CompTIA CASP+ Practice Test

What design principle should be prioritized to prevent zero-day attacks?

1. Application sandboxing

2. Regular software updates

3. Code obfuscation

4. Firewall configurations

The correct answer is: Application sandboxing

Focusing on application sandboxing is a sound design principle for preventing zero-day attacks. This approach involves isolating applications in a controlled environment that restricts their interaction with the underlying operating system and other applications. By doing so, even if a zero-day vulnerability is exploited within a sandboxed application, the potential damage can be minimized. The sandbox limits the attacker's ability to access sensitive data or affect system integrity outside the application, providing an additional layer of defense. While regular software updates, code obfuscation, and firewall configurations are also important security practices, they may not be as effective in directly addressing the immediate risks posed by newly discovered vulnerabilities that have no existing patches. Regular updates help mitigate risks over time but cannot protect against zero-day threats until a fix is made available. Code obfuscation makes it more difficult for an attacker to understand and exploit code but does not prevent vulnerabilities from being present. Firewalls are crucial in establishing perimeter security but may not be able to stop the exploitation of a vulnerability that arises from within an approved application. Thus, application sandboxing directly addresses the need to limit the impact of zero-day vulnerabilities as they occur.