300-215 Question 128
Select 3A financial organization has recently experienced an unauthorized data exfiltration incident through a compromised web application. During the forensic investigation, you identify that the attacker exploited a vulnerability in the web application's input validation mechanism to perform SQL injection. Which of the following recommendations would most effectively mitigate this attack vector and reduce the attack surface?
- A
Implement input validation and sanitization for all user inputs.
- B
Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) to monitor and block malicious traffic.
- C
Disable all unused network ports across the organization's infrastructure.
- D
Enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for user logins.
- E
Regularly update and patch the web application and its underlying database.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answers: A, B, E
Explanation
To mitigate SQL injection attacks and reduce the attack surface, the organization should prioritize implementing input validation and sanitization, deploying a web application firewall, and keeping the application and database up to date with patches. These measures collectively address the root cause of the vulnerability and strengthen the organization's defense against similar threats in the future.
- A. Correct.
Implementing input validation and sanitization ensures that user inputs are properly checked for malicious content, preventing SQL injection attacks. This directly addresses the root cause of the issue.
- B. Correct.
Deploying a web application firewall (WAF) helps to detect and block known attack patterns, such as SQL injection, before they reach the application.
- C. Incorrect.
Disabling unused network ports is a good security practice but is unrelated to preventing SQL injection or mitigating web application vulnerabilities.
- D. Incorrect.
Enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA) improves login security but does not address SQL injection or other web application vulnerabilities.
- E. Correct.
Regularly updating and patching the web application and database ensures that known vulnerabilities are fixed, reducing the risk of exploitation.