Closest practice exam to real exam? Also handshaking Q

p0et

Just wondering which practice exam software or site is the most similar to the real exam? I'm doing practice exams on here, free-tests.com, Transcender and TestOut. So far I'm scoring 90% and higher on each one but still uncertain if I should attempt to write the real exam.

I'm also stuck on all those questions about handshaking and how many steps are in the handshaking process for various technologies like SSL and CHAP. Some say 3 steps for CHAP and other's say 7 steps. Some say 6 steps for SSL and others I think say 3 or 4...

Thanks!

sprkymrk

Provided you're not scoring in the 90's because you have retaken the same exam questions over and over, I'd say you're ready. I thought the transcender was harder than the actual exam and the questions here were closer to what you'll find on the test.

p0et

haha Yes, unfortunately I am scoring those on the exams that i've already taken. I don't remember what my scores were back when it was my first attempt at the practice exam.

sprkymrk

Maybe you could invest $30 in an exam cram book and take the practice tests in it to verify. Good luck!

Megadeth4168

This might sound funny but I think that the Passport book (actually the CD that came with the book) had the best representation of what to expect the question on the real exam to look like.

Danman32

CHAP is considered a 3 way handshake. Client sends a request for authentication, server responds with a challenge, client responds by hashing the challenge based on the password.
Sometimes the client initiation is not considered a step, but instead the server response of go, no-go is the 3rd step.

I haven't seen any questions on how many steps for SSL, but you could get one for CHAP, possibly in comparison to PAP where client sends his password in the clear, server responds with a go or no-go.

The point being that CHAP never sends the password itself across the wire, but instead sends data related to the password. Because of the challenge, replay attacks are not possible, where PAP is susceptable to replay attacks.

sprkymrk

I see Danman32 has already answered, but just in the way of a side note, if you are ever in doubt you can usually just refer to the RFC specification (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/). In part, the RFC for CHAP (1994) reads:

2. Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol

The Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) is used to
periodically verify the identity of the peer using a 3-way handshake.
This is done upon initial link establishment, and MAY be repeated
anytime after the link has been established.

1. After the Link Establishment phase is complete, the
authenticator sends a "challenge" message to the peer.

2. The peer responds with a value calculated using a "one-way
hash" function.

3. The authenticator checks the response against its own
calculation of the expected hash value. If the values match,
the authentication is acknowledged; otherwise the connection
SHOULD be terminated.

4. At random intervals, the authenticator sends a new challenge to
the peer, and repeats steps 1 to 3.

You don't get much more authoritative than the RFC's usually.
The SSL question depends on other factors it seems. There is http over TLS, or kerberos, etc. I agree with Danman32 that you probably won't have a question like that on the exam.

p0et

Thanks for the explanation!

I'm going to buy a voucher for $225 from Preplogic and that includes their exam sim software, so i'll see how i do on that. $225 is the cheapest voucher i've found so far, excluding ebay.

p0et

Anyone used this exam sim software? Quite tough! Only getting in the 80 - 90%s with this.

ladoo420

I went to preplogics website and to get the exam sim software along w/ the voucher its $271 ... $225 for just the voucher (which doesn't come w/ the sim software) ... must have been a day special or something ...

p0et wrote:

Thanks for the explanation!

I'm going to buy a voucher for $225 from Preplogic and that includes their exam sim software, so i'll see how i do on that. $225 is the cheapest voucher i've found so far, excluding ebay.