Security Questions & Answers

Question 1
While most attacks take advantage of vulnerabilities that someone has already uncovered, a(n) ____ occurs when an attacker discovers and exploits a previously unknown flaw.


Correct Answer: zero day

Question 2
In a ____ attack, attackers can attackers use hundreds or thousands of computers in an attack against a single computer or network.


Correct Answer: distributed

Question 3
_____ ensures that only authorized parties can view information.


Correct Answer: Confidentiality

Question 4
_____ ensures that information is correct and that no unauthorized person or malicious software has altered that data.


Correct Answer: Integrity

Question 5
In information security, a loss can be _____.


Correct Answer: all of the above

Question 6
In information security, a threat agent can be defined as _____.


Correct Answer: both a and b

Question 7
Business ____ theft involves stealing proprietary business information such as research for a new drug or a list of customers that competitors are eager to acquire.


Correct Answer: data

Question 8
According to the 2007 FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey, the loss due to the theft of confidential data for 494 respondents was approximately ____.


Correct Answer: $10 million

Question 9
____ involves using someone’s personal information, such as social security numbers, to establish bank or credit card accounts that are then left unpaid, leaving the victim with the debts and ruining their credit rating.


Correct Answer: Identity theft

Question 10
Under the _____ , healthcare enterprises must guard protected health information and implement policies and procedures to safeguard it, whether it be in paper or electronic format.


Correct Answer: HIPAA

Question 11
What is the maximum fine for those who wrongfully disclose individually identifiable health information with the intent to sell it?


Correct Answer: $250,000

Question 12
The _____ act is designed to broaden the surveillance of law enforcement agencies so they can detect and suppress terrorism.


Correct Answer: USA Patriot

Question 13
COPPA requires operators of online services or Web sites designed for children under the age of _____ to obtain parental consent prior to the collection, use, disclosure, or display of a child’s personal information.


Correct Answer: 13

Question 14
In a company of 500 employees, it is estimated that _____ employees would be required to combat a virus attack.


Correct Answer: five

Question 15
The single most expensive malicious attack was the 2000 ____, which cost an estimated $8.7 billion.


Correct Answer: Love Bug

Question 16
What is another name for unsolicited e-mail messages?


Correct Answer: spam

Question 17
According to the research group Postini, over ____ of daily e-mail messages are unsolicited and could be carrying a malicious payload.


Correct Answer: two-thirds

Question 18
____ are a loose-knit network of attackers, identity thieves, and financial fraudsters.


Correct Answer: Cybercriminals

Question 19
Targeted attacks against financial networks, unauthorized access to information, and the theft of personal information is sometimes known as ____.


Correct Answer: cybercrime

Question 20
A security ____ focuses on the administration and management of plans, policies, and people.


Correct Answer: manager

Question 21
A study by Foote Partners showed that security certifications earn employees ____ percent more pay than their uncertified counterparts.


Correct Answer: 10 to 14

Question 22
A computer ____ is a program that secretly attaches itself to a legitimate “carrier,” such as a document or program, and then executes when that document is opened or program is launched.


Correct Answer: virus

Question 23
A ____ virus can interrupt almost any function executed by the computer operating system and alter it for its own malicious purposes.


Correct Answer: resident

Question 24
A ____ virus infects the Master Boot Record of a hard disk drive.


Correct Answer: boot

Question 25
In order to avoid detection some viruses can alter how they appear. These are known as ____ viruses.


Correct Answer: metamorphic

Question 26
A ____ is a program advertised as performing one activity but actually does something else.


Correct Answer: Trojan

Question 27
A ____ is a computer program or a part of a program that lies dormant until it is triggered by a specific logical event.


Correct Answer: logic bomb

Question 28
____ is an image spam that is divided into multiple images.


Correct Answer: GIF layering

Question 29
____ involves horizontally separating words, although it is still readable by the human eye.


Correct Answer: Word splitting

Question 30
____ uses “speckling” and different colors so that no two spam e-mails appear to be the same.


Correct Answer: Geometric variance

Question 31
____ is a software program that delivers advertising content in a manner that is unexpected and unwanted by the user.


Correct Answer: Adware

Question 32
Today’s computer systems have a(n) ____ chip in which the contents can be rewritten to provide new functionality.


Correct Answer: PROM

Question 33
Flash memory is a type of ____, nonvolatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and rewritten repeatedly.


Correct Answer: EEPROM

Question 34
A ____ is a single, dedicated hard disk-based file storage device that provides centralized and consolidated disk storage available to LAN users through a standard network connection.


Correct Answer: NAS

Question 35
____ are portable communication devices that function in a manner that is unlike wired telephones.


Correct Answer: Cell phones

Question 36
The ____ is the link between the cellular network and the wired telephone world and controls all transmitters and base stations in the cellular network.


Correct Answer: MTSO

Question 37
____ is a means of managing and presenting computer resources by function without regard to their physical layout or location.


Correct Answer: Virtualization

Question 38
One type of virtualization in which an entire operating system environment is simulated is known as ____ virtualization.


Correct Answer: operating system

Question 39
With operating system virtualization, a virtual machine is simulated as a self-contained software environment by the ____ system (the native operating system to the hardware).


Correct Answer: host

Question 40
Creating and managing multiple server operating systems is known as ____ virtualization.


Correct Answer: server

Question 41
____ technology enables a virtual machine to be moved to a different physical computer with no impact to the users.


Correct Answer: Live migration

Question 42
Live migration can be used for ____; if the demand for a service or application increases, then network managers can quickly move this high-demand virtual machine to another physical server with more RAM or CPU resources.


Correct Answer: load balancing

Question 43
A ____ is a cumulative package of all security updates plus additional features.


Correct Answer: service pack

Question 44
____ is a Windows Vista and Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) feature that prevents attackers from using buffer overflow to execute malware.


Correct Answer: DEP

Question 45
The goal of ____ is to make it harder to predict where the operating system functionality resides in memory.


Correct Answer: ASLR

Question 46
The ____ are the operating system settings that impose how the policy will be enforced.


Correct Answer: configuration baselines

Question 47
Instead of the Web server asking the user for the same information each time she visits that site, the server can store that user-specific information in a file on the user’s local computer and then retrieve it later. This file is called a(n) ____.


Correct Answer: cookie

Question 48
A(n) ____ is a computer programming language that is typically interpreted into a language the computer can understand.


Correct Answer: scripting language

Question 49
____, also called add-ons, represent a specific way of implementing ActiveX and are sometimes called ActiveX applications.


Correct Answer: ActiveX controls

Question 50
____ typically involves using client-side scripts written in JavaScript that are designed to extract information from the victim and then pass the information to the attacker.


Correct Answer: Cross site scripting (XSS)

Question 51
____ is a process of ensuring that any inputs are “clean” and will not corrupt the system.


Correct Answer: Input validation

Question 52
____ is a language used to view and manipulate data that is stored in a relational database.


Correct Answer: SQL

Question 53
____ hinges on an attacker being able to enter an SQL database query into a dynamic Web page.


Correct Answer: SQL injection

Question 54
Regarding e-mail, ____ handles outgoing mail.


Correct Answer: SMTP

Question 55
Regarding e-mail, ____ is responsible for incoming mail.


Correct Answer: POP3

Question 56
SMTP servers can forward e-mail sent from an e-mail client to a remote domain. This is known as ____.


Correct Answer: SMTP relay

Question 57
If SMTP relay is not controlled, an attacker can use it to forward thousands of spam e-mail messages. An uncontrolled SMTP relay is known as a(n) ____.


Correct Answer: SMTP open relay

Question 58
____ is real-time communication between two or more users.


Correct Answer: Instant messaging (IM)

Question 59
____ are active Internet connections that download a specific file that is available through a tracker.


Correct Answer: Torrents

Question 60
In a P2P network, a ____ is a server program operated by the person or organization that wants to share the file.


Correct Answer: tracker

Question 61
BitTorrent maximizes the transfer speed by gathering pieces of the file and downloading these pieces simultaneously from users who already have them (the collective pieces are called a ____).


Correct Answer: swarm

Question 62
A(n) ____ is a small Web browser window that appears over the Web site that is being viewed.


Correct Answer: popup

Question 63
The ____ record is an entry in the Domain Name System (DNS) that identifies the mail server responsible for handling that domain name.


Correct Answer: MX

Question 64
____ allows the administrator to configure a switch to redirect traffic that occurs on some or all ports to a designated monitoring port on the switch.


Correct Answer: Port mirroring

Question 65
A(n) ____ is an account that is secretly set up without the administrator’s knowledge or permission, that cannot be easily detected, and that allows for remote access to the device.


Correct Answer: back door

Question 66
In a “____ attack,” a TCP/IP ping request is sent to all computers on the network, which makes it appear that a server is asking for a response.


Correct Answer: smurf

Question 67
With wireless CSMA/CA, the amount of time that a device must wait after the medium is clear is called the ____.


Correct Answer: slot time

Question 68
____ specifies that before a networked device starts to send, it should first listen (called carrier sensing) to see if any other device is transmitting.


Correct Answer: CSMA/CD

Question 69
A(n) ____ attack makes a copy of the transmission before sending it to the recipient.


Correct Answer: replay

Question 70
The most common protocol suite used today for networks as well as the Internet is ____.


Correct Answer: TCP/IP

Question 71
____ is a popular protocol used to manage network equipment.


Correct Answer: SNMP

Question 72
When TCP/IP was developed, the host table concept was expanded to a hierarchical name system known as the ____.


Correct Answer: DNS

Question 73
One approach to substituting a fraudulent IP address is to target the external DNS server and is called ____.


Correct Answer: DNS poisoning

Question 74
DNS poisoning can be prevented by using the latest editions of the DNS software, ____.


Correct Answer: BIND

Question 75
In order for a host using TCP/IP on an Ethernet network to find the MAC address of another device, it uses ____.


Correct Answer: ARP

Question 76
An attacker could alter the MAC address in the ARP cache so that the corresponding IP address would point to a different computer, which is known as ____.


Correct Answer: ARP poisoning

Question 77
____ enables the attacker’s computer to forward any network traffic it receives from Computer A to the actual router.


Correct Answer: IP forwarding

Question 78
At regular intervals a wireless AP sends a beacon frame to announce its presence and to provide the necessary information for devices that want to join the network. This process is known as ____.


Correct Answer: beaconing

Question 79
Each wireless device looks for beacon frames in a process known as ____.


Correct Answer: scanning

Question 80
Wireless location mapping is the formal expression for ____.


Correct Answer: war driving

Question 81
The most common type of antenna for war driving is an omnidirectional antenna, also known as a ____ antenna.


Correct Answer: dipole

Question 82
____ is the name given to a wireless technology that uses short-range RF transmissions.


Correct Answer: Bluetooth

Question 83
A group of piconets in which connections exist between different piconets is called a ____.


Correct Answer: scatternet

Question 84
____ is the unauthorized access of information from a wireless device through a Bluetooth connection.


Correct Answer: Bluesnarfing

Question 85
Using ____, networks can essentially be divided into three parts: network, subnet, and host.


Correct Answer: subnetting

Question 86
____ switches are connected directly to the devices on the network.


Correct Answer: Workgroup

Question 87
____ are subdivisions of IP address class (Class A, B, or C) networks and allow a single Class A, B, or C network to be used instead of multiple networks.


Correct Answer: Subnets

Question 88
____ IP addresses are not assigned to any specific user or organization; instead, they can be used by any user on the private internal network.


Correct Answer: Private

Question 89
A variation of NAT is ____. Instead of giving each outgoing packet a different IP address, each packet is given the same IP address but a different TCP port number.


Correct Answer: PAT

Question 90
____ examines the current state of a system or network device before it is allowed to connect to the network.


Correct Answer: NAC

Question 91
The goal of ____ is to prevent computers with sub-optimal security from potentially infecting other computers through the network.


Correct Answer: NAC

Question 92
____ packet filtering keeps a record of the state of a connection between an internal computer and an external server and then makes decisions based on the connection as well as the rule base.


Correct Answer: Stateful

Question 93
The goal of a ____ is to hide the IP address of client systems inside the secure network.


Correct Answer: proxy server

Question 94
A ____ is a computer typically located in a DMZ that is loaded with software and data files that appear to be authentic, yet they are actually imitations of real data files.


Correct Answer: honeypot

Question 95
____ honeypots are used mainly by organizations to capture limited information regarding attacks on that organization’s honeypot.


Correct Answer: Production

Question 96
____ honeypots are complex to deploy and capture extensive information. These are used primarily by research, military, and government organizations.


Correct Answer: Research

Question 97
A(n) ____ attempts to identify inappropriate activity.


Correct Answer: IDS

Question 98
A software-based ____ attempt to monitor and possibly prevent attempts to attack a local system.


Correct Answer: HIDS

Question 99
A ____ watches for attempts to penetrate a network.


Correct Answer: NIDS

Question 100
A(n) ____ finds malicious traffic and deals with it immediately.


Correct Answer: IPS

Question 101
A ____ is an instruction that interrupts the program being executed and requests a service from the operating system.


Correct Answer: system call

Question 102
____ work to protect the entire network and all devices that are connected to it.


Correct Answer: NIPS

Question 103
____ are designed to inspect traffic, and based on their configuration or security policy, they can drop malicious traffic.


Correct Answer: NIPS

Question 104
____ can fully decode application-layer network protocols. Once these protocols are decoded, the different parts of the protocol can be analyzed for any suspicious behavior.


Correct Answer: Protocol analyzers

Question 105
____ monitor Internet traffic and block access to preselected Web sites and files.


Correct Answer: Internet content filters

Question 106
In the early 1980s, the IEEE began work on developing computer network architecture standards. This work was called ____, and it quickly expanded into several different categories of network technology.


Correct Answer: Project 802

Question 107
This IEEE ____ standard specifies a maximum rated speed of 54 Mbps using the 5 GHz spectrum.


Correct Answer: 802.11a

Question 108
____ was designed to ensure that only authorized parties can view transmitted wireless information.


Correct Answer: WEP

Question 109
WEP accomplishes confidentiality by taking unencrypted text and then encrypting or “scrambling” it into ____ so that it cannot be viewed by unauthorized parties while being transmitted.


Correct Answer: ciphertext

Question 110
The plaintext to be transmitted has a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value calculated, which is a checksum based on the contents of the text. WEP calls this the ____ and appends it to the end of the text.


Correct Answer: integrity check value (ICV)

Question 111
The PRNG in WEP is based on the ____ cipher algorithm.


Correct Answer: RC4

Question 112
A(n) ____ frame carries information about the data rates that the device can support along with the Service Set Identifier (SSID) of the network it wants to join.


Correct Answer: association request

Question 113
____ authentication is based upon the fact that only pre-approved wireless devices are given the shared key.


Correct Answer: Shared key

Question 114
At regular intervals a wireless AP sends a beacon frame to announce its presence and to provide the necessary information for devices that want to join the network. This process is known as ____.


Correct Answer: beaconing

Question 115
With ____ scanning, a wireless device simply listens for a beacon frame for a set period of time.


Correct Answer: passive

Question 116
Mobile devices constantly survey the radio frequencies at regular intervals to determine if a different AP can provide better service. If it finds one, then the device automatically attempts to associate with the new AP (this process is called ____).


Correct Answer: a handoff

Question 117
In 2002, the WECA organization changed its name to ____.


Correct Answer: Wi-Fi Alliance

Question 118
In order to address growing wireless security concerns, in October 2003 the Wi-Fi Alliance introduced ____.


Correct Answer: WPA

Question 119
Access points have a setting called “____,” which is what the PSK uses as a seed value to generate new keys.


Correct Answer: Group Key Renewal

Question 120
WPA replaces WEP with an encryption technology called ____.


Correct Answer: TKIP

Question 121
WPA also replaces the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) function in WEP with the ____.


Correct Answer: MIC

Question 122
____ is intended for personal and small office home office users who do not have advanced server capabilities.


Correct Answer: PSK

Question 123
Encryption under the WPA2 personal security model is accomplished by ____.


Correct Answer: AES-CCMP

Question 124
IEEE 802.11i authentication and key management is accomplished by the IEEE ____ standard.


Correct Answer: 802.1x

Question 125
IEEE 802.11i includes ____, which stores information from a device on the network so if a user roams away from a wireless access point and later returns, he does not need to re-enter all of the credentials.


Correct Answer: key-caching

Question 126
____ allows a device to become authenticated to an AP before moving into range of the AP.


Correct Answer: Pre-authentication