CompTIA CAS-003: Best Command for Image Copy to Remote Server

Best Command for Image Copy

Question

As part of incident response, a technician is taking an image of a compromised system and copying the image to a remote image server (192.168.45.82)

The system drive is very large but does not contain the sensitive data.

The technician has limited time to complete this task.

Which of the following is the BEST command for the technician to run?

Answers

Explanations

Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer

A. B. C. D.

D.

In the given scenario, the technician needs to take an image of the compromised system's drive, which is very large but does not contain any sensitive data, and copy the image to a remote image server (192.168.45.82) in a limited time.

Out of the given options, the BEST command for the technician to run is option D, which is "dd if=/dev/sda | nc 192.168.45.82 3000".

Here's a detailed explanation of the reasons why this option is the BEST:

  • Option A, "tar cvf - / | ssh 192.168.45.82 cat - > /images/image.tar", uses tar to create a compressed archive of the entire file system ("/") and pipes it to ssh for transferring it to the remote server. However, this method is not recommended for imaging large drives, as it takes a lot of time and resources to create a compressed archive and transfer it over the network.
  • Option B, "dd if=/dev/mem | scp - 192.168.45.82:/images/image.dd", uses dd to copy the contents of the system's memory to a file named "image.dd" and then uses scp to transfer the file to the remote server. However, this option is not suitable for imaging a system's drive, as it only copies the memory, which may not contain all the data and files on the drive.
  • Option C, "memdump /dev/sda1 | nc 192.168.45.82 3000", uses memdump to dump the contents of a specific partition (/dev/sda1) to a network socket, which is then received by the remote server. However, this option is not recommended for imaging entire drives, as it only dumps the contents of a specific partition, which may not contain all the data and files on the drive.
  • Option D, "dd if=/dev/sda | nc 192.168.45.82 3000", uses dd to create a raw image of the entire drive (/dev/sda) and pipes it to a network socket, which is then received by the remote server. This option is the BEST because it creates a bit-for-bit copy of the entire drive, including the partition table and unallocated space, and transfers it over the network in a fast and efficient manner using netcat (nc).

Therefore, option D, "dd if=/dev/sda | nc 192.168.45.82 3000", is the BEST command for the technician to run in this scenario.