that result is Telnet. Network switches often have a management interface accessible via Telnet (port 23) for legacy compatibility, but its use is strongly discouraged precisely because of this plaintext vulnerability.
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