Cyber Security Exam 2025 Update Questions With Answers.

CYBER SECURITY EXAM 2025 UPDATE QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS. define cybersecurity The protection of computer systems and networks from the theft of or damage to their hardware, software, or electronic data, as well as from the disruption or misdirection of the services they provide. the isolation fallacy isolation does not make a computer system invulnerable to risk -an isolated computer system has very limited utility What month is National Cyber Security Awareness Month? October types of malware -viruses -trojan horse -spyware -logic bomb -ransomware what is Stuxnet a malicious computer worm, reportedly used as attack weapon to damage Iran's uranium enrichment facility in 2007 and 2010 types of system intrusions -hackers -crackers: with malevolent intent social engineering breach through human nature what is wardriving the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks, usually from a moving vehicle using a laptop of smartphone Denial of Service (DoS) attacks Make a system or network resource unavailable to its intended users by disrupting services of a host -distributed denial-of-service attacks are from multiple sources web attack attacks intended to break web applications -SQL injection -cross site scripting insider threats from people within the organization (employees, former employees, contractors or business associates) who have legitimate access types of insider threats - malicious insiders intentionally use their legitimate access to get data or intellectual property types of insider threats - careless insiders Ignore security rules or policies types of insider threats - compromised insiders accounts are compromised and exploited by cyber criminals CIA triad (the three tenets of information security) 1. protect the CONFIDENTIALITY of data 2. preserve the INTEGRITY of data 3. promote the AVAILABILITY of data for authorized entity DAD triad from a hacker's view disclosure, alteration, denial three pillars of cybersecurity 1. people 2. process 3. technology first pillars of cybersecurity - people people create risk, they are important asset and the first line of defense second pillar of cybersecurity - process mechanisms to achieve cybersecurity strategies or goals third pillar of cybersecurity - technology integrated tools for threat detection and mitigation human factors in cyber security humans are the weakest link in security -technologies themselves do not guarantee a secure usage -we need to understand how users interact with technologies and use them effectively organizational factors in cybersecurity policies, culture, and management support -high workload and low staffing create a conflict of interest between functionality and information security human factors include: lack of motivation -lack of awareness -risky belief -risky behavior -inadequate use of technology creating usable security systems security systems should be understandable, easy to locate, be visible, and be convenient what is cryptography the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties called adversaries -it is the art to write or decipher secret code types of cryptography -password hashing -encrypted emails -encrypted online payments -disk encryption -bitcoin classic cryptograph before computer age, cryptograph focused on message confidentiality substitution methods: replace letters or letter groups -Caesar cipher -ROT 13 -Multi-alphabet substitution -enigma transposition method: re-arrange the order of letters Caesar Cipher -developed in ancient Rome -named after Julius Caesar, who used it with a shift of three to protect important military messages -letters shift 3 back (D becomes A, E becomes B, etc) why is Caesar cipher not secure? it only has 26 possible keys (from 0 to 25) -can be easily hacked using "brute force" technique ROT 13 a special case of Caesar cipher -replace a letter with the 13th letter after it multi-alphabet substitution an improvement on the Caesar cipher -use multiple numbers to shift letters ex: "lazy dog" becomes "mccz frh" --L = M, A =C, Z=C-- a transposition cipher unlike substitution methods, a transposition cipher does not replace letters, it changes the order of letters Rail fence (transposition) -set the number of "rails" (key of the cipher) -write the plain text diagonally on successive "rails" modern cryptography much more secure than classic methods. -two main types: -symmetric and assymetric symmetric cryptography (aka secret-key/private-key/shared-key cryptography) -uses the SAME key to encrypt and decrypt the plaintext -its simple and fast, but high risk if the key is leaked to an intruder popular algorithms in symmetric cryptography Data encryption standard (DES), advanced encryption standard (AES), etc asymmetric cryptography (aka public-key cryptography) -uses different keys to encrypt and decrypt messages popular algorithms of asymmetric cryptography RSA, Diffie-Hellman, DSA, etc Public key encryption digital signatures used to verify the authenticity of messages, ensure integrity and non-repudiation -use asymmetric encryption in reverse order symmetric vs asymmetric cryptography Symmetric: -algorithms are faster -key must be transferred through external means Asymmetric: -algorithms are slower and more complex -RSA is not appropriate to encrypt long messages -more secure with two keys hashing -a core element of a digital signature systems -a method of validating the integrity of content by detecting modification of the content Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) -most widely used authentication to verify that "you are who you say you are" authorization to verify that "you are permitted to do what you are trying to do" authentication factors: knowledge factors -something the user knows (password, personal identification number, security question etc) authentication factors: ownership factors -something the user has (ID card, security token, implanted device, cell phone with built-in hardware token, etc) Authentication factors: inherence factors -something the user is or does (fingerprint, retinal pattern, signature, face, voice, keystroke dynamics, mouse dynamics, etc) single-factor authentication -only one factor is used to authenticate users -not recommended for critical systems multi-factor authentication -use multiple types of authentication factors magic number seven (plus or minus two) human's short-term memory has limited capacity -according to Miller, most adults can store 5 to 9 items in their short-term memory password selection -length -composition- use alphabetic, numeric, and punctuation characters -avoidance of reusing passwords from other systems -avoidance of dictionary words and personal information password management -avoid writing passwords down -do not share with other people -change passwords regularly keyspace the range of possible values of a random key where c is the number of different values for each character; n is the length of the key entropy measures the variation of uncertainty in bits SSO (single sign-on -use a single ID and password to access multiple systems -it reduces the number of passwords the user is required to remember tokens aka identity token, security token, access token -it is a physical device or software that is used to gain access to an electronically restricted resource physiological biometrics -face print -facial thermogram -fingerprints -hand geometry -iris pattern -retinal pattern -vein pattern behavioral biometrics -gaits -keystroke dynamics -linguistic style -mouse dynamics -signature recognition -touch dynamics -voiceprint biometric identification "who is this person?", -one-to-many matching: match against all existing biometrics in the datbase biometric verification "is this person who she says she is?" -one-to-one matching: match against only the person's biometric in the database security challenges of biometrics -biometric spoofing: use artificial replications of biometric sample to trick system privacy challenges of biometrics -personal data can be easily collected without consent -geolocation tracking technologies make constant surveillance easier -biometric identification stored in databased can be hacked risk assesment risk assessment is a very common activity in cybersecurity lifecycle. -what are the vulnerabilities? -What is the likelihood that a vulnerability is exploited? -What is the impact? "penetrate and patch" strategy used by security companies only addresses superficial, usually fleeting problems issues of risk assessment -it is often difficult to calculate risk -indirect human factors are often ignored due to the difficulty of assessing them