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CompTIA Security+ > CompTIA Security+ > Flashcards

CompTIA Security+ Flashcards

1
Q

Each piece of Malware has 2 steps

A

Propagation and Payload

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2
Q

What is the propagation method of a Virus?

A

Spreads by human action. User education can prevent this.

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3
Q

What is the propagation method of a worm?

A

Spread by themselves. Best way to defend is to update and patch.

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4
Q

What is the propagation method of a Trojan horse?

A

Disguise themselves as good programs. Act as advertised when run. Deliver a payload behind the scenes. App control provides a good defence.

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5
Q

What is a RAT?

A

A remote access trojan. It allows attackers to control systems.

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6
Q

What are the kinds of payloads that can be delivered?

A

Adware, Spyware, Ransomware

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7
Q

What are the characteristics and mechanisms of Adware?

A

Malware that displays advertisements.

  • Changing the default search engine
  • Displays pop up advertisements
  • Replacing legitimate ads with other ads
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8
Q

What are the characteristics and mechanisms of Spyware?

A

Gathers information without the user knowing.

  • Logging keystrokes
  • Monitoring Web Browsing
  • Searches hard drives and cloud storage
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9
Q

What are the characteristics and ways to prevent Ransomware?

A

Blocks access until the ransom is paid

  • Anti Malware Software
  • Security patches
  • User Education
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10
Q

What types of malicious code are there?

A

Backdoors, Logic bomb, Advanced Malware, Rootkits (User Mode and Kernal mode), Polymorphic viruses, Armoured Viruses, Botnets, Advanced persistent threats.

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11
Q

What are advanced persistent threats?

A

Well funded, highly skilled groups that are typically government sponsored. They have access to zero days and sophisticated weapons

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12
Q

What is ethical disclosure

A

Disclosing to the vendor when you have discovered a vulnerability.

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13
Q

How would you differentiate between adversaries?

A

Internal and External attackers, Level of sophistication, access to resources, motivation, intent

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14
Q

What kind of hackers are there?

A

Script Kiddies, Hactivists, organised crime, competitors, Nation states

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15
Q

How to you prevent against insider threats?

A

Implement HR practices: Background checks, principal of least privilege, Separation of duties, Mandatory holidays.
Behavioural indicatiors: Taking work materials home, interest in issues outside of responsibility, duplication of materials, strange network access patterns, using personal hardware.

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16
Q

What is a denial of service attack?

A

Making a resource unavailable for long periods of time, sends huge numbers of requests to a server, hard to distinguish between legit requests.

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17
Q

What are the limitations of DOS attacks?

A

Require a substantial amount of bandwidth, easy to block.

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18
Q

What is a DDOS attack?

A

Distribution denial of service (DDOS) is a DOS attack that leverages a botnet to overwhelm a target.

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19
Q

What is a smurf attack?

A

Where the attacker sends echo requests to the broadcast address of a 3rd party server using a fake source address. The fake address is actually the real IP of the victim.

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20
Q

What is am amplified DDOS attack?

A

The attacker choses requests that have very large responses so they can send in lots of very small requests and generate a lot of noise on the other side.

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21
Q

What is the amplification factor?

A

The degree to which the attack increases in size - Reply/Request=Amplification.

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22
Q

What is an eavesdropping attack?

A

There is where the attacker relies on a compromised communications path (which is done with Network device tapping, ARP poisoning or DNS poisoning) to listen in.

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23
Q

What is a man in the middle attack?

A

The attacker tricks the system during the initial communication using DNS or ARP poisoning to force the user to connect directly with the attacker, then the legitimate server. The user however connects with a fake server and the attacker acts as the relay. MITM browser attacks exploit flaws in browsers and plugins.

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24
Q

What is a replay attack?

A

Uses previously captured data such as encrypted authentication tokens to create a separate connection to the server which is authenticated but doesn’t involve the end user.

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25
Q

How do you prevent eavesdropping attacks?

A

Use tokens and timestamps

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26
Q

What is a Christmas tree attack?

A

Where all the flags in a network packets headers are set to 1111111- some systems crash and cant handle the fact that all flags have been set

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27
Q

Domain name service (DNS)

A

A service that translates common domain name into an IP Address for the purpose of network routing

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28
Q

What is DNS poisoning?

A

Disrupting normal DNS operations by providing false results. Attacker inserts incorrect DNS records at any point along the hierarchy. They can then redirect traffic to the attackers system. The attackers system includes a web server designed to closely resemble the legit server.

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29
Q

Address resolution protocol (ARP)

A

A protocol that translates logical IP addresses into the hardware MAC address on LANs

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30
Q

What is ARP poisoning?

A

Disrupting normal ARP operations by providing false results. Attacker inserts false ARP records so they can redirect traffic back to their server. Only works on LANs

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31
Q

What is TypoSquatting (URL Hijacking)?

A

An attack that relies on people making simple typing mistakes. Consists of registering similar domain names in hopes that the user will make a typo.

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32
Q

What is a MAC spoofing attack?

A

It alters hardware addresses. Anyone with Admin access to a system can change its MAC address

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33
Q

What is an IP spoofing attack?

A

Alters the IP address. Anyone with system admin privileges can alter an IP address.

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34
Q

Ingress filtering

A

Blocks incoming traffic from external networks bearing an internal source IP address.

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35
Q

Egress filtering

A

Blocks outbound traffic from internal network bearing a source IP address you don’t control.

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36
Q

/etc/password: Removed passwords

A

Can remove publicly accessible EXE > Passwords are stored in shadow files. They can be locked down and are highly restricted.

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37
Q

Hash function

A
  • Must produce a completely different output for each input
  • Must be computationally difficult to retrieve the input from the output
  • Must be computationally difficult to find 2 different inputs that generate the same output.
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38
Q

The Birthday problem

A

An occurrence where the collisions become rather common with large samples.

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39
Q

Brute force attacks

A

Attacker guesses all possibilities for the password and keeps battering the system.

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40
Q

Dictionary attacks

A

Try all English words first

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41
Q

Hybrid password attacks

A

Adds variations to the tries EG: Year, Day, Season etc

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42
Q

Rainbow table attacks

A

Precomputes hashes to try and crack the password

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43
Q

Brute force cryptographic attacks

A

Attacker separately guesses the keys that are being used. Also known as Ciphertext attacks.

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44
Q

Simple shift cipher

A

With a shift of 1, A’s become B’s, B’s become C’s etc.

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45
Q

What is a keyspace?

A

The set of all possible encryption keys usable with an algorithm.
EG: 56 bit DES = 72 quadrillion keys

Flawed algorithms may still be susceptible to brute force attacks.

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46
Q

Frequency analysis

A

Detects patterns in Cypher text - studies the patterns of letters in cypher text.

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47
Q

Known Plaintext attack

A

Attacker has access to an unencrypted message

48
Q

Chosen Plaintext attack

A

Attacker can create an encrypted message of his/her choice.

49
Q

Downgrade attack

A

Attacker forces 2 systems to use weak cryptographic implementations.

50
Q

Watering hole attacks

A

Websites spread malware effectively.

  • Users trust websites they frequently visit
  • Browsers and addons have vulnerabilities
  • Users are conditioned to just click “OK”

Limits:

  • Attackers can’t just build their own websites
  • Why would users visit the attackers sites
  • Content filtering can block known malware sites

How a watering hole attack works:

1) Identify and compromise a highly used site
2) Chose a client exploit and bundle in a botnet
3) Place the malware on the compromised site
4) Sit back and wait for infected systems to phone home.

51
Q

Wireless networking

A

Governed by IEEE 802.11 standard.
Uses plaintext service set identifies (SSID)
Uses beaconing to advertise to other devices.

52
Q

Security concerns over wireless networking

A

Wireless networking uses radio signals that anyone can pluck out of the air

53
Q

Wireless encryption

A

Protects confidentiality of communication.
Prevents eavesdropping.
Allows use of insecure transmission methods.

54
Q

Wi-Fi encryption options

A

1) Use no Encryption
2) Wired equivalent privacy (WEP) - uses a static key
3) Wi-Fi protected access (WPA) - Uses temportal jet integrity protocol (TKIP)
4) WPA2 uses advanced encryption standard (AES) via CCMP

WEP attacks depend on capturing initialisation vectors (IVs)

55
Q

Is WPA Secure?

A
  • Known attacks allow injection of packets and some limited decryption
  • These attacks work against TKIP principals
  • Play it safe and use WPA2
56
Q

Wi-Fi protected Setup (WPS)

A
  • WPS allows quick set up of devices
  • 2 methods for establishing connections:
    - Pressing the button on devices
    - Use 8 WPS pin
57
Q

WPS attacks

A

Flaws in WPS make it trivial to guess the pin.
Though there are 10,000,000 possibilities, a flaw requires only 11000 guesses.
Got the pin? You can now get WEP/WPA/WPA2 key
Pin can’t be changed.

58
Q

Jamming and interface attacks

A
  • Denial of service attacks are easy on wireless
  • The radio spectrum is open, but in a limited account
  • The loudest signal always wins, so it doesn’t take much to interfere with signals.
59
Q

War driving attacks

A

Attackers cruise neighbourhoods and commercial areas, using tools that capture Wi-Fi networks.

60
Q

Rogue access points

A

Can bypass other wireless authentication methods.

61
Q

Rogue access points detection

A

Enterprise grade wireless has built in intrusion detection capabilities.
Unknown radios on the network can be identified.
Handheld tools can pinpoint these.

62
Q

Evil twins

A

Easy victims: Linksys, Homes

63
Q

Karma Toolkit

A
  • Automates the evil twin process
  • Searches for adjacent networks
  • Creates a matching fake network
  • Redirects traffic to phony sites and captures credentials
64
Q

DE Authentication frame

A

Immediately disconnects clients
Source: Wireless AP
Destination: Laptop
Process Deauthenticate

65
Q

Dissassociation attack goals

A
  • Gather authentication information for cryptographic attacks
  • Conduct denial of service attacks on wireless networks
66
Q

Near field communications (NFC) attacks

A

It is used for very short range links between devices (30-50 feet).
Most common attack is on bluetooth

67
Q

What is Bluejacking?

A
  • An attacker sends bluetooth spam to users devices
  • The attacker tries to entice the user into taking some action
  • This is essentially Bluetooth spam and phishing
68
Q

What is Bluesnarfing?

A

Attacker exploits firmware flaw in older bluetooth devices.
Attacker forces pairing between devices.
The connection grants access to the device.

69
Q

NFC Security

A

Turn off discoverable mode when not in use.
Apply firmware updates
Watch out for suspicious activity

70
Q

Security concerns

A

Business wants strong authentication and encryption to protect to protect the integrity of the RFID system.
Consumers want privacy safeguards to protect their personal info.

71
Q

Application Security hardening

A

Use proper authentication
Encrypt sensitive data
Validate user input
Avoid and remediate known issues

72
Q

Application configuration

A
  • Type and scope of encryption
  • Users with access to the application
  • Access granted to authorised users
  • Security of underlying infrastructure

Configurnig baselines allows quick identification and remediation of security gaps

73
Q

How to prevent against SQL injection attacks?

A

Validate all user input

74
Q

Other injection attacks

A

LDAP injection
XML injection
Command injection (Arbitrary code execution)

75
Q

Cross site scripting (XSS)

A

This attack occurs when an attacker embeds malicious scripts into 3rd party websites that are later run by visitors to that site.

76
Q

Imbedding scripts into a website

A

the tag allows devs to embed code into a page
EG:

Alert (“This site is under construction”) ;

77
Q

Cross site request forgery (CSRF, XSRF and “Sea Surf”)

A

XSRF attacks leverage the fact that users are often logged into multiple sites at the same time and use one site to trick the browser into sending malicious requests to another site without the user knowing.

78
Q

Defending against XSRF

A

Re-architect web applications
Prevent the use of HTTP GET requests
Advise users to log out of sites
Automatically log out users after an idle period

79
Q

What is clickjacking?

A

An attack where the attacker hides elements of a web page behind other elements so that a user cannot see what he or she is actually clicking.

80
Q

What is cursorjacking?

A

A specialised form of clickjacking that tricks the user about the cursors location on the screen

81
Q

Defending against Directory Traversal attacks

A
  • Use input validation to prevent the inclusion of periods in user requests
  • Implement strict file access controls to limit the web servers ability to read files
82
Q

Buffer overflow attacks

A

Occurs when develops dont put limits of what can be selected in a field within a web application. An attacker could enter a number with 10000000 digits in which is far beyond the limits of a web server and could cause it to show sensitive information.

83
Q

What are cookies?

A

Small pieces of content that can track users between sites. They are essentially data stored by websites in browsers.
They are useful to recognise users.
They are used to remember information.

84
Q

Privacy risks with using cookies

A

Cookies can be used across different websites.
Can track user activity
If you log into a site, everything is de-anonymised.

85
Q

Session hijacking

A

Cookie values are weak if guessable.
We can figure out users authentication cookies by looking at trends and similarities between cookies.
Once you have worked out the authentication cookie, you can login to the account using header manipulation - You can change the JSESSIONID to include the authentication cookie at the end.

86
Q

What are add-ons?

A

Also known as extensions
Add new functionality to browsers and other software
Are written and developed by 3rd parties

87
Q

Security risks with Add ons

A

You may not know who wrote the code
Trojans may perform malicious secondary activity
Permissions may be overly broad

88
Q

What are code execution attacks?

A

They occur when an attacker exploits a vulnerability in a system that allows the attacker to run commands on that system

EG: A public facing web server must open port 80 and 443 to work, which could open the opportunity for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities in unpatched servers

89
Q

Arbitrary code execution

A

Code execution attacks where the attacker runs commands of his/her choice.

90
Q

Remote code execution

A

Code execution attacks that take place over a network connection

91
Q

Code execution objectives

A
  • Install malicious code
  • Join a system to a botnet
  • Steal sensitive information
  • Create accounts for later access
92
Q

Defending against code execution attacks

A

Limit admin access

Patch systems and applications

93
Q

What is a device driver

A

Serves as the software interface between hardware devices and the operating system
Device drivers require low level access to the operating system

94
Q

What is refactoring a device driver?

A

Modifying a driver to carry out malicious activities

This requires access to the drivers source code

95
Q

What is shimming a Device driver?

A

Wrapping a legitimate driver with a malicious shim

Does not require access to the source code of the driver.

96
Q

How to protect against malicious drivers?

A

Code signing protects against malicious drivers

97
Q

What is error handling in code?

A

Avoids unpredictable states by providing the computer with explicit instructions if something unpredictable were to happen

98
Q

Social engineering

A

Use psychological tricks to manipulate people into divulging information or performing an action that undermines security

99
Q

Main reasons social engineering attacks are successful

A

1) Authority - People defer to authority
2) Intimidation - Scaring people into doing what you want
3) Consensus - The herd mentality
4) Scarcity - Getting the last one
5) Urgency - Time is running out
6) Familiarity - We say yes to people we like

100
Q

What is Spam?

A

Unsolicited commercial Emails

101
Q

What is phishing?

A

Targeting users to steal credentials

102
Q

What is Spear phishing?

A

a Very targeted Phish

103
Q

What is Whaling?

A

Targeting executives with phishing emails

104
Q

What is Pharming?

A

Using Fake websites and going to great lengths to make it look legitimate

105
Q

Which is Vishing?

A

Voice Phishing

106
Q

What is Spim?

A

Instant Messaging spam

107
Q

What is spoofing?

A

Faking an identity

108
Q

Shoulder surfing

A

Attacker simply looks over the shoulder of the victim

109
Q

Trash

A

Social engineers love going through peoples trash to see what they can find

110
Q

Tailgating

A

This can be as simple as holding doors open to let attackers gain access to areas

111
Q

Vulnerability assessment tools

A
  • Passive tools
    - Obscure activity
  • Active tools
    - Interact with machines
112
Q

Honeypots

A

Attractive decoy machines put in by administrators

113
Q

Honeynets

A

Decoy networks, similar to honeypots

114
Q

Protocol analysers

A

Peek into network traffic (EG: wireshark)

115
Q

Scanning for vulnerabilities

A
  1. Port Scanners
  2. Vulnerability scanners
  3. Application scanners

CompTIA Security+ (1 decks)

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