Chapter 1: Introduction Flashcards
(48 cards)
The protection of assets on a computer or computer system
Computer security
Items of value on a computer or computer system
Assets
Hardware or software that is commercially available (not custom-made) and can be easily replaced
Off-the-shelf
A weakness in the system that can be exploited to cause harm or loss
Vulnerability
A set of circumstances that has the potential to cause loss or harm
Threat
When a vulnerability is exploited to cause harm or loss
Attack
An action, device, procedure, or technique that removes or reduces a vulnerability
Control or countermeasure
The ability of a system to ensure that an asset is viewed only by authorized parties
Confidentiality
The ability of a system to ensure that an asset is modified only by authorized parties
Integrity
The ability of a system to ensure that an asset can be used by authorized parties
Availability
The ability of a system to confirm the identity of a user
Authentication
The ability of a system to confirm that a user cannot convincingly deny having committed a given action
Nonrepudiation or Accountability
The three acts that characterize the kinds of harm that can be committed against an asset
Interception, Interruption, and Modification
The term for a person, process, or program accessing a data item
Subject
A data item being accessed by a person, process, or program
Object
The kind of access granted to a person, process, or program to a data item
Access mode
The authorization permitting a person, process or program to access a data item
Policy
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
Access control
Harm caused by natural disasters, loss of electrical power, or failure of a component
Nonhuman threats
Harm caused by user error
Nonmalicious harm
An attack in which the attacker is attempting to cause harm to any computer or user without prior knowledge of that computer or user
Random attack
An attack directed at a specific computer, user, or organization
Directed attack
A dictionary of publicly known security vulnerabilities and exposures
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) list, available at cve.org
A standard measurement system that allows accurate and consistent scoring of the impact of vulnerabilties
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS), available at nvd.nist.gov/vuln-metrics/cvss