Emily is analyzing the logs for one of the servers in her organization. She sees three failed attempts to log in with an incorrect password. She then sees continued attempts to log in with a different error message. Which of the following could be the reason the error message changed?
A) The server was compromised after the third failed password attempt.
B) The server's time was changed so the authentication attempts failed because of a different reason.
C) The account is now locked after 3 failed attempts, so the error message has most likely changed from a failed password to one reflecting a locked account.
D) The server configuration has changed.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The change in error message after multiple failed login attempts is commonly due to account lockout policies. After a specified number of failed attempts (in this case, three), the account is locked to prevent unauthorized access, changing the error message from one indicating a wrong password to one indicating the account is locked.

Emily Is Analyzing the Logs for One of the Servers