Jack is hardening a Cisco switch based on the CIS IOS benchmark. As part of the configuration process, he configures settings including ntp authenticate and ntp trusted- key. Why would Jack configure this on his network switches?
Answer Options
To ensure that the switch has Network Terminal Protocol enabled
To prevent attackers from modifying logs
To prevent attackers from capturing network time traffic
To ensure that network time is from a trusted source
Correct Answer: D
Explanation
Even if you’re not familiar with specific Cisco IOS commands and configuration you can quickly determine that this is a Network Time Protocol (NTP)-related setting. Authenticating NTP and ensuring a trusted key is enabled would help to ensure that network time is trusted and secure. This prevents attackers from conducting attacks that rely on modifying network time or the switch recording incorrect time in its logs. There is no Network Terminal Protocol, this does not impact logs, and network time traffic is not encrypted.