CHAPTER 5 Questions Flashcards
Which of the following provides the best protection against the loss of confidentiality for sensitive data?
A. Data labels
B. Data classifications
C. Data handling
D. Data degaussing methods
B. Data classifications
Data classifications provide strong protection against the loss of confidentiality and are the best choice of the available answers. Data labels and proper data handling are based on first identifying data classifications. Data degaussing methods apply only to magnetic media.
Administrators regularly back up data on all the servers within your organization. They annotate an archive copy with the server it came from and the date it was created and transfer it to an unstaffed storage warehouse. Later, they discover that someone leaked sensitive emails sent between executives on the internet. Security personnel discovered some archive tapes are missing, and these tapes probably included the leaked emails. Of the following choices, what would have prevented this loss without sacrificing security?
A. Mark the media kept off site.
B. Don’t store data off site.
C. Destroy the backups off site.
D. Use a secure off-site storage facility.
D. Use a secure off-site storage facility.
Backup media should be protected with the same level of protection afforded the data it contains, and using a secure offsite storage facility would ensure this. The media should be marked, but that won’t protect it if it is stored in an unstaffed warehouse. A copy of backups should be stored offsite to ensure availability if a catastrophe affects the primary location. If copies of data are not stored offsite or offsite backups are destroyed, security is sacrificed by risking availability.
Administrators have been using tapes to back up servers in your organization. However, the organization is converting to a different backup system, storing backups on disk drives. What is the final stage in the lifecycle of tapes used as backup media?
A. Degaussing
B. Destruction
C. Declassification
D. Retention
B. Destruction
Destruction is the final stage in the lifecycle of backup media. Because the backup method is no longer using tapes, they should be destroyed. Degaussing and declassifying the tape is done if you plan to reuse it. Retention implies you plan to keep the media, but retention is not needed at the end of its lifecycle.
You are updating your organization’s data policy, and you want to identify the responsibilities of various roles. Which one of the following data roles is responsible for classifying data?
A. Controller
B. Custodian
C. Owner
D. User
C. Owner
The data owner is the person responsible for classifying data. A data controller decides what data to process and directs the data processor to process the data. A data custodian protects the integrity and security of the data by performing day-to-day maintenance. Users simply access the data.
You are tasked with updating your organization’s data policy, and you need to identify the responsibilities of different roles. Which data role is responsible for implementing the protections defined by the security policy?
A. Data custodian
B. Data user
C. Data processor
D. Data controller
A. Data custodian
The data custodian is responsible for the tasks of implementing the protections defined by the security policy and senior management. A data controller decides what data to process and how. Data users are not responsible for implementing the security policy protections. A data processor controls the processing of data and only does what the data controller tells them to do with the data.
A company maintains an e-commerce server used to sell digital products via the internet. When a customer makes a purchase, the server stores the following information on the buyer: name, physical address, email address, and credit card data. You’re hired as an outside consultant and advise them to change their practices. Which of the following can the company implement to avoid an apparent vulnerability?
A. Anonymization
B. Pseudonymization
C. Move the company location
D. Collection limitation
D. Collection limitation
The company can implement a data collection policy of minimization to minimize the amount of data they collect and store. If they are selling digital products, they don’t need the physical address. If they are reselling products to the same customers, they can use tokenization to save tokens that match the credit card data, instead of saving and storing credit card data. Anonymization techniques remove all personal data and make the data unusable for reuse on the website. Pseudonymization replaces data with pseudonyms. Although the process can be reversed, it is not necessary.
You are performing an annual review of your company’s data policy, and you come across some confusing statements related to security labeling. Which of the following could you insert to describe security labeling accurately?
A. Security labeling is only required on digital media.
B. Security labeling identifies the classification of data.
C. Security labeling is only required for hardware assets.
D. Security labeling is never used for nonsensitive data.
B. Security labeling identifies the classification of data.
Security labeling identifies the classification of data such as sensitive, secret, and so on. Media holding sensitive data should be labeled. Similarly, systems that hold or process sensitive data should also be marked. Many organizations require the labeling of all systems and media, including those that hold or process nonsensitive data.
A database file includes personally identifiable information (PII) on several individuals, including Karen C. Park. Which of the following is the best identifier for the record on Karen C. Park?
A. Data controller
B. Data subject
C. Data processor
D. Data subject
B. Data subject
A data subject is a person who can be identified by an identifier such as a name, identification number, or other PII. All of these answers refer to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). A data owner owns the data and has ultimate responsibility for protecting it. A data controller decides what data to process and how it should be processed. A data processor processes the data for the data controller.
Administrators regularly back up all the email servers within your company, and they routinely purge on-site emails older than six months to comply with the organization’s security policy. They keep a copy of the backups on site and send a copy to one of the company warehouses for long-term storage. Later, they discover that someone leaked sensitive emails sent between executives over three years ago. Of the following choices, what policy was ignored and allowed this data breach?
A. Media destruction
B. Record retention
C. Configuration management
D. Versioning
B. Record retention
Personnel did not follow the record retention policy for the backups sent to the warehouse. The scenario states that administrators purge onsite emails older than six months to comply with the organization’s security policy, but the leak was from emails sent over three years ago. Personnel should follow media destruction policies when the organization no longer needs the media, but the issue here is the data on the tapes. Configuration management ensures that systems are configured correctly using a baseline, but this does not apply to backup media. Versioning applies to applications, not backup tapes.
An executive is reviewing governance and compliance issues and ensuring the security or data policy addresses them. Which of the following security controls is most likely driven by a legal requirement?
A. Data remanence
B. Record destruction
C. Data user role
D. Data retention
D. Data retention
Record retention policies define the amount of time to keep data, and laws or regulations often drive these policies. Data remanence is data remnants on media, and proper data destruction procedures remove data remnants. Laws and regulations do outline requirements for some data roles, but they don’t specify requirements for the data user role.
Your organization is donating several computers to a local school. Some of these computers include solid-state drives (SSDs). Which of the following choices is the most reliable method of destroying data on these SSDs?
A. Erasing
B. Degaussing
C. Deleting
D. Purging
D. Purging
Purging is the most reliable method among the given choices. Purging overwrites the media with random bits multiple times and includes additional steps to ensure that data is removed. It ensures there isn’t any data remanence. Erasing or deleting processes rarely remove the data from media but instead mark it for deletion. Solid-state drives (SSDs) do not have magnetic flux, so degaussing an SSD doesn’t destroy data.
A technician is about to remove disk drives from several computers. His supervisor told him to ensure that the disk drives do not hold any sensitive data. Which of the following methods will meet the supervisor’s requirements?
A. Overwriting the disks multiple times
B. Formatting the disks
C. Degaussing the disks
D. Defragmenting the disks
A. Overwriting the disks multiple times
Overwriting the disks multiple times will remove all existing data. This is called purging, and purged media can then be used again. Formatting the disks isn’t secure because it doesn’t typically remove the previously stored data. Degaussing the disks often damages the electronics but doesn’t reliably remove the data. Defragmenting a disk optimizes it, but it doesn’t remove data.
The IT department is updating the budget for the following year, and they want to include enough money for a hardware refresh for some older systems. Unfortunately, there is a limited budget. Which of the following should be a top priority?
A. Systems with an end-of-life (EOL) date that occurs in the following year
B. Systems used for data loss prevention
C. Systems used to process sensitive data
D. Systems with an end-of-support (EOS) date that occurs in the following year
D. Systems with an end-of-support (EOS) date that occurs in the following year
Systems with an EOS date that occurs in the following year should be a top priority for replacement. The EOS date is the date that the vendor will stop supporting a product. The EOL date is the date that a vendor stops offering a product for sale, but the vendor continues to support the product until the EOS date. Systems used for data loss prevention or to process sensitive data can remain in service.
Developers created an application that routinely processes sensitive data. The data is encrypted and stored in a database. When the application processes the data, it retrieves it from the databases, decrypts it for use, and stores it in memory. Which of the following methods can protect the data in memory after the application uses it?
A. Encrypt it with asymmetric encryption.
B. Encrypt it in the database.
C. Implement data loss prevention.
D. Purge memory buffers.
D. Purge memory buffers.
Purging memory buffers removes all remnants of data after a program has used it. Asymmetric encryption (along with symmetric encryption) protects data in transit. The data is already encrypted and stored in the database. The scenario doesn’t indicate that the program modified the data, so there’s no need to overwrite the existing data in the database. Data loss prevention methods prevent unauthorized data loss but do not protect data in use.
Your organization’s security policy mandates the use of symmetric encryption for sensitive data stored on servers. Which one of the following guidelines are they implementing?
A. Protecting data at rest
B. Protecting data in transit
C. Protecting data in use
D. Protecting the data lifecycle
A. Protecting data at rest
Symmetric encryption methods protect data at rest, and data at rest is any data stored on media, such as a server. Data in transit is data transferred between two systems. Data in use is data in memory that is used by an application. Steps are taken to protect data from the time it is created to the time it is destroyed, but this question isn’t related to the data lifecycle.
