Risk Analysis Flashcards
You are responsible for ensuring that all company IT-related equipment and data are inventoried and given a value. Which term best describes this activity?
Asset identification
Risk assessment
Risk mitigation
Asset identification
Asset identification is required before identifying where threats exist. Proper risk management involves identifying assets (including data) and associating a value to them. This information can then be used to justify expenditures to protect these assets
You are identifying security threats to determine the likelihood of virus infection. Identify potential sources of infection. (Choose two.)
USB flash drives
USB keyboard
Smartcard
Downloaded documentation from a business partner web site
USB flash drives
Downloaded documentation from a business partner web site
USB flash drives could have files downloaded from the Internet or copied from less secure machines that could infect your network. Business partner documentation downloaded from the Internet could potentially be infected. With proper management approval, conducting a thorough vulnerability assessment of the existing network and its devices, or a more aggressive penetration test, can reveal these potential security holes
During a risk analysis meeting, you are asked to specify internal threats being considered. Which item is not considered an internal threat?
Embezzlement
Attackers breaking in through the firewall
Employees using corporate assets for personal gain
Attackers breaking in through the firewall
Attackers breaking through a firewall would be considered an external threat
You are an IT security consultant. A client conveys her concern to you regarding malicious Internet users gaining access to corporate resources. What type of assessment would you perform to determine this likelihood?
Threat assessment
Risk analysis
Asset identification
Threat assessment
Determining how an entity may gain access to corporate resources would require a threat assessment. Environmental threat assessments consider natural factors such as floods and earthquakes as well as facility environmental factors such as HVAC and physical security. Threat assessment must also consider personmade threats such as war or terrorism. For a completely objective view of threats, assessment should be conducted by an external entity
You are an IT consultant performing a risk analysis for a seafood company. The client is concerned with specific cooking and packaging techniques the company uses being disclosed to competitors. What type of security concern is this?
Integrity
Confidentiality
Availability
Confidentiality
Confidentiality means keeping data hidden from those who should not see it, such as competitors
After identifying internal and external threats, you must determine how these potential risks will affect business operations. Which of the following terms best describes this?
Risk analysis
Fault tolerance
Impact analysis
Impact analysis
Determining the effect that materialized risks have on the operation of a business is called impact analysis. It is often used to determine whether expenditures against these risks are justified
When determining how best to mitigate risk, which items should you consider? (Choose two.)
Insurance coverage
Number of server hard disks
How fast CPUs in new computers will be
Network bandwidth
Insurance coverage
Number of server hard disks
Assessing risk includes determining what is and is not covered by various types of insurance coverage and whether the cost of those insurance premiums is justified, such as cybersecurity insurance related to malicious network attacks or intellectual property data theft. The number of server hard disks is definitely risk related. The likelihood of hard disk data loss is minimized when multiple hard disks are configured properly, such as RAID 1 (disk mirroring)
You are listing preventative measures for potential risks. Which of the following would you document? (Choose three.)
Larger flat-screen monitors
Data backup
Employee training
Comparing reliability of network load balancing appliances
Data backup
Employee training
Comparing reliability of network load balancing appliances
Backing up data minimizes the risk of data loss. Employee training reduces the likelihood of errors or disclosure of confidential information. Choosing the most reliable network load balancing appliance can reduce the risk of network traffic congestion
An insurance company charges an additional $200 monthly premium for natural disaster coverage for your business site. What figure must you compare this against to determine whether to accept this additional coverage?
ALE
ROI
Total cost of ownership
ALE
The annual loss expectancy (ALE) value is used with quantitative risk analysis approaches to prioritize and justify expenditures that help protect against potential risks. For example, an ALE value of $1000 may justify a $200 annual expense to protect against that risk
Which of the following is true regarding qualitative risk analysis?
Only numerical data is considered.
ALE must be calculated.
Threats must be identified.
Threats must be identified.
Qualitative risk analysis categorizes risks (threats) with general (not hard numerical) terms and numerical ranges—for example, analyzing risks using ratings between 1 (low risk) to 10 (high risk). For this to happen, threats must first be identified
Which values must be calculated to derive annual loss expectancy? (Choose two.)
Single loss expectancy
Annual rate of occurrence
Monthly loss expectancy
Quarterly loss expectancy
Single loss expectancy
Annual rate of occurrence
Annual loss expectancy (ALE) is derived by multiplying the annual rate of occurrence (ARO) by the single loss expectancy (SLE)
You are the server expert for a cloud computing firm. Management would like to set aside funds to respond to server downtime risks. Using historical data, you determine that the probability of server downtime is 17 percent. Past data suggests the server would be down for an average of one hour and that $3000 of revenue can be earned in one hour. You must calculate the ALE. Choose the correct ALE.
$300
$510
$3000
$510
Annual loss expectancy is calculated by multiplying the annual rate of occurrence (ARO = 0.17) by the single loss expectancy (SLE = 3000). So, ALE = ARO × SLE, and 0.17 × $3000 = $510
Your boss asks you to calculate how much money the company loses when critical servers required by employees are down for one hour. You have determined that the probability of this happening is 70 percent. The company has 25 employees, each earning $18.50 per hour. Choose the correct value.
$12.95
$18.50
$323.75
$323.75
This question is asking you to calculate the ALE. Multiply the probability (ARO) by the cost associated with a single failure (SLE). ALE = ARO × SLE, and 0.7 × (25 × $18.5) = $323.75
Which term best describes monies spent to minimize the impact that threats and unfavorable conditions have on a business?
Risk management
Security audit
Budgetary constraints
Risk management
Risk assessment means determining the impact that threats and less than optimal conditions can have on a business or agency. Risk management involves setting aside the funds to account for these eventualities. Determining the amount of money to set aside may involve many detailed calculations
Which risk analysis approach makes use of ALE?
Best possible outcome
Quantitative
ROI
Quantitative
The ALE is a specific figure derived from the probability of a loss and the cost of one occurrence of this loss. Because specific dollar values (quantities) are used to prioritize risks, this falls into the category of quantitative risk analysis