CertByte: ISC2® Certified in Cybersecurity
By Chris Hare, N2K Project Management Specialist and Content Developer
Jan 22, 2025

CertByte is a bi-weekly blog and segment on the CyberWire Daily podcast hosted by Chris Hare, a content developer and project management specialist at N2K. On CertByte, we share practice questions from our suite of industry-leading content and a study tip to help you achieve the professional certifications you need to fast-track your career growth. View our CertByte series on YouTube.

CertByte: ISC2® Certified in Cybersecurity

On this edition of CertByte, we discuss a question from N2K’s ISC2® Certified in Cybersecurity (CC) practice test. 

As your news-to-knowledge partner, N2K will advance your career while bringing you the industry news and trends that help you stay a step ahead. Through our bi-weekly episodes of CertByte on the CyberWire Daily podcast, and these companion articles, we aim to support your certification journey and fast-track your career growth in IT, cybersecurity, and project management. As your host, I or my guest will share a practice question from N2K’s suite of industry-leading content and a study tip (or study “bit” as I like to call it) to increase your confidence and readiness on exam day.   

In this segment, my new guest host Steven Burnley and I break down a question from N2K's ISC2 Certified in Cybersecurity (CC) Practice Test. The CC exam is meant for candidates who are college students or grads, IT professionals, or career changers wanting to pivot to the cybersecurity industry. As always, the question we shared is a sample from N2K's ISC2 Certified in Cybersecurity (CC) Practice Test*, and not from the actual ISC2 exam. 

Quick ISC2 CC study bit.

Here’s an important study bit from Steven that you should know before you sit for the live exam: Study not only the correct answers but also the incorrect ones, as these are usually answers to other questions on the exam. Also, be sure to read the answer explanations at the bottom of the N2K’s practice test, as these help to further illuminate your learning. 

This week’s question.

You use a computer on a TCP/IP network to transfer data through well-known TCP port 80.

Which protocol is most likely being used to transfer data?

Answer choices: 

  1. FTP
  2. POP3
  3. SMTP
  4. HTTP

Working through the logic of each answer choice.

Before considering each answer option, I checked the exam’s objectives. This particular question falls under the “Network Security” objective and the “Understand computer networking” sub-objective. Given I used a mnemonic technique for this type of question (more on that later!), I took the leap of faith and immediately answered: “D. HTTP.”

Steven let me know that we were off to a great start. HTTP, also known as Hypertext Transfer Protocol, is assigned to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) port 80, which is a port you will need to know for the exam. HTTP is used to transfer data between Web browsers and Web servers on a TCP/IP network. HTTP is a stateless protocol, which means that neither the server nor the client collects or maintains information about one another. 

True to his advice about studying the incorrect answer options, Steven went through the remaining choices, all of which should be known for the exam. FTP, also known as File Transfer Protocol, uses the well-known TCP ports 20 and 21. FTP is used to transfer files or data between FTP clients and FTP servers on a TCP/IP network. 

POP3, also known as Post Office Protocol 3, uses well-known TCP port 110. POP3 is used to transfer email messages from email servers to email clients. 

Finally, SMPT, which stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and is also related to email, uses well-known TCP port 25. SMTP is used to transfer email messages between email servers, or to transfer email messages from clients to servers in older environments. 

Steven asked me about my memorization technique, as it had obviously been successful. I shared that there are a lot of clever mnemonics out there for ports and protocols. For example, to remember the protocol for port 80, you could memorize the phrase "Hold the Phone [HTP], I see a Ghost," since the number 80 looks like a sideways ghost face. However, I found it was easiest to associate the number 80 with the fact that the HTTP protocol came out in 1989. I asked Steven for examples of other helpful memorization techniques, and he advised against memorizing all the words in an acronym. For example, he would think of HTTP as “hyper” and SMTP as “simple.” That way, he only has to memorize one easily pronounceable word, rather than a whole phrase. I then opened it up for our CertByte listeners out there to please comment and share memorization techniques that have worked for them.

I wanted to also underscore that the CC exam is one where you are not allowed to mark items for review, which makes the exam even more challenging. I asked Steven if he thought this was due to the fact that it is an adaptive exam, but he did not think this was the case. He felt the exam is balanced to cover the particular weighting coverage of each of the exam topics, or domains, as ISC2 notes in their content outline on their website

In other product news, Steven shared there is an update coming up in early 2025 of ISC2’s CISSP exam. N2K also updated the framework for Cisco’s CCNA exam in September 2024. We also have several more Microsoft, CompTIA, and Amazon practice test updates coming soon, so keep a lookout on our website or subscribe to our monthly newsletter

Want more help with this exam?

Whether you are actively studying for the CC exam or would like to suggest a future certification question, email us at certbyte at n2k.com.

Premium certification prep tools.

If you're studying for an IT, cybersecurity, or project management certification exam, check out N2K’s full exam prep library of certification practice tests, practice labs, and training courses by visiting our website at n2k.com/certify. To get the full news-to-knowledge experience, learn more about our N2K Pro subscription at https://thecyberwire.com/pro.

Explore key terms from the CC certification.

Visit N2K CyberWire’s glossary to dive deeper into these key terms, listed in the order discussed in our segment: ISC2®, TCP/IP, network, data, TCP, port, protocol, HTTP, browser, server, stateless protocol, client, FTP, POP3, email, SMTP, and environment.

Happy certifying!


*For sources and citations for this practice question, please check out our show notes.