6. Cyber Security Flashcards
What is cybersecurity?
The protection of a computer/network from a cyber attack.
What is pharming?
Pharming is a cyber attack intended to redirect a website’s traffic to a fake website.
What is social engineering?
the art of manipulating people so they give up confidential information.
What are the 3 main methods of social engineering?
- blagging
- phishing
- shouldering
What is blagging?
Blagging is the act of creating and using an invented scenario to make a targeted victim directly give away information such as passwords.
what is Phishing?
Sending emails pretending to be a reputable company to try and gain people’s personal details
What is fraud?
The crime in which you purposefully deceive someone for monetary gain
What is shouldering?
Spying on people to find out usernames, passwords or pin codes.
What is malware?
Software that is designed to disrupt or harm a user’s computer
What are the three main types of malware?
- virus
- trojan horse
- spyware
What is a virus?
This is a computer program that infiltrates a computer system and replicates itself. It is intended to cause damage to a computer system by corrupting data or by using up all the available memory, causing it to crash.
What is a Trojan horse?
This is a type of malware that is disguised as a harmless file or download. When the file is downloaded, the malware is downloaded with it. Once the malware is downloaded, it can carry out the attack it was designed to perform.
What is spyware?
These are computer programs that to gather data about people without their knowledge.

Why does having a weak password make you susceptible to a cyber attack?
Because a weak password is easier to guess and therefore it would be easier for an attacker to gain access to your system.
Why does having misconfigured access rights make you susceptible to a cyber attack?
For example, if a new employee for a company gets full access rights, they may decide to sell them for a profit, which would be terrible for the company as now sensitive, private information is being made public.
Why does having removable media make you susceptible to a cyber attack?
Removable media is very easily lost, which could result in the compromise of large volumes of sensitive information stored on it. Some media types will retain information even after user deletion, placing information at risk if in the wrong hands.
Why does having unpatched or outdated software proved to be a cyber security threat?
Data Breaches: Unpatched security vulnerabilities give attackers an entry point to gain unauthorized access to the company’s sensitive data.
System Downtime: Outdated software and systems are more prone to performance issues, crashes, and instabilities, resulting in the system not working properly
What is penetration testing?
simulating a cyberattack (trying to get unauthorised access to a system) in order to find weaknesses/vulnerabilities
What is the purpose of penetration testing?
To evaluate the security of the system.
What are the two types of penetration testing?
- white-box testing
- black-box testing
What is white-box testing and what does it simulate?
when the person or team testing the system has knowledge of and possibly basic credentials for the target system, simulating an attack from inside the system (a malicious insider)
What is black-box testing and what does it simulate?
when the person or team testing the system has no knowledge of any credentials for the target system, simulating an attack from outside the system (an external attack).
what is biometric security
Authentication method which verify users by their physical characteristics like their fingerprints
What are password systems?
Using another authentication system in addition to users having passwords to add an extra layer of confidence that the correct person is trying to access the system.
