Security Flashcards
What is Network security?
- network security is the activities designed to protect a network and its data from threats such as viruses, hack attackers, denial of service attacks, data interception and theft, and equipment failure.
What are the 3 areas that network security protect?
- confidentiality.
- correctness.
- availability.
What is DoS?
- denial of service is an attack on a network that attempts to prevent legitimate users from accessing its service.
What are the 3 reasons why security is important?
- required for the running of the organization.
- private and confidential.
- financially valuable.
What are the 3 ways to protect data confidentiality?
- ensuring only authorized users can access the parts of a network and its resources that they have a reason to require.
- stopping misuse.
- encrypting data.
What is authentication and validation?
authentication is the process of checking the identity of a user of a computer system or network.
authentication is done by validating a username and password against details stored on a central server.
What is two- factor authentication?
- a security check where users have to type in the code from a portable hardware device called a “secure token” or from and SMS message sent to their mobile phone.
What is access control?
this decides which users have access to which data, and what they are allowed to do with it.
What are the two options that access control decides whether a particular file?
- read-only access.
- read and write access.
What is read-only access?
this is where the user can open the file and read its contents, but not modify the contents or delete the file.
What is read and write access?
read and write access(modify access), where the user can read the file, alter the contents and then saves the changes.
What is a firewall?
- firewall is a network security system that monitors and controls data that is moving from one network to another.( eg:- between the internet and local internal network)
What is hacking?
the act of gaining unauthorized access to a computer system and the data it contains.
What is throughput?
- allow more data to pass through them.
What is physical security?
- controlling access to critical parts of a network using physical methods (such as locked doors) rather than software.
What is malware?
short for ‘malicious software’. it is used as a generic term for any kind of software that is designed to disrupt the use of a computer system.
What are the 4 advantages of cloud storage relating to avaliability?
- cloud storage provider is responsible for the hardware your data is stored on.
- the cloud storage provider can normally make extra storage available.
- having data stored off-site, means that it is protected from loss due to fire, theft of computers/ servers, electrical failure so on.
- data can be backed-up
What are the disadvantages of cloud storage related to security disadvantages?(5)
- there might be problems for the third-party storage provider.
- could be hacked as it is saved online.
- cloud storage users have to assume that the cloud storage servers are trustworthy.
- need a high-speed internet connection to access data.
what is USB?
it is a universal serial bus socket found on most modern computer systems.
What is a NAS storage system?
- NAS is a hardware device that is connected to a network to provide file storage for any device connected to that network.
What is a cyber attack?
- any kind of malicious attack on a network-connected device.
What is social engineering?
- any kind of attack on a computer system or network that takes advantage of how people behave and respond to certain situations.
What is phishing?
- directing internet users to a fake website that looks like a real one, to obtain personal information such as passwords, account numbers, etc.
What are the two ways cyber attacks can classified to?
- social engineering.
- technical weaknesses.
Reasons for cyber attacks? (4)
- gain access to data contained within the system.
- delete or modify information.
- make the system unavailable for use.
- physically damage a device connected to the network (usually by overreading safety limits)
What are the 3 common forms of social engineering?
- phishing
- shoulder surfing.
- pharming.
What are the 5 ways to prevent pharming?
- check that the http address of site is one you intended to visit.
- check that there is a secure connection if you have to enter sensitive information.
- check the site’s security certificate.
- install the latest security updates.
- install antivirus software.
What are the 3 common examples where cyber-attacks rely on technical weaknesses?
- unpatched software.
- USB device.
- eavesdropping.
What is unpatched software?
- it is software that hasn’t had the latest security updates applied to it, making it vulnerable to attack.
what is eavesdropping?
- eavesdropping means intercepting data being sent to/from another computer system. (simple means reading data without actually copying or stealing it.)
What is code vulnerability?
a computer program (code) written in such a way that it creates a security issue that may be taken advantage of to gain access to the computer system or data.
What are the 5 questions software and system designers will need to consider ?
- what kind of authentication.
- Does warning need to be issued?
- Stored data need to be encrypted.
- threats the software might face.
What is modular testing?
testing each block of code as it is completed to ensure the code works as expected.
What is audit trail?
a record of activities that have taken place on a computer system. This record is generated automatically and will record what has happened and who or what made the change
What are the 3 ways of identifying vulnerabilities?
- penetration testing.
- commercial analysis tools.
-reviews of network and user policies.
What are the other 3 methods to reduce the chance of cyber attacks succeeding?
- use of an audit trail.
- use of secure operating system.
- Provide effective network security.
What are the 2 scans commercial analysis tools take?
- external scan.
- internal scan.
What is external scan?
- External scan shows vulnerabilities that a hacker could exploit from outside the company’s network.
What is internal scan?
- Internal scan can be used to scan the network from within to show up issues that could be exploited by a rogue employee, or hacker who might get physical access to the networks.
What should all networks have in written policies?
- network policy.
- user policy.
What should be documented in network policy?
- who is authorized to carry out various activities on the network.
- how and when patches to software should be applied.
- access control.
- password requirements.
- how security is set up and maintained on the network
What should be documented in User policy?
- the use of the network is allowed or not allowed?
- what will happen to the user if they do something unacceptable.
- how to report faults, problems, and security issues.
- security information, such as good practice when choosing and using passwords.
