Splunk Fundamentals 1 Practice Exam

What is the output of the command: index=security sourcetype=linux_secure | stats count by user, app, vendor_action?

1. Counts the total number of security events.

2. Counts the number of events by user, app, and vendor action.

3. Counts the distinct app and vendor combinations.

4. Counts failed login attempts only.

The correct answer is: Counts the number of events by user, app, and vendor action.

The command provided is structured to perform a statistical analysis on events from the specified index and sourcetype. By using the `stats` command with the `count` function and the `by` clause, the output is designed to aggregate counts of events based on the distinct combinations of the fields specified: user, app, and vendor_action. Choosing to count by user, app, and vendor_action means that the results will group together all events that share the same values for these fields and provide the count of those occurrences. This allows for a detailed breakdown of how many events are associated with each unique combination of user, application, and vendor action. It's a powerful way to analyze security events in the context of user activity and the applications they are accessing. Other options do not accurately reflect the specificity of the output generated by this command. Counting total events would not provide the detailed granularity offered by grouping. Counting distinct app and vendor combinations overlooks the user aspect, which is crucial here. Lastly, identifying only failed login attempts is far too narrow, as the command does not filter for that specific condition but encompasses all events within the given parameters. Thus, the correct choice highlights the multifaceted aggregation of the data as intended by the command.