Chapter 1 - Security Governance Through Principles and Policies Flashcards
Security Governance Through Principles and Policies
Confidentiality, integrity, and availability are typically viewed as the primary goals and objectives of a security infrastructure. Which of the following is not considered a violation of confidentiality?
A. Stealing passwords using a keystroke logging tool
B. Eavesdropping on wireless network communications
C. Hardware destruction caused by arson
D. Social engineering that tricks a user into providing personal information to a false website
C. Hardware destruction is a violation of availability and possibly integrity. Violations of confidentiality include stealing passwords, eavesdropping, and social engineering.
Security governance requires a clear understanding of the objectives of the organization as the core concepts of security. Which of the following contains the primary goals and objectives of security?
A. A network’s border perimeter
B. The CIA Triad
C. AAA services
D. Ensuring that subject activities are recorded
B. The primary goals and objectives of security are confidentiality, integrity, and availability, commonly referred to as the CIA Triad. The other options are incorrect. A security infrastructure needs to establish a network’s border perimeter security, but that is not a primary goal or objective of security. AAA services is a common component of secured systems, which can provide support for accountability, but the primary goals of security remain the elements of the CIA Triad. Ensuring that subject activities are recorded is the purpose of auditing, but that is not a primary goal or objective of security.
James recently discovered an attack taking place against his organization that prevented employees from accessing critical records. What element of the CIA Triad was violated?
A. Identification
B. Availability
C. Encryption
D. Layering
B. Availability means that authorized subjects are granted timely and uninterrupted access to objects. Identification is claiming an identity, the first step of AAA services. Encryption is protecting the confidentiality of data by converting plain text into cipher text. Layering is the use of multiple security mechanisms in series.
Optimally, security governance is performed by a board of directors, but smaller organizations may simply have the CEO or CISO perform the activities of security governance. Which of the following is true about security governance?
A. Security governance ensures that the requested activity or access to an object is possible given the rights and privileges assigned to the authenticated identity.
B. Security governance is used for efficiency. Similar elements are put into groups, classes, or roles that are assigned security controls, restrictions, or permissions as a collective.
C. Security governance is a documented set of best IT security practices that prescribes goals and requirements for security controls and encourages the mapping of IT security ideals to business objectives.
D. Security governance seeks to compare the security processes and infrastructure used within the organization with knowledge and insight obtained from external sources.
D. Security governance seeks to compare the security processes and infrastructure used within the organization with knowledge and insight obtained from external sources. The other statements are not related to security governance. Authorization ensures that the requested activity or access to an object is possible given the rights and privileges assigned to the authenticated identity. Abstraction is used for efficiency. Similar elements are put into groups, classes, or roles that are assigned security controls, restrictions, or permissions as a collective. COBIT is a documented set of best IT security practices crafted by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) that prescribes goals and requirements for security controls and encourages the mapping of IT security ideals to business objectives.
You have been tasked with crafting a long-term security plan that is fairly stable. It needs to define the organization’s security purpose. It also needs to define the security function and align it to the goals, mission, and objectives of the organization. What are you being asked to create?
A. Tactical plan
B. Operational plan
C. Strategic plan
D. Rollback plan
C. A strategic plan is a long-term plan that is fairly stable. It defines the organization’s security purpose. It defines the security function and aligns it to the goals, mission, and objectives of the organization. The tactical plan is a midterm plan developed to provide more details on accomplishing the goals set forth in the strategic plan or can be crafted ad hoc based on unpredicted events. An operational plan is a short-term, highly detailed plan based on the strategic and tactical plans. It is valid or useful only for a short time. A rollback plan is a means to return to a prior state after a change does not meet expectations.
Annaliese’s organization is undergoing a period of increased business activity where they are conducting a large number of mergers and acquisitions. She is concerned about the risks associated with those activities. Which of the following are example of those risks?(Choose all that apply.)
A. Inappropriate information disclosure
B. Increased worker compliance
C. Data loss Downtime
D. Additional insight into the motivations of inside attackers.
E. Failure to achieve sufficient return on investment (ROI)
A, C, D, F. Acquisitions and mergers place an organization at an increased level of risk. Such risks include inappropriate information disclosure, data loss, downtime, and failure to achieve sufficient return on investment (ROI). Increased worker compliance is not a risk, but a desired security precaution against the risks of acquisitions. Additional insight into the motivations of inside attackers is not a risk, but a potential result of investigating breaches or incidents related to acquisitions.
Which security framework was initially crafted by a government for domestic use but is now an international standard, which is a set of recommended best practices for optimization of IT services to support business growth, transformation, and change; which focuses on understanding how IT and security need to be integrated with and aligned to the objectives of an organization; and which is often used as a starting point for the crafting of a customized IT security solution within an established infrastructure?
A. ITIL
B. ISO 27000
C. CIS
D. CSF
A. Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) was initially crafted by the British government for domestic use but is now an international standard, which is a set of recommended best practices for core IT security and operational processes, and is often used as a starting point for the crafting of a customized IT security solution. The other options were not crafted by the British government. ISO 27000 is a family group of international standards that can be the basis of implementing organizational security and related management practices. The Center for Internet Security (CIS) provides OS, application, and hardware security configuration guides. NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) is designed for critical infrastructure and commercial organizations and consists of five functions: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. It is a prescription of operational activities that are to be performed on an ongoing basis for the support and improvement of security over time.
A security role is the part an individual plays in the overall scheme of security implementation and administration within an organization. What is the security role that has the functional responsibility for security, including writing the security policy and implementing it?
A. Senior management
B. Security professional
C. Custodian
D. Auditor
B. The security professional has the functional responsibility for security, including writing the security policy and implementing it. Senior management is ultimately responsible for the security maintained by an organization and should be most concerned about the protection of its assets. The custodian role is assigned to the user who is responsible for the tasks of implementing the prescribed protection defined by the security policy and senior management. An auditor is responsible for reviewing and verifying that the security policy is properly implemented and the derived security solutions are adequate.
Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) is a documented set of best IT security practices crafted by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA). It prescribes goals and requirements for security controls and encourages the mapping of IT security ideals to business objectives. COBIT is based on six key principles for governance and management of enterprise IT. Which of the following are among these key principles? (Choose all that apply.)
A. Holistic Approach
B. End-to-End Governance System
C. Provide Stakeholder Value
D. Maintaining Authenticity and Accountability
D. Dynamic Governance System
A, B, C, E. The COBIT key principles are: Provide Stakeholder Value (C), Holistic Approach (A), Dynamic Governance System (E), Governance Distinct From Management (not listed), Tailored to Enterprise Needs (not listed), and End-to-End Governance System (B). The concept of maintaining authenticity and accountability are good security ideas, but not a COBIT key principle.
In today’s business environment, prudence is mandatory. Showing due diligence and due care is the only way to disprove negligence in an occurrence of loss. Which of the following are true statements? (Choose all that apply.)
A. Due diligence is establishing a plan, policy, and process to protect the interests of an organization.
B. Due care is developing a formalized security structure containing a security policy, standards, baselines, guidelines, and procedures.
C. Due diligence is the continued application of a security structure onto the IT infrastructure of an organization.
D. Due care is practicing the individual activities that maintain the security effort.
E. Due care is knowing what should be done and planning for it. Due diligence is doing the right action at the right time.
A, D. Due diligence is establishing a plan, policy, and process to protect the interests of an organization. Due care is practicing the individual activities that maintain the security effort. The other options are incorrect, they have the terms inverted. The corrected statements are as follows: Due diligence is developing a formalized security structure containing a security policy, standards, baselines, guidelines, and procedures. Due care is the continued application of a security structure onto the IT infrastructure of an organization. Due diligence is knowing what should be done and planning for it. Due care is doing the right action at the right time.
Security documentation is an essential element of a successful security program. Understanding the components is an early step in crafting the security documentation. Match the following components to their respective definitions.
- Policy
- Standard
- Procedure
- Guideline
I. A detailed, step-by-step how-to document that describes the exact actions necessary to implement a specific security mechanism, control, or solution.
II. A document that defines the scope of security needed by the organization and discusses the assets that require protection and the extent to which security solutions should go to provide the necessary protection.
III. A minimum level of security that every system throughout the organization must meet.
IV. Offers recommendations on how security requirements are implemented and serves as an operational guide for both security professionals and users.
V. Defines compulsory requirements for the homogenous use of hardware, software, technology, and security controls.
A. 1 – I; 2 – IV; 3 – II; 4 - V
B. 1 – II; 2 – V; 3 – I; 4 - IV
C. 1 – IV; 2 – II; 3 – V; 4 - I
D. 1 – V; 2 – I; 3 – IV; 4 - III
B. A policy is a document that defines the scope of security needed by the organization and discusses the assets that require protection and the extent to which security solutions should go to provide the necessary protection. A standard defines compulsory requirements for the homogenous use of hardware, software, technology, and security controls. A procedure is a detailed, step-by-step how-to document that describes the exact actions necessary to implement a specific security mechanism, control, or solution. A guideline offers recommendations on how security requirements are implemented and serves as an operational guide for both security professionals and users. III is the definition of a baseline, which was not included as a component option.
STRIDE is often used in relation to assessing threats against applications or operating systems. When confidential documents are exposed to unauthorized entities, which element of STRIDE is used to reference that violation?
A. S
B. T
C. R
D. I
E. D
F. E
D. When confidential documents are exposed to unauthorized entities, this is described by the I in STRIDE, which represents information disclosure. The elements of STRIDE are spoofing, tampering, repudiation, information disclosure, denial of service, and elevation of privilege.
A development team is working on a new project. During the early stages of systems development, the team considers the vulnerabilities, threats, and risks of their solution and integrates protections against unwanted outcomes. What concept of threat modeling is this?
A. Threat hunting
B. Proactive approach
C. Qualitative approach
D. Adversarial approach
B. This scenario describes a proactive approach to threat modeling, which is also known as the defensive approach. A reactive approach or adversarial approach to threat modeling takes place after a product has been created and deployed. There is no threat modeling concept known as qualitative approach. Qualitative is typically associated with a form of risk assessment.
Supply chain risk management (SCRM) is a means to ensure that all the vendors or links in the supply chain are reliable, trustworthy, reputable organizations. Which of the following are true statements? (Choose all that apply.)
A. Each link in the supply chain should be responsible and accountable to the next link in the chain.
B. Commodity vendors are unlikely to have mined their own metals or processed the oil for plastics or etched the silicon of their chips.
C. If the final product derived from a supply chain meets expectations and functional requirements, it is assured to not have unauthorized elements.
D. Failing to properly secure a supply chain can result in flawed or less reliable products, or even embedded listing or remote control mechanisms.
A, B, D. These statements are true: (A) Each link in the supply chain should be responsible and accountable to the next link in the chain; (B) Commodity vendors are unlikely to have mined their own metals or processed the oil for plastics or etched the silicon of their chips; and (D) Failing to properly secure a supply chain can result in flawed or less reliable products, or even embedded listing or remote control mechanisms. The remaining option is incorrect. Even if a final product seems reasonable and performs all necessary functions, that does not provide assurance that it is secure or that it was not tampered with somewhere in the supply chain.
Your organization has become concerned with risks associated with the supply chain of their retail products. Fortunately, all coding for their custom product is done in-house. However, a thorough audit of a recently completed product revealed that a listening mechanism was integrated into the solution somewhere along the supply chain. The identified risk is associated with what product component in this scenario?
A. Software
B. Services
C. Data
D. Hardware
D. Though not explicitly stating hardware, this scenario describes a typical and potential risk of a supply chain, that a hardware risk results in the presence of a listening mechanism in the final product. This scenario does not provide information that would indicate that the supply chain risk is focused on software, services, or data.
