Question 1
A SOC analyst is investigating an alert from Cortex XDR that suggests a fileless malware attack on a critical server. The initial investigation reveals a suspicious PowerShell process that was spawned by a legitimate application. Which Zero Trust principle is most directly challenged by this type of attack?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
Fileless malware operates by using legitimate, trusted processes (living-off-the-land techniques). While least privilege is important, the core issue is that a seemingly valid process is performing malicious actions. Continuous monitoring and validation is the principle designed to detect such anomalous behavior from otherwise trusted entities, making it the most directly challenged principle.