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SY0-301 · Question #135

Which of the following does full disk encryption prevent?

The correct answer is B. Clear text access. Full disk encryption ensures all data written to a disk is encrypted, so if the drive is removed or accessed outside the normal boot process, no data can be read in clear text. It does not protect against network, application, or runtime attacks.

General security concepts

Question

Which of the following does full disk encryption prevent?

Options

  • AClient side attacks
  • BClear text access
  • CDatabase theft
  • DNetwork-based attacks

How the community answered

(44 responses)
  • A
    2% (1)
  • B
    91% (40)
  • C
    2% (1)
  • D
    5% (2)

Why each option

Full disk encryption ensures all data written to a disk is encrypted, so if the drive is removed or accessed outside the normal boot process, no data can be read in clear text. It does not protect against network, application, or runtime attacks.

AClient side attacks

Client-side attacks target application logic, browser vulnerabilities, or user-side scripts and are not mitigated by disk encryption, which only protects data at rest.

BClear text accessCorrect

Full disk encryption encrypts every sector of the storage medium using keys tied to the system or user credentials, meaning an attacker who physically obtains the drive or accesses it without proper authentication cannot read any data in clear text. This directly prevents clear text access to data at rest.

CDatabase theft

Full disk encryption does not prevent database theft in the sense that an authenticated user with database access can still query and exfiltrate data - it only protects the raw disk sectors from offline access.

DNetwork-based attacks

Network-based attacks exploit services and protocols over the network and are unrelated to disk encryption, which operates at the storage layer.

Concept tested: Full disk encryption protection scope - data at rest

Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/operating-system-security/data-protection/bitlocker/

Topics

#full disk encryption#clear text access#data at rest#physical security

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