312-85 Exam Dumps : Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst (CTIA)

The described activity involves pretending to be a legitimate or authorized person in order to gather sensitive information. This social engineering technique is known as Impersonation.

Impersonation is a form of deception in which the attacker pretends to be someone else — such as an employee, contractor, or service technician — to gain access to restricted information or areas. In this method, the attacker often relies on trust, authority, or familiarity to manipulate others into revealing confidential data.

In the scenario, the analyst obtained information by observing terminals, searching desks, and examining bins while pretending to be a trusted individual. This fits the definition of impersonation rather than other social engineering methods.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

Shoulder surfing: Involves directly observing someone’s screen or keyboard to capture credentials or data, not pretending to be someone else.

Piggybacking: Refers to physically following an authorized person into a restricted area without proper authentication.

Dumpster diving: Involves searching discarded items, such as trash or recycle bins, to find confidential information, without human interaction or pretense.

Conclusion:

The analyst used Impersonation to pose as an authorized person and collect sensitive data.

Final Answer: A. Impersonation

Explanation Reference (Based on CTIA Study Concepts):

From the CTIA study materials under “Social Engineering and Threat Collection Techniques,” impersonation is identified as a key human-based technique for gathering information during reconnaissance.

In the Threat Hunting Maturity Model (HMM), Level 2: Procedural represents an organization that has developed a structured but partially manual threat-hunting capability.

At this stage, organizations:

Use threat intelligence from open and closed sources to guide hunts.

Search for anomalies or suspicious activity across their network.

Employ open-source tools and basic scripts for analysis.

Depend on analysts following documented procedures rather than automated systems.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

Level 1: Minimal: Organization relies solely on reactive security measures and lacks dedicated hunting capabilities.

Level 3: Innovative: Introduces automation and advanced analytics to support hunts.

Level 4: Leading: Represents full maturity with proactive, automated, intelligence-driven hunting integrated across all defenses.

Conclusion:

The organization described is operating at Level 2: Procedural in the Threat Hunting Maturity Model.

Final Answer: A. Level 2: Procedural

Explanation Reference (Based on CTIA Study Concepts):

According to CTIA’s framework on “Threat Hunting Maturity Levels,” Level 2 involves intelligence-driven, manual hunting using open-source tools and structured procedures.

A gateway in a network functions as a node that routes traffic between different networks, such as from a local network to the internet. In the context of cyber threats, a gateway can be utilized to monitor and control the data flow to and from the network, helping in the identification and analysis of malware communications, including traffic to external command and control (C2) servers. This makes it an essential component in detecting installed malware within a network by observing anomalies or unauthorized communications at the network's boundary. Unlike repeaters, hubs, or network interface cards (NICs) that primarily facilitate network connectivity without analyzing the traffic, gateways can enforce security policies and detect suspicious activities.