Digital Forensic Certification Practice Exam

Which field in the IIS log entry signifies that the user was anonymous based on the extracted log data?

1. -

2. 192.168.0.10

3. Mozilla/5.0

4. 200

The correct answer is: -

In an IIS log entry, the field that indicates an anonymous user is represented by a dash (-). This character is used to denote that no authenticated username was provided, which typically means that the request was made anonymously. When a user accesses a web resource without logging in, the authentication process does not associate any user credentials with that request. Instead, the system records a dash in the username field, signaling that the access was made without specific user identification. The other options represent different types of information: an IP address identifies the source of the request; the user agent string indicates the browser or client making the request, providing details about the device or application; and a status code, like 200, represents the outcome of the request (in this case, a successful retrieval of the resource). None of these options imply anonymity in the same way that the dash does in the context of an IIS log entry.