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CREST CPSA Exam 2025 – Complete Study Guide,
Practice Questions, and Certification Tips
Prepare for the CREST CPSA Exam (Certified Practitioner Security Analyst) with this
detailed 2025 study and practice guide. Learn all key domains including network security,
vulnerability assessment, penetration testing, and threat analysis. Access realistic practice
questions, exam format insights, and expert tips to help you pass your CPSA certification and
advance your cybersecurity career.
CREST CPSA Exam 2025,
CREST CPSA study guide,
CREST CPSA practice test,
CPSA exam questions and answers,
What will applications that do not require a reliable data stream use? - ANSWER-User datagram protocol
What is the task of the Internet Protocol? - ANSWER-to deliver packets from the source host to the
destination host based on the IP addresses in the packet headers.
Is UDP part of the Internet protocol suite? - ANSWER-Yes
What does SYN do in a TCP handshake? - ANSWER-SYN is used to initiate and establish a connection. It
also helps you to synchronize sequence numbers between devices.
Does UDP perform handshakes? - ANSWER-No
,2|Page
How can you prevent legal issues when doing a penetration test? - ANSWER-A statement of intent
should be duly signed by both parties
- The tester has the permission in writing, with clearly defined parameters
- the company has the details of its pen tester and an assurance that he would not leak any confidential
data
What does scoping a penetration test involve? - ANSWER-- All relevant risk owners
- Technical staff knowledgeable about the target system
- A representative of the penetration test team
- Risk owners should outline any areas of special concern
- Technical staff should outline technical boundaries of the organizations IT estate
- The penetration test team should identify what testing they believe will give a full picture of the
vulnerability status of the estate
What is a IP protocol? - ANSWER-The IP (Internet Protocol) is the network layer communications
protocol in the Internet protocol suite used for relaying datagrams across network boundaries
What is the TCP protocol? - ANSWER-TCP (transmisson control protocol) a main protocol from the
Internet protocol suite.
What is the Task of TCP? - ANSWER-To create a connection between the client and server before data
can be sent.
What does ACK do in TCP handshake? - ANSWER-Helps to confirm to the other side that it has received
the SYN.
Which protocol is known for performing a three way handshake? - ANSWER-TCP
What happens after the SYN and ACK phrases of a TCP handshake? - ANSWER-SYN-ACK
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What does SYN-ACK do in TCP handshake? - ANSWER-SYN-ACK is a SYN message from local device and
ACK of the earlier packet.
What is FIN used for? - ANSWER-Used to terminate the connection
What does SYN stand for in TCP? - ANSWER-Synchronize
What does ACK stand for in TCP? - ANSWER-Acknowledgement
What does SYN-ACK stand for in TCP - ANSWER-Synchronize Acknowledgement
What does FIN stand for in TCP? - ANSWER-Finish
What happens after the SYN-ACK phrase? - ANSWER-FIN
What does TCP stand for ? - ANSWER-Transmission control protocol
What is port 9100? - ANSWER-Jetdirect
Computer Misuse Act 1990 - ANSWER-An Act which makes illegal a number of activities such as
deliberately planting viruses, hacking, using ICT equipment for fraud.
Human Rights Act 1998 - ANSWER-Act of Parliament that incorporated the European Convention on
Human Rights into UK law, making it enforceable in UK courts
Data Protection Act 1998 - ANSWER-The UK law that tells organisations how they must protect the
personal data of real people. (NOW GDPR)
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) - ANSWER-New European Union law on data protection and
privacy for individuals.
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DoS - ANSWER-Denial of Service
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) - ANSWER-An attack on a computer or network device in which
multiple computers send data and requests to the device in an attempt to overwhelm it so that it cannot
perform normal operations.
XSS (Cross Site Scripting) - ANSWER-A type of application attack where the attacker takes advantage of
scripting and input validation vulnerabilities in an interactive website to attack legitimate users.
MySQL < 5.1 Authentication Bypass - ANSWER-Bug that allows authentication even when password
provided is incorrect.
1/256 chance of being triggered, so one can just keep sending login attempts over and over to access.
*Can only be exploited if built on a system where the memcmp() function can return values outside the -
128 to 127 range
Passive OS fingerprinting - ANSWER-Observing host behavior and packets (DHCP, TCP, etc) to determine
OS
Common Tools: Network Miner, p0f, Satori, Wireshark
Active OS Fingerprinting - ANSWER-Sends specially crafted packets to the remote OS and analyzes the
received response.
NMap is awesome at this
AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) - ANSWER-A block cypher created in the late 1990s that uses a 128-
bit block size and a 128-, 129-, or 256-bit key size. Practically uncrackable.
CREST CPSA Exam 2025 – Complete Study Guide,
Practice Questions, and Certification Tips
Prepare for the CREST CPSA Exam (Certified Practitioner Security Analyst) with this
detailed 2025 study and practice guide. Learn all key domains including network security,
vulnerability assessment, penetration testing, and threat analysis. Access realistic practice
questions, exam format insights, and expert tips to help you pass your CPSA certification and
advance your cybersecurity career.
CREST CPSA Exam 2025,
CREST CPSA study guide,
CREST CPSA practice test,
CPSA exam questions and answers,
What will applications that do not require a reliable data stream use? - ANSWER-User datagram protocol
What is the task of the Internet Protocol? - ANSWER-to deliver packets from the source host to the
destination host based on the IP addresses in the packet headers.
Is UDP part of the Internet protocol suite? - ANSWER-Yes
What does SYN do in a TCP handshake? - ANSWER-SYN is used to initiate and establish a connection. It
also helps you to synchronize sequence numbers between devices.
Does UDP perform handshakes? - ANSWER-No
,2|Page
How can you prevent legal issues when doing a penetration test? - ANSWER-A statement of intent
should be duly signed by both parties
- The tester has the permission in writing, with clearly defined parameters
- the company has the details of its pen tester and an assurance that he would not leak any confidential
data
What does scoping a penetration test involve? - ANSWER-- All relevant risk owners
- Technical staff knowledgeable about the target system
- A representative of the penetration test team
- Risk owners should outline any areas of special concern
- Technical staff should outline technical boundaries of the organizations IT estate
- The penetration test team should identify what testing they believe will give a full picture of the
vulnerability status of the estate
What is a IP protocol? - ANSWER-The IP (Internet Protocol) is the network layer communications
protocol in the Internet protocol suite used for relaying datagrams across network boundaries
What is the TCP protocol? - ANSWER-TCP (transmisson control protocol) a main protocol from the
Internet protocol suite.
What is the Task of TCP? - ANSWER-To create a connection between the client and server before data
can be sent.
What does ACK do in TCP handshake? - ANSWER-Helps to confirm to the other side that it has received
the SYN.
Which protocol is known for performing a three way handshake? - ANSWER-TCP
What happens after the SYN and ACK phrases of a TCP handshake? - ANSWER-SYN-ACK
,3|Page
What does SYN-ACK do in TCP handshake? - ANSWER-SYN-ACK is a SYN message from local device and
ACK of the earlier packet.
What is FIN used for? - ANSWER-Used to terminate the connection
What does SYN stand for in TCP? - ANSWER-Synchronize
What does ACK stand for in TCP? - ANSWER-Acknowledgement
What does SYN-ACK stand for in TCP - ANSWER-Synchronize Acknowledgement
What does FIN stand for in TCP? - ANSWER-Finish
What happens after the SYN-ACK phrase? - ANSWER-FIN
What does TCP stand for ? - ANSWER-Transmission control protocol
What is port 9100? - ANSWER-Jetdirect
Computer Misuse Act 1990 - ANSWER-An Act which makes illegal a number of activities such as
deliberately planting viruses, hacking, using ICT equipment for fraud.
Human Rights Act 1998 - ANSWER-Act of Parliament that incorporated the European Convention on
Human Rights into UK law, making it enforceable in UK courts
Data Protection Act 1998 - ANSWER-The UK law that tells organisations how they must protect the
personal data of real people. (NOW GDPR)
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) - ANSWER-New European Union law on data protection and
privacy for individuals.
, 4|Page
DoS - ANSWER-Denial of Service
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) - ANSWER-An attack on a computer or network device in which
multiple computers send data and requests to the device in an attempt to overwhelm it so that it cannot
perform normal operations.
XSS (Cross Site Scripting) - ANSWER-A type of application attack where the attacker takes advantage of
scripting and input validation vulnerabilities in an interactive website to attack legitimate users.
MySQL < 5.1 Authentication Bypass - ANSWER-Bug that allows authentication even when password
provided is incorrect.
1/256 chance of being triggered, so one can just keep sending login attempts over and over to access.
*Can only be exploited if built on a system where the memcmp() function can return values outside the -
128 to 127 range
Passive OS fingerprinting - ANSWER-Observing host behavior and packets (DHCP, TCP, etc) to determine
OS
Common Tools: Network Miner, p0f, Satori, Wireshark
Active OS Fingerprinting - ANSWER-Sends specially crafted packets to the remote OS and analyzes the
received response.
NMap is awesome at this
AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) - ANSWER-A block cypher created in the late 1990s that uses a 128-
bit block size and a 128-, 129-, or 256-bit key size. Practically uncrackable.
