Chapter 1: Introduction

Question 1

The protection of assets on a computer or computer system

Answer 1

Computer security

Question 2

Items of value on a computer or computer system

Answer 2

Assets

Question 3

Hardware or software that is commercially available (not custom-made) and can be easily replaced

Answer 3

Off-the-shelf

Question 4

A weakness in the system that can be exploited to cause harm or loss

Answer 4

Vulnerability

Question 5

A set of circumstances that has the potential to cause loss or harm

Answer 5

Threat

Question 6

When a vulnerability is exploited to cause harm or loss

Answer 6

Attack

Question 7

An action, device, procedure, or technique that removes or reduces a vulnerability

Answer 7

Control or countermeasure

Question 8

The ability of a system to ensure that an asset is viewed only by authorized parties

Answer 8

Confidentiality

Question 9

The ability of a system to ensure that an asset is modified only by authorized parties

Answer 9

Integrity

Question 10

The ability of a system to ensure that an asset can be used by authorized parties

Answer 10

Availability

Question 11

The ability of a system to confirm the identity of a user

Answer 11

Authentication

Question 12

The ability of a system to confirm that a user cannot convincingly deny having committed a given action

Answer 12

Nonrepudiation or Accountability

Question 13

The three acts that characterize the kinds of harm that can be committed against an asset

Answer 13

Interception, Interruption, and Modification

Question 14

The term for a person, process, or program accessing a data item

Answer 14

Subject

Question 15

A data item being accessed by a person, process, or program

Answer 15

Object

Question 16

The kind of access granted to a person, process, or program to a data item

Answer 16

Access mode

Question 17

The authorization permitting a person, process or program to access a data item

Answer 17

Policy

Question 18

A key model of computer security in which one or more policies are designed to guide the way access is permitted to subjects of a given object

Answer 18

Access control

Question 19

Harm caused by natural disasters, loss of electrical power, or failure of a component

Answer 19

Nonhuman threats

Question 20

Harm caused by user error

Answer 20

Nonmalicious harm

Question 21

An attack in which the attacker is attempting to cause harm to any computer or user without prior knowledge of that computer or user

Answer 21

Random attack

Question 22

An attack directed at a specific computer, user, or organization

Answer 22

Directed attack

Question 22

A dictionary of publicly known security vulnerabilities and exposures

Answer 22

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) list, available at cve.org

Question 23

A standard measurement system that allows accurate and consistent scoring of the impact of vulnerabilties

Answer 23

The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS), available at nvd.nist.gov/vuln-metrics/cvss

Question 24

A threat against many computers that belong to a network

Answer 24

Cyberthreat

Question 25

The online world of computers

Answer 25

Cyberspace

Question 26

An illegal attack against computers connected to or reached from their network, as well as their users, data, services, and infrastructure

Answer 26

Cybercrime

Question 27

Security as applied to individual computers and devices, as well as to the broader collection of devices in networks with other users and devices

Answer 27

Cybersecurity

Question 28

Threats that come from organized, well-financed, patient assailants engaging in long-term campaigns targeted at specific systems or users

Answer 28

Advanced persistent threats

Question 29

The members of a cybercrime team that manage their team’s full slate of malicious payloads (viruses, ransomware, denial-of-service attack packets), deciding which tool to use and which moment represents the best opportunity to launch an attack

Answer 29

Network administrators

Question 30

The members of a cybercrime team that are charged with making sure that any and all malicious software that is successfully installed on a target’s systems continues running for as long as possible

Answer 30

Intrusion specialists

Question 31

The members of a cybercrime team that organize and reformat stolen data in order to make sense of it

Answer 31

Data miners

Question 32

The members of a cybercrime team that are tasked with developing new variations of malicious software capable of infecting targeted systems, spreading quickly and widely, and evading detection

Answer 32

In-house programmers

Question 33

The members of a cybercrime team that determine how much money the specific stolen information is worth on various black markets

Answer 33

Financial specialists

Question 34

The negative consequences of actualized threats

Answer 34

Harm

Question 35

The process of choosing which threats to try to mitigate

Answer 35

Risk management

Question 36

The amount of risk that remains uncovered by controls or countermeasures

Answer 36

Residual risk

Question 37

The amount of damage or potential harm that can be caused by a threat

Answer 37

Impact

Question 38

The three elements a malicious attacker must have to be successful

Answer 38

Method, opportunity, and motive (also called MOM)

Question 39

The skills, knowledge, tools, and other things with which to perpetrate an attack

Answer 39

Method

Question 40

The time and access needed to execute an attack

Answer 40

Opportunity

Question 41

The reason to perpetrate an attack

Answer 41

Motive

Question 42

An attacker that downloads a complete attack code package and needs only to enter a few details to identify the target and perform an attack

Answer 42

Script kiddie

Question 43

A system’s full set of vulnerabilities, both actual and potential

Answer 43

Attack surface

Question 44

Controls or countermeasures that use tangible objects or people to stop or block an attack or threat

Answer 44

Physical controls

Question 45

Controls or countermeasures that use commands or agreements to require or advise people how to act

Answer 45

Procedural controls or administrative controls

Question 46

Controls or countermeasures that use technology to counter threats

Answer 46

Technical controls

Question 47

The use of more than one control or countermeasure, or the use of more than one class of control or countermeasure to achieve protection

Answer 47

Overlapping controls or defense in depth