10.3 Security Architecture Flashcards
Introduction to Cybersecurity Architecture and Infrastructure
What is cybersecurity architecture?
The design, structure, and implementation of security measures to protect an organization’s digital assets from unauthorized access, data breaches, and cyberattacks.
What does cybersecurity architecture involve?
Strategic planning and deployment of security solutions across networks, systems, applications, and endpoints to mitigate risks and ensure robust defense mechanisms.
What is cybersecurity infrastructure?
The underlying framework of hardware, software, networks, and resources that make up an organization’s IT environment.
What is the role of cybersecurity infrastructure?
Integrating security protocols, technologies, and practices into the IT framework to fortify defenses, detect and respond to threats, and maintain the integrity and availability of critical assets and services.
What are the key goals of cybersecurity architecture and infrastructure?
To safeguard sensitive data, mitigate risks, and ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.
Why should security be integrated into architecture from the beginning?
To prevent costly retrofits, enhance resilience, mitigate risks, support compliance, and foster trust.
What is one advantage of integrating security from the outset in system design?
It prevents costly retrofits by avoiding the need for complex, time-consuming, and expensive rework.
How does integrating security into architecture enhance resilience?
By creating a strong foundation that equips systems to withstand attacks and maintain functionality, even in the face of evolving cyber threats.
How does early integration of security help mitigate risks?
It allows organizations to identify and mitigate risks early in the development process through thorough risk assessments and appropriate controls.
How does embedding security into architecture support compliance?
It helps organizations more easily meet regulatory requirements and industry standards for protecting sensitive data.
What role does security play in fostering trust?
Prioritizing security from the start demonstrates an organization’s commitment to protecting sensitive information and maintaining trust with customers, partners, and stakeholders.
What are the principles of “Secure by Design” and “Secure by Default”?
“Secure by Design” focuses on integrating security from the start, while “Secure by Default” ensures products are secure out of the box without needing user intervention.
What does CISA’s “Secure by Design” principle emphasize?
Creating architecture and infrastructure with security in mind from the beginning to enhance security across critical sectors.
How is integrating security into architecture like laying a strong foundation for a building?
It ensures stability, resilience, and longevity in the system, similar to how a solid foundation ensures the durability of a building.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is a
practice that allows organizations to manage and provision IT infrastructure through code rather than manual processes. It involves writing configuration files or scripts to automate the deployment, configuration, and management of infrastructure components, such as virtual machines, networks, and storage resources. Understanding IaC is crucial for cybersecurity professionals as it enables consistent and reproducible infrastructure deployments while enhancing security and compliance.
Key Points:
- Automation: IaC automates the provisioning and configuration of infrastructure, reducing the likelihood of human error and ensuring consistency across environments.
- Scalability: By treating infrastructure as code, organizations can easily scale resources up or down to meet changing demands, improving agility and cost-effectiveness.
- Security: IaC promotes security best practices by allowing security controls to be codified and applied consistently across all infrastructure deployments.
- Auditing and Compliance: With IaC, organizations can track changes to infrastructure configurations, maintain audit trails, and enforce compliance requirements more effectively.
What is serverless computing?
A cloud computing model where cloud providers manage the allocation and provisioning of server resources, allowing developers to focus on code without managing infrastructure.
What does “serverless” imply in serverless architectures?
It means developers don’t need to manage the underlying servers, though servers are still involved and managed by the cloud provider.
What is Function-as-a-Service (FaaS)?
A model where applications are broken into smaller functions that are executed in response to events, such as HTTP requests or database changes.
How does serverless computing provide scalability?
It automatically scales resources based on demand, making it highly scalable and cost-efficient for applications with unpredictable workloads.
What operational benefit does serverless computing offer?
It reduces operational overhead by eliminating the need to provision and manage servers, simplifying deployment and maintenance.
What are some security considerations in serverless environments?
Securing function code, managing access controls, implementing strong authentication and authorization, encryption, and monitoring security incidents.
What example highlights the importance of security in serverless computing?
Cybersecurity teams need to protect sensitive data and functions with strong authentication, authorization, and encryption, while monitoring for vulnerabilities and unauthorized access.
What is a key takeaway for security in serverless computing?
Serverless computing offers scalability and operational efficiency but requires robust security measures to defend against potential threats and vulnerabilities.
Microservices architecture is a
software development approach where applications are composed of small, independent services that communicate with each other through well-defined APIs. Each microservice is responsible for a specific business function and can be developed, deployed, and scaled independently. Understanding microservices architecture is essential for cybersecurity professionals as it introduces new security considerations and challenges in distributed and decentralized environments.
Key Points:
- Decomposition: Microservices break down applications into smaller, loosely coupled services, enabling teams to develop and deploy components independently, improving agility and time-to-market.
- Scalability: Microservices architectures allow organizations to scale individual services based on demand, providing flexibility and cost-efficiency for applications with varying workloads.
- Fault Isolation: Isolating services minimizes the impact of failures, improving the resilience and reliability of applications in distributed environments.
- Security Challenges: Microservices introduce security challenges such as securing inter-service communication, managing access controls, and ensuring data privacy and integrity across distributed components.
What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing services, including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, and more, over the internet.
How has cloud computing transformed IT resource management?
It has introduced scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency, allowing organizations to dynamically deploy and manage IT resources over the internet.
What is the fundamental shift cloud computing represents?
It shifts from traditional on-premises data centers to a dynamic, scalable model that provides computing services via the internet.
Why is cloud computing considered more cost-efficient?
Cloud computing allows organizations to pay for resources as they use them, avoiding the need for large upfront investments in hardware and infrastructure.
How does cloud computing provide scalability?
Cloud providers offer the ability to automatically scale resources up or down based on demand, ensuring optimal performance without over-provisioning.
What are the key benefits of cloud computing?
Scalability, flexibility, cost-efficiency, and the ability to access resources over the internet from anywhere.
What are two pivotal considerations when adopting cloud computing?
Security and compliance, as cloud environments must be protected against threats and adhere to regulatory requirements.
What is the responsibility matrix in cloud computing?
It outlines the division of security responsibilities between the cloud service provider (CSP) and the customer, based on the shared responsibility model.
What are the CSP’s main responsibilities in the responsibility matrix?
The CSP is responsible for securing the physical environment, underlying infrastructure, virtualization software, and the software used to deliver cloud services.
