Which of the following is most likely the cause of the issue?

A security analyst is troubleshooting the reason a specific user is having difficulty accessing company resources.

The analyst reviews the following information:

Which of the following is most likely the cause of the issue?

A. The local network access has been configured to bypass MFA requirements.

B. A network geolocation is being misidentified by the authentication server

C. Administrator access from an alternate location is blocked by company policy

D. Several users have not configured their mobile devices to receive OTP codes

View Answer

Answer: B

Explanation:

The table shows that the user "SALES1" is consistently blocked despite having met the MFA requirements. The common factor in these blocked attempts is the source IP address (8.1 1. 4.16) being identified as from Germany while the user is assigned to France. This discrepancy suggests that the network geolocation is being misidentified by the authentication server, causing legitimate access attempts to be blocked.

Why Network Geolocation Misidentification?

Geolocation Accuracy: Authentication systems often use IP geolocation to verify the location of access attempts. Incorrect geolocation data can lead to legitimate requests being denied if they appear to come from unexpected locations.

Security Policies: Company security policies might block access attempts from certain locations to prevent unauthorized access. If the geolocation is wrong, legitimate users can be inadvertently blocked.

Consistent Pattern: The user "SALES1" from the IP address 8.1 1. 4.16 is always blocked, indicating a consistent issue with geolocation.

Other options do not align with the pattern observed:

A. Bypass MFA requirements: MFA is satisfied, so bypassing MFA is not the issue.

C. Administrator access policy: This is about user access, not specific administrator access.

D. OTP codes: The user has satisfied MFA, so OTP code configuration is not the issue.

References:

CompTIA SecurityX Study Guide

"Geolocation and Authentication," NIST Special Publication 800-63B

"IP Geolocation Accuracy," Cisco Documentation