Order your posture signals by how forgeable they are
Task
Collect every device posture signal your lab can produce, rank them by forgeability, and demonstrate that a self-reported signal can be changed by the thing reporting it.
Steps
- Enumerate every posture signal available into
lab/posture.csvwith headersignal,source,hardware_rooted,forgeable_by_os,used_in_policy. - Include at least six: boot measurements if available, disk encryption, protection running, patch level, management enrolment, and a self-reported agent claim.
- Change ONE self-reported signal on the machine so it reports a false value, and capture the management console still showing compliant in
lab/posture-forged.txt. - Restore the true value.
- Write
lab/posture-note.mdnaming which signals survive a compromised operating system and which do not, and what that means for a posture check performed only at connection.
Verify
awk -F, 'NR>1 {n++} END {print n" signal(s)"}' lab/posture.csv
awk -F, 'NR>1 && $3=="yes" {n++} END {print n+0" hardware-rooted"}' lab/posture.csv
awk -F, 'NR>1 && $4=="yes" {n++} END {print n+0" forgeable by the OS"}' lab/posture.csv
test -s lab/posture-forged.txt && echo "forgery demonstrated"
grep -Eci 'continuous|re-evaluat|at connection' lab/posture-note.md
Six or more signals ranked, at least one demonstrably forgeable, and the note addressing continuous re-evaluation. If nothing in your list is forgeable by the operating system, you have not included a self-reported agent claim.
This is an independent study companion for CompTIA SecurityX CAS-005 and is not produced by or endorsed by CompTIA.