The security authentication on the Windows domain is set to the highest level. Windows users are stating that they cannot authenticate to the UNIX share. Which of the following settings on the UNIX server would correct this problem?

A systems administrator establishes a CIFS share on a UNIX device to share data to Windows systems.

The security authentication on the Windows domain is set to the highest level. Windows users are stating that they cannot authenticate to the UNIX share. Which of the following settings on the UNIX server would correct this problem?
A . Refuse LM and only accept NTLMv2
B . Accept only LM
C . Refuse NTLMv2 and accept LM
D . Accept only NTLM

View Answer

Answer: A

Explanation:

In a Windows network, NT LAN Manager (NTLM) is a suite of Microsoft security protocols that provides authentication, integrity, and confidentiality to users. NTLM is the successor to the authentication protocol in Microsoft LAN Manager (LANMAN or LM), an older Microsoft product, and attempts to provide backwards compatibility with LANMAN. NTLM version 2 (NTLMv2), which was introduced in Windows NT 4.0 SP4 (and natively supported in Windows 2000), enhances NTLM security by hardening the protocol against many spoofing attacks, and adding the ability for a server to authenticate to the client.

This question states that the security authentication on the Windows domain is set to the highest level. This will be NTLMv2. Therefore, the answer to the question is to allow NTLMv2 which will enable the Windows users to connect to the UNIX server. To improve security, we should disable the old and insecure LM protocol as it is not used by the Windows computers.

Incorrect Answers:

B: The question states that the security authentication on the Windows domain is set to the highest level. This will be NTLMv2, not LM.

C: The question states that the security authentication on the Windows domain is set to the highest level. This will be NTLMv2, not LM so we need to allow NTLMv2.

D: The question states that the security authentication on the Windows domain is set to the highest level. This will be NTLMv2, not NTLM (version1).

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NT_LAN_Manager