220-1102 Question 504
Single answerSwipeA small medical office uses employee ID badges with magnetic stripes to unlock workstations that access patient records. Several employees report that their badges intermittently fail when they swipe them, but the same users can still sign in with their usernames and passwords. The badge reader is powered on, and the issue affects cards from different employees at the same station. Which action should the technician take FIRST?
- A
Clean the card reader and inspect it for debris or wear in the swipe path
- B
Disable account lockout policies so failed badge swipes do not prevent access
- C
Replace all employee badges because magnetic stripes commonly stop working at the same time
- D
Rejoin the workstation to the domain to restore badge-based sign-in
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
This question focuses on swipe-based authentication using magnetic stripe badges, which is part of physical and logical access control in A+ Core 2 security topics. In a real support scenario, if several different badges fail at one reader while password-based login still works, the technician should first suspect a hardware or cleanliness problem with the swipe device. Standard troubleshooting methodology recommends identifying what changed, determining whether the problem is localized, and starting with the least invasive corrective action. Cleaning and inspecting the reader aligns with vendor best practices for magnetic stripe devices and avoids unnecessary security changes or mass badge replacement. This also follows the principle of preserving secure configurations while troubleshooting authentication peripherals.
- A. Correct.
Correct. When multiple users' magnetic stripe badges fail at the same reader, the most likely first troubleshooting step is to check the physical swipe reader for dirt, residue, or wear. Swipe-based authentication devices are subject to mechanical and environmental issues, and CompTIA A+ troubleshooting best practice is to start with the simplest and most likely physical cause before replacing components or changing configuration.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Account lockout policies relate to authentication failures at the account or directory level, not the physical reading of a badge's magnetic stripe. If users can still sign in with usernames and passwords, disabling lockout would not address the badge reader's inability to consistently read swipe data and would weaken security.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Replacing all badges is expensive and premature, especially since the issue occurs with different employees at the same workstation. That pattern points to a local reader issue rather than simultaneous failure of many magnetic stripe cards. A technician should verify and clean the reader first.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Domain trust or workstation domain membership problems would more likely affect all authentication methods tied to the workstation, not just intermittent swipe reading. Because username/password login still works, the workstation's domain relationship is likely intact, making this an unlikely first step.