4.2 Preventing vulnerabilities Flashcards
List different ways to prevent vulnerabilities against attacks
- Penetration testing
- Anti malware software
- Firewall
- Use access levels
- Password
- Encryption
- Physical security
Penetration testing
Penn testing is the practice of deliberately trying to find the security role in your own systems
Goal of penetration testing
Identify the targets of possible attacks
Identify possible entry points
Attempts to break in
Report back findings
Anti malware software
They detect malware and it gets sent to the anti virus company and verify whether it’s malware or not and then create signature of the virus
Then it is added to the database and tell computers to update
What is a result of virus morph
It makes it harder to create a signature
External penetration test
The objective is to find out whether a hacker can get in, and once they’re in, find out how far they can get into the system
External penetration test targets?
Email servers, web servers or firewalls
Internal Penetration test
The objective is as an employee with standard rights find how much damage a dishonest employee could do
Define encryption
A way of securing daya so that it cannot be read without the encryption key
Prcoess of encryption
Passwords are stored with an ecryption
Why is it important to have data encrypted?
If hacker obtains passwords and other data, it will be encrypted so it won’t be easily read
How can you transmitt encrypted data?
HTTPS (Secure HyperText Transfer Protocol)
How does HTTPS work?
Web browser sends its key and form sata, encrypting with the server’s key
The server encrypts the web page you request using your web browser’s key
Encryption on individual files
They can only be viewed by people who have the password. This can be done with software such as zip files
Encryption of drives
Passwords are used to access the encrypted files. Some removable media can be encrypted with special hardware
Firewalls
Separate a trusted network from an untrusted network (normally the Internet)
How do firewalls work?
When data packets are sent around a small network, they are checked to see whether they are coming from and going to.
What is a packet filterer?
A filterer that compares the packets to the filtering rules and if not, they are dropped
How can you run firewalls?
They can be run on dedicated hardware (can be built into your device) or as software. For example your router
Firewall features
- Prevents attackers from gaining access to computers on a network
- Can block certain malicious computers by filtering packets from a certain IP address.
- Can prevent access to certain ports on the network. This can be known as port blocking
- Malicious or inappropriate websites can be blocked
- Dedicated hardware firewalls can be blocked
- Software firewalls will slow down a computer
User Access Levels
Access levels can be set on disks, folders and individual files
Password policy
Passwords are often checked to see if they are secure enough. For example it might require a capital letter, special characters or numbers
Physical security
Physical security is where hardware, software and networks are protected by physical methods.
Give examples of physical security
- CCTV
- Intruder alarms
- Door locks
- Fences, barbed wire
- Security guards
- ID cards and signs
- Turnstiles and gates