Cybersecurity Interview Series: Technical Interviews

Hands-On Exercises and Practicals

In our previous post, we discussed scenario questions that interviewers use to gauge problem-solving skills and thought process.

Another common form of interview questions is hands-on exercises or practical challenges, which test knowledge on specific subject matter and are typically used for mid-level or senior-level roles.

However, technical interviews have a bad rap, often perceived as intimidating and a bit unrealistic.

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This can be a conversation for another time.

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Here are a few examples of hands-on exercises that you might encounter in a Cybersecurity technical interview:

Example 1: Log Analysis

You may be given a log file from an investigation and tasked with determining the attacker activity, as well as the sequence of the attack.

Answering questions such as:

• What is the attacker IP?

• What is the victim IP?

• What tools are being used in this attack?

 

This exercise tests investigation skills, log analysis, and deductive reasoning, which are all essential skills for security roles.

Example 2: Regex Pattern

In this exercise, you might be given a large dataset and asked to extract all email addresses. The task could be solved using a regex pattern to parse and match against the data.

One potential example

This evaluates your ability to deal with large log files and shows specific knowledge of a technical skill.

Example 3: Malware Analysis

You may be provided with a malicious file and asked to analyze it to determine its behavior and purpose. This exercise might involve using a sandbox environment and running the file, to observe its file system changes and process activity.

Another scenario here could be being tasked with locating the malicious file itself on a system and seeing your approach on doing so.

Depending on the company, this could be a regular task for a security professional.

Bonus Example: Scripting Exercise

You can be tasked with a scripting exercise.

For example, you might be asked to write a script to extract specific data from a CSV file and output it to a text file. Demonstrating concepts such as loops, conditionals, and file handling. 

You could also be given a scenario where you need to use an API to extract and manipulate data from a web service.

For instance, you may be asked to write a script to retrieve data from an API, process the response, and display the output for unique values only, or some other constraint. 

This exercise tests your ability to work with APIs, parse JSON data, and handle error cases. It also demonstrates your problem-solving skills by integrating data from an external source and manipulating it to meet a specific requirement.

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The goal of these exercises is to test how you think and analyze solutions to given problems. It's more important to showcase your problem-solving approach rather than only coming up with the perfect solution.

To learn more about technical interviews, check out the previous posts in this interview series.

I hope this helps you in your learning journey!

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