Cisco 300-215 Exam With Confidence Using Practice Dumps

The Wireshark capture shows a series of HTTP requests and responses:

The client (10.1.21.101) sends a GET request for/Lk9tdZ.

The server (209.141.51.196) responds withHTTP/1.1 302 Found, which is a standard HTTP status code indicating a redirection.

The subsequent GET request from the client is for/files/1.bin, which indicates it followed the redirect.

This behavior confirms that the server is issuing an HTTP 302 redirect from the initial request path/Lk9tdZto/files/1.bin. This is often observed in malware command-and-control behavior or file download staging.

Option A is incorrect: 302 is a status code, not a data size.

Option C is incorrect: port 49723 is a source/destination ephemeral port, not a redirect target.

Option D is incorrect: communication is over HTTP, not HTTPS (which would indicate encryption).

This scenario describes asubstitution cipher, where data is made unreadable or less recognizable without altering its functionality. According to the Cisco CyberOps Associate guide, obfuscation includes techniques such as shifting, encoding, and symbol manipulation to mask the true nature of data or code:

"A very well-known cipher, the Caesar cipher... shifts the letter of the alphabet by a fixed number... This technique is a form of data obfuscation used to bypass detection mechanisms.".

The metadata in the exhibit reveals a strong indicator that this .LNK file (shortcut) is malicious:

The shortcut file is named "ds7002.pdf" but actually points to the execution of PowerShell:→ Full path: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe

Arguments include:→ -noni -ep bypass $z = '...'; indicating an attempt to run a PowerShell script with execution policy bypassed (a known tactic for fileless malware delivery).

The file is masked as a PDF (common social engineering technique), and PowerShell execution via .LNK is a signature technique used by many malware families to initiate second-stage payloads or scripts.

Given this, the correct and safest course of action is to:

→ Open the .LNK file in a sandbox environment (D).

This enables safe behavioral analysis to observe what actions it attempts upon execution without endangering live systems.

Other options are inappropriate:

A (ignoring the threat due to extension) is dangerous — .LNKs can trigger code.

B (upload to virus engine) is only helpful for known malware and lacks behavioral context.

C (quarantine) is preventive but not investigative — sandboxing provides visibility.