Welcome to the most comprehensive and up-to-date CREST Practitioner Security Analyst (CPSA) Practice Tests course. Designed specifically for aspiring penetration testers, ethical hackers, and information security analysts, this course offers 6 full-length, 120-question mock exams (720 total original questions) engineered to accurately reflect the difficulty, scope, and technical depth of the official CREST CPSA examination.

The CREST CPSA accreditation is an industry-recognized, entry-to-intermediate qualification that validates technical knowledge across networking, host assessment, application vulnerabilities, and engagement management. Whether you are stepping into your first technical testing role or preparing for the CREST Registered Tester (CRT) progression, this question bank provides the practical scenario practice needed to pass with confidence.

Rigorous Alignment with the CREST Technical Syllabus

All questions are rigorously mapped to the official CREST CPSA and CRT Technical Syllabus across all 10 core technical appendices:

• Assessment Management & Legal Frameworks (Appendix A): Penetration testing engagement lifecycles, scoping parameters, rules of engagement (RoE), risk escalation, client debriefs, CVSS scoring mechanics, and UK cyber legislation—including the Computer Misuse Act 1990 (Sections 1, 2, 3, 3A, and 3ZA), Data Protection Act 2018 / UK GDPR, Police and Justice Act 2006, Human Rights Act 1998, and Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA 2000).

• Core Technical Skills & Cryptography (Appendix B): OSI 7-layer and TCP/IP networking models, IP addressing, CIDR subnet calculations, TCP header analysis, three-way handshakes, TCP control flags (SYN, ACK, FIN, RST, PSH, URG), ICMP types and codes, port scanning mechanics (TCP Connect, SYN stealth, FIN, Xmas, Null scans), Network Access Control (NAC), symmetric and asymmetric ciphers (AES, RSA, ECC), cryptographic hashing (MD5, SHA-256, HMAC), PKI certificates, and TLS 1.2/1.3 handshakes.

• Information Gathering & OSINT (Appendix C): Passive reconnaissance methodologies, WHOIS database inspection, DNS record types (A, AAAA, MX, NS, TXT, SOA, PTR, SRV, CNAME), DNS zone transfers (AXFR), DNSSEC validation (NSEC/NSEC3), search engine dorking operators, file metadata extraction (ExifTool, FOCA), mail header analysis, and Certificate Transparency (CT) log analysis.

• Network Equipment & Wireless Security (Appendix D): Common administrative protocols (Telnet, SSH, SNMP community strings vs SNMPv3, TFTP, NTP), Cisco router and switch hardening (running-config analysis, enable secrets, VTY access lists), VLAN architecture, 802.1Q tagging, Layer 2 attacks (ARP spoofing, MAC flooding, DHCP starvation, rogue DHCP), redundancy protocols (HSRP, VRRP, STP), firewall filtering architectures (stateless vs stateful inspection), IDS/IPS evasion, and wireless standards (802.11, WEP weaknesses, WPA/WPA2-PSK 4-way handshakes, WPA-Enterprise 802.1X/EAP).

• Host Security Assessment - Windows & Unix (Appendices E & F): Windows architecture, Security Account Manager (SAM), LSASS memory, NTLM authentication, Kerberos ticket exchange (AS-REQ/REP, TGS-REQ/REP, AP-REQ), Active Directory reconnaissance, Group Policy Objects, Kerberoasting, AS-REP roasting, Golden/Silver tickets, unquoted service paths, and SMB Null sessions; Unix/Linux file permissions (rwx, octal notation, SUID, SGID, sticky bit), /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow structure, sudoers NOPASSWD privileges, cron job hijacking, NFS exports (no_root_squash), and SSH hardening.

• Web Application Security & Testing (Appendices G, H, & I): HTTP/HTTPS request/response syntax, HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS, HEAD, TRACE), status codes, session management, cookie flags (Secure, HttpOnly, SameSite), OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities, SQL Injection (in-band, error-based, blind boolean/time-based, UNION-based), Cross-Site Scripting (Reflected, Stored, DOM-based), Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF), Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF), XML External Entity (XXE), Insecure Direct Object References (IDOR), command injection, and directory traversal / LFI.

• Database Security Assessment (Appendix J): Default database ports and services (Microsoft SQL Server 1433, Oracle TNS 1521, MySQL 3306, PostgreSQL 5432), default credentials, Microsoft SQL Server xp_cmdshell execution, Oracle SID enumeration, MySQL LOAD_FILE() operations, and PostgreSQL COPY execution privileges.

Course Structure & Realistic Exam Simulation

This course features 6 full-length practice tests, each structured with 120 multiple-choice questions to be completed within 120 minutes, matching the real Pearson VUE testing environment:

• Practice Test 1: Diagnostic Benchmark Test (120 Questions - 120 Minutes)

• Practice Test 2: Core Networking, Cryptography & OSINT Focus (120 Questions - 120 Minutes)

• Practice Test 3: Infrastructure, Equipment & Wireless Assessment (120 Questions - 120 Minutes)

• Practice Test 4: Windows & Unix Host Security Assessment (120 Questions - 120 Minutes)

• Practice Test 5: Web Applications & Database Security Assessment (120 Questions - 120 Minutes)

• Practice Test 6: Comprehensive Final Mock Exam (120 Questions - 120 Minutes)

Why Choose These Practice Tests?

• 100% Original Content: Every question is crafted from scratch based on official documentation, RFC standards, and syllabus requirements. No brain dumps or copied questions.

• Granular Explanations for Every Option: Each question provides a scenario-level breakdown and specific explanations for why the correct option is right and why every single distractor is wrong.

• Realistic Scenario Decisions: Questions place you in real-world assessment scenarios involving packet captures, configuration files, terminal commands, and ethical decision-making.

• Performance Tracking: Identify your strengths and pinpoint technical domains requiring further review before taking the official exam.

Important Disclaimers

This practice test course is an independent educational training resource designed to assist candidates in preparing for the CREST Practitioner Security Analyst (CPSA) certification. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or officially associated with CREST (Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers) or Pearson VUE. All registered trademarks, certification names, and acronyms (including CREST, CPSA, CRT, and Pearson VUE) are the intellectual property of their respective trademark holders. The questions provided in this course are original practice questions and do not duplicate real, confidential exam questions from live testing sessions.