An Introduction - Topic 1 Flashcards
What is cybersecurity?
Cyberspace + security
From different perspectives different things.
Summary: “Protecting critical systems and sensitive information from digital attacks”
From our perspective: “Cybersecurity is the process and techniques involved in protecting sensitive data, computer systems, networks and software applications from cyber (network-based, digital) attacks)
What is cyberspace?
Physical infrastructure, critical infrastructure, and cyber infrastructure (e.g. the internet)
What is physical infrastructure?
Farms, food processing plants, delivery sites , fibre cables, gov facilities, hospitals, nuclear power plants, highways, railways, ports…
What is Critical Infrastructure / Key resources (CIKR)
Government, health, emergency, gas and oil, electricity and energy, water, transportation, communication, banking, …
What is cyber infrastructure?
Hardware, software, interconnected networks (i.e. the internet)
What are the cybersecurity domains?
Critical infrastructure security - protecting devices, computer systems, networks and other assets that society relies upon
Network/internet security - protecting a computer network from intruders
Application security - protecting applications operating on-premises and in the cloud, handling data, user authentication, authorisation, etc.. securely
Cloud security - protecting data at rest, in transit and in use to support customer privacy, business requirements and regulatory compliance standards.
Information security - securing sensitive data from unauthorised access, exposure or theft
End-user education - building security awareness across the organisation to strengthen endpoint security
Disaster recovery / business continuity planning - tools and procedures for responding to unplanned events, such as natural disasters, power outages or cybersecurity incidents, with minimal disruption to key operations.
What was the name of the program that bought down a large fraction of the internet in 1988?
Morris Worm
What is the relationship between attack sophistication vs Skill level needed by attackers?
As attack sophistication goes up, skill level needed by attackers is going down.
Is there definitely a one-for-all solution for all heterogeneous devices?
No
What problems are caused by the anonymous nature of many internet based services?
Hard to trace the origin of an attack or the attackers.
legitimate services and software may be exploited by attackers.
Why is there a need for international collaboration to address attacks?
Global networks exist without national boundaries, so attacks are mounted anywhere on the internet.
What are Policy / Requirement specification bugs?
Inappropriate security policy of goals:
- Threat analysis
- Access control, least privilege
What are design bugs in cybersecurity?
- Inappropriate use of cryptographic methods/tools
- Poor source of randomness
- Insecurity Protocols
What are implementation bugs in cybersecurity?
Buffer Overflows
What are some problems with management procedures?
Is the implemented system usable? Does it achieve the security goal? Have the risks been mitigated?
End-users, employees, administrators. Do they perform their tasks/roles as expected?
