Answer Description

Only full disk encryption will ensure the data is not readable by malicious users. The file system will not matter as their security features can be easily bypassed by using an operating system that ignores them. For example Linux operating systems can be configured to ignore NTFS permissions which would allow access to any data on the disk.

Wikipedia

Disk encryption is a technology which protects information by converting it into code that cannot be deciphered easily by unauthorized people or processes. Disk encryption uses disk encryption software or hardware to encrypt every bit of data that goes on a disk or disk volume. It is used to prevent unauthorized access to data storage.The expression full disk encryption (FDE) (or whole disk encryption) signifies that everything on the disk is encrypted, but the master boot record (MBR), or similar area of a bootable disk, with code that starts the operating system loading sequence, is not encrypted. Some hardware-based full disk encryption systems can truly encrypt an entire boot disk, including the MBR.

Answer Description

Wired Equivalent Privacy or WEP is a security protocol that has been around for quit a while. It has known security issues and is not safe to use any longer. It was superseded first by WPA, then by WPA2 and most recently WPA3. You should always use the most secure option supported by your router. WEP is still an option on many routers for backwards compatibility, but you should avoid it at all costs.

Wikipedia

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) was a security algorithm for 802.11 wireless networks. Introduced as part of the original IEEE 802.11 standard ratified in 1997, its intention was to provide data confidentiality comparable to that of a traditional wired network. WEP, recognizable by its key of 10 or 26 hexadecimal digits (40 or 104 bits), was at one time widely used, and was often the first security choice presented to users by router configuration tools.In 2003, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced that WEP had been superseded by Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). In 2004, with the ratification of the full 802.11i standard (i.e. WPA2), the IEEE declared that both WEP-40 and WEP-104 have been deprecated.WEP was the only encryption protocol available to 802.11a and 802.11b devices built before the WPA standard, which was available for 802.11g devices. However, some 802.11b devices were later provided with firmware or software updates to enable WPA, and newer devices had it built in.

Answer Description

Encryption is not a physical security measure. Anything regarding access control such as a cypher lock is considered physical security. Video cameras/surveillance are also physical security features, as is controlling access with something you have such as a smart card.

Wikipedia

Physical security describes security measures that are designed to deny unauthorized access to facilities, equipment and resources and to protect personnel and property from damage or harm (such as espionage, theft, or terrorist attacks) Physical security involves the use of multiple layers of interdependent systems that can include CCTV surveillance, security guards, protective barriers, locks, access control, perimeter intrusion detection, deterrent systems, fire protection, and other systems designed to protect persons and property

Answer Description

Microsoft Active Directory is a directory service for organizing user accounts, servers and client operating systems. Additionally it provides helpful features like enforcing password policies, running login scripts, applying user account restrictions and much more.

Wikipedia

Active Directory (AD) is a directory service developed by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. Windows Server operating systems include it as a set of processes and services. Originally, only centralized domain management used Active Directory. However, it ultimately became an umbrella title for various directory-based identity-related services.A domain controller is a server running the Active Directory Domain Service (AD DS) role. It authenticates and authorizes all users and computers in a Windows domain-type network, assigning and enforcing security policies for all computers and installing or updating software. For example, when a user logs into a computer part of a Windows domain, Active Directory checks the submitted username and password and determines whether the user is a system administrator or a non-admin user. Furthermore, it allows the management and storage of information, provides authentication and authorization mechanisms, and establishes a framework to deploy other related services: Certificate Services, Active Directory Federation Services, Lightweight Directory Services, and Rights Management Services.Active Directory uses Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) versions 2 and 3, Microsoft's version of Kerberos, and DNS.Robert R. King defined it in the following way:"A domain represents a database. That database holds records about network services-things like computers, users, groups and other things that use, support, or exist on a network. The domain database is, in effect, Active Directory."

Answer Description

Sleep, Hibernation, and Stand By are the only true System Power States. Of the three, only hibernation provides no power to memory, and saves memory contents to the hard drive to be loaded back into memory when the computer wakes up.

Wikipedia

Hibernation (also known as suspend to disk, or Safe Sleep on Macintosh computers) in computing is powering down a computer while retaining its state. When hibernation begins, the computer saves the contents of its random access memory (RAM) to a hard disk or other non-volatile storage. When the computer is turned on the RAM is restored and the computer is exactly as it was before entering hibernation. Hibernation was first implemented in 1992 and patented by Compaq Computer Corporation in Houston, Texas. As of 2020, Microsoft's Windows 10 employs a type of hibernation (fast startup) by default when shutting down.

Answer Description

The two most common ways to inject pop-up windows into a web browsing session is by using a malicious application which will most likely be found by the anti-virus software, or by installing a plugin or extension to the browser that creates the pop-ups. Some free applications downloadable from the internet will install these plugins as a way to create ad revenue.

Wikipedia

A browser extension is a small software module for customizing a web browser. Browsers typically allow a variety of extensions, including user interface modifications, cookie management, ad blocking, and the custom scripting and styling of web pages.

Answer Description

In Microsoft Active Directory a Group Policy is a policy applied to many AD objects. Objects can be user accounts, servers, desktop devices, etc. Group Policies are used to manage things like user account permissions. For example, a policy may be created for each team with default account permissions needed for those users.

Wikipedia

Group Policy is a feature of the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems (including Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server 2003+) that controls the working environment of user accounts and computer accounts. Group Policy provides centralized management and configuration of operating systems, applications, and users' settings in an Active Directory environment. A set of Group Policy configurations is called a Group Policy Object (GPO). A version of Group Policy called Local Group Policy (LGPO or LocalGPO) allows Group Policy Object management without Active Directory on standalone computers.Active Directory servers disseminate group policies by listing them in their LDAP directory under objects of class groupPolicyContainer. These refer to fileserver paths (attribute gPCFileSysPath) that store the actual group policy objects, typically in an SMB share \\domain.com\SYSVOL shared by the Active Directory server. If a group policy has registry settings, the associated file share will have a file registry.pol with the registry settings that the client needs to apply.The Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) is not provided on Home versions of Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11.

Answer Description

Windows 8 and 8.1 64-bit support a maximum of 128GB of memory. Other Windows 8 editions go as high as 512GB. This is a limit imposed by Microsoft and not a limit with 64-bit operating systems. In theory a 64-bit operating system can go as high as 16 Exabytes!

Answer Description

Because this is a non-domain (local) user account the Local Security Policy is the cause of the issue. Accessing the policy to determine account requirements will solve the problem.

Wikipedia

Group Policy is a feature of the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems (including Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server 2003+) that controls the working environment of user accounts and computer accounts. Group Policy provides centralized management and configuration of operating systems, applications, and users' settings in an Active Directory environment. A set of Group Policy configurations is called a Group Policy Object (GPO). A version of Group Policy called Local Group Policy (LGPO or LocalGPO) allows Group Policy Object management without Active Directory on standalone computers.Active Directory servers disseminate group policies by listing them in their LDAP directory under objects of class groupPolicyContainer. These refer to fileserver paths (attribute gPCFileSysPath) that store the actual group policy objects, typically in an SMB share \\domain.com\SYSVOL shared by the Active Directory server. If a group policy has registry settings, the associated file share will have a file registry.pol with the registry settings that the client needs to apply.The Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) is not provided on Home versions of Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11.

Answer Description

A password is an example of "something a user knows" and is not something in a user's possession.

Wikipedia

Multi-factor authentication (MFA; encompassing two-factor authentication, or 2FA, along with similar terms) is an electronic authentication method in which a user is granted access to a website or application only after successfully presenting two or more pieces of evidence (or factors) to an authentication mechanism: knowledge (something only the user knows), possession (something only the user has), and inherence (something only the user is). MFA protects user data—which may include personal identification or financial assets—from being accessed by an unauthorized third party that may have been able to discover, for example, a single password. A third-party authenticator (TPA) app enables two-factor authentication, usually by showing a randomly generated and frequently changing code to use for authentication.

Answer Description

You should assume the user's login and PC are compromised. Its possible that the PC has malware that was used to send the emails, steal the user's password or that only the account credentials were compromised and the PC is not infected. Until you can determine how the credentials were compromised, you should assume anything that belongs to the user is unsafe.

Answer Description

The Windows Performance Monitor is used to check the state of resource usage and should be used as part of the process of verifying that additional resources are required.

Wikipedia

Performance Monitor (known as System Monitor in Windows 9x, Windows 2000 and Windows XP) is a system monitoring program introduced in Windows NT 3.1. It monitors various activities on a computer such as CPU or memory usage. This type of application may be used to determine the cause of problems on a local or remote computer by measuring the performance of hardware, software services, and applications.In Windows 9x, System Monitor is not installed automatically during Windows setup, but could be installed manually using the Add/Remove Programs applet, located in the Control Panel. It has few counters available and offers little in the way of customization. In contrast, the Windows NT Performance Monitor is available out-of-the-box and has over 350 performance measurement criteria (called "counters") available. Performance Monitor can display information as a graph, a bar chart, or numeric values and can update information using a range of time intervals. The categories of information that can be monitored depends on which networking services are installed, but they always include file system, kernel, and memory manager. Other possible categories include Microsoft Network Client, Microsoft Network Server, and protocol categories. In Windows 2000, the System Monitor of Windows 9x and the Performance Monitor of Windows NT 4 and earlier, as well as another program called Network Monitor, were merged into a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) plug-in called Performance, which consisted of two parts: "System Monitor" and "Performance Logs and Alerts". The "System Monitor" naming was kept in Windows XP. Some third-party publications referred

Answer Description

Local users should not be utilized whenever possible. Domain environments should authenticate users via the domain controller whenever possible. This eliminates numerous security vulnerabilities, such as controlling access to the PC if it is stolen and ensuring deactivated users cannot access a PC with non-domain credentials.

Wikipedia

Network security consists of the policies, processes and practices adopted to prevent, detect and monitor unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of a computer network and network-accessible resources. Network security involves the authorization of access to data in a network, which is controlled by the network administrator. Users choose or are assigned an ID and password or other authenticating information that allows them access to information and programs within their authority. Network security covers a variety of computer networks, both public and private, that are used in everyday jobs: conducting transactions and communications among businesses, government agencies and individuals. Networks can be private, such as within a company, and others which might be open to public access. Network security is involved in organizations, enterprises, and other types of institutions. It does as its title explains: it secures the network, as well as protecting and overseeing operations being done. The most common and simple way of protecting a network resource is by assigning it a unique name and a corresponding password.

Answer Description

Boot Camp is a Mac OSX application that allows users to install Windows based operating systems. Boot Camp

Wikipedia

Boot Camp Assistant is a multi boot utility included with Apple Inc.'s macOS (previously Mac OS X / OS X) that assists users in installing Microsoft Windows operating systems on Intel-based Macintosh computers. The utility guides users through non-destructive disk partitioning (including resizing of an existing HFS+ or APFS partition, if necessary) of their hard disk drive or solid-state drive and installation of Windows device drivers for the Apple hardware. The utility also installs a Windows Control Panel applet for selecting the default boot operating system. Initially introduced as an unsupported beta for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, the utility was first introduced with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and has been included in subsequent versions of the operating system ever since. Previous versions of Boot Camp supported Windows XP and Windows Vista. Boot Camp 4.0 for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard version 10.6.6 up to Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion version 10.8.2 only supported Windows 7. However, with the release of Boot Camp 5.0 for Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion in version 10.8.3, only 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8 are officially supported.Boot Camp 6.0 added support for 64-bit versions of Windows 10. Boot Camp 6.1, available on macOS 10.12 Sierra and later, will only accept new installations of Windows 7 and later; this requirement was upgraded to requiring Windows 10 for macOS 10.14 Mojave. Boot Camp is currently not available on Apple silicon Macs. Via virtualization, it is possible to run ARM-based Windows 10 and

Answer Description

A clean installation will completely delete existing data and partitions on the chosen disk. It can be used to re-install the previous OS with a clean state, upgrade an OS or switch operating system types (e.g. from Windows to Linux). If data needs to be kept it should be backed up to a different drive or cloud provider first.

Answer Description

This is a clear violation of the principle of least privilege, and it would likely drive the IT department mad. ACLs do not have anything to do with account creation/deletion. Privacy filters are a physical security mechanism that prevent folks from watching your screen, this it does not apply to this situation. Tailgating is when someone follows an authorized individual into a controlled area, also not applicable here.

Wikipedia

In information security, computer science, and other fields, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), also known as the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in a particular abstraction layer of a computing environment, every module (such as a process, a user, or a program, depending on the subject) must be able to access only the information and resources that are necessary for its legitimate purpose.

Answer Description

Python is a programming language that uses the file extension .py. It is a common way to automate things, create websites and other use cases. As a system administrator you may encounter it and even use it to make your job easier, like running a script on lots of servers instead of manually making a configuration change yourself.

Wikipedia

Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language. Its design philosophy emphasizes code readability with the use of significant indentation via the off-side rule.Python is dynamically typed and garbage-collected. It supports multiple programming paradigms, including structured (particularly procedural), object-oriented and functional programming. It is often described as a "batteries included" language due to its comprehensive standard library.Guido van Rossum began working on Python in the late 1980s as a successor to the ABC programming language and first released it in 1991 as Python 0.9.0. Python 2.0 was released in 2000. Python 3.0, released in 2008, was a major revision not completely backward-compatible with earlier versions. Python 2.7.18, released in 2020, was the last release of Python 2.Python consistently ranks as one of the most popular programming languages.

Answer Description

Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) is a special boot type that downloads an image from a server on the network. Fixed Drive is a boot type that uses an internal HDD or SSD. eSata is a type of external drive attachment. FTP is a protocol for transferring files and not a boot type.

Wikipedia

In computing, the Preboot eXecution Environment, PXE (most often pronounced as pixie, often called PXE Boot/pixie boot.) specification describes a standardized client–server environment that boots a software assembly, retrieved from a network, on PXE-enabled clients. On the client side it requires only a PXE-capable network interface controller (NIC), and uses a small set of industry-standard network protocols such as DHCP and TFTP. The concept behind the PXE originated in the early days of protocols like BOOTP/DHCP/TFTP, and as of 2015 it forms part of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) standard. In modern data centers, PXE is the most frequent choice for operating system booting, installation and deployment.

Answer Description

Cable locks are a physical security measure that can prevent small or mobile devices from being physically removed from a location. These are often called cable locks but may also be called a Kensington lock or Kensington security slot. The goal is to secure the device to another large object like a well, desk or cart.

Wikipedia

A Kensington Security Slot (also called a K-Slot or Kensington lock) is part of an anti-theft system designed in the mid 1980s and patented by Kryptonite in 1999–2000, assigned to Schlage in 2002, and since 2005 owned and marketed by Kensington Computer Products Group, a division of ACCO Brands.

Answer Description

BranchCache allows files to be read even when a connection cannot be made with the file server. For example, if a warehouse loses connectivity to the file server in the corporate office hundreds of miles away BranchCache could be used to allow warehouse employees to read locally cached files. BranchCache does not support writing to files unless connectivity to the file server can be established.

Wikipedia