Digital Forensic Certification Practice Exam

What type of data is contained within the .data section of a portable executable file?

1. Program's global data accessible from anywhere

2. Import and export information

3. Resource information such as icons

4. Debugging information

The correct answer is: Program's global data accessible from anywhere

The .data section of a portable executable (PE) file contains the program's global data that is accessible from anywhere within the application. This section typically includes initialized global and static variables, which are essential for the program's execution and state management. Global data is any variable that can be accessed throughout the different functions and modules of the code once the program is loaded into memory. This allows the program to maintain state information and share data across various parts of the codebase. Therefore, it plays a crucial role in the program's operation and is essential for the correct functioning of applications that rely on global variables. The other types of information mentioned—like import and export information, resource information, and debugging data—are organized in separate sections of the PE file. Import and export information is generally found in the import and export tables, while resource information such as icons is located in the resource section. Debugging information would typically reside in a .pdb (program database) file or related debugging sections. Thus, the focus on global data in the .data section is what makes this answer the best choice.