CompTIA Security+ certification covers network security, compliance and operation security, threats and vulnerabilities as well as application, data and host security. Also included are access control, identity management, and cryptography. The official exam objectives are 1.0 Network Security, 2.0 Compliance and Operational Security, 3.0 Threats and Vulnerabilities, 4.0 Application Data and Host Security, 5.0 Access Control and Identity Management and 6.0 Cryptography.
RBAC (Role Based Access Control) is an access control, where a persons level of access is dependent on their job in an origination.
In computer systems security, role-based access control (RBAC) or role-based security is an approach to restricting system access to authorized users. It is an approach to implement mandatory access control (MAC) or discretionary access control (DAC). Role-based access control (RBAC) is a policy-neutral access-control mechanism defined around roles and privileges. The components of RBAC such as role-permissions, user-role and role-role relationships make it simple to perform user assignments. A study by NIST has demonstrated that RBAC addresses many needs of commercial and government organizations. RBAC can be used to facilitate administration of security in large organizations with hundreds of users and thousands of permissions. Although RBAC is different from MAC and DAC access control frameworks, it can enforce these policies without any complication.
Role-based_access_control - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThe combination of User ID and password allows an application or system to authenticate the user.
Authentication (from Greek: αὐθεντικός authentikos, "real, genuine", from αὐθέντης authentes, "author") is the act of proving an assertion, such as the identity of a computer system user. In contrast with identification, the act of indicating a person or thing's identity, authentication is the process of verifying that identity. It might involve validating personal identity documents, verifying the authenticity of a website with a digital certificate, determining the age of an artifact by carbon dating, or ensuring that a product or document is not counterfeit.
Authentication - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaAn administrator notices that former temporary employees' accounts are still active on a domain. Which of the following can be implemented to increase security and prevent this from happening?
Using a script to check for inactive accounts is a good idea, but not a preventative measure. Applying an expiration date to temporary employees accounts will prevent them from accessing the network once they leave the company.
An administrator is receiving an error in browser stating a website's certificate is invalid. Which of the following is the browser referring to?
Browser load web certificates when a web server uses the HTTPS protocol. The certificate given to the browser will always be the public certificate, which will contain the public key. The private key is kept by the administrator who created the certificate and should never be shared.
Public-key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is a cryptographic system that uses pairs of keys. Each pair consists of a public key (which may be known to others) and a private key (which may not be known by anyone except the owner). The generation of such key pairs depends on cryptographic algorithms which are based on mathematical problems termed one-way functions. Effective security requires keeping the private key private; the public key can be openly distributed without compromising security.In such a system, any person can encrypt a message using the intended receiver's public key, but that encrypted message can only be decrypted with the receiver's private key. This allows, for instance, a server program to generate a cryptographic key intended for a suitable symmetric-key cryptography, then to use a client's openly-shared public key to encrypt that newly generated symmetric key. The server can then send this encrypted symmetric key over an insecure channel to the client; only the client can decrypt it using the client's private key (which pairs with the public key used by the server to encrypt the message). With the client and server both having the same symmetric key, they can safely use symmetric key encryption (likely much faster) to communicate over otherwise-insecure channels. This scheme has the advantage of not having to manually pre-share symmetric keys (a fundamentally difficult problem) while gaining the higher data throughput advantage of symmetric-key cryptography. With public-key cryptography, robust authentication is also possible. A sender can combine a message with a private
Public-key cryptography - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaSeparation of duties is often implemented between developers and administrators in order to separate which of the following?
Employees with access to the development AND deployment processes could pose a security hazard, which is why separation of duty and need to know policies should be in place.
Separation of duties (SoD; also known as Segregation of Duties) is the concept of having more than one person required to complete a task. It is an administrative control used by organisations to prevent fraud, sabotage, theft, misuse of information, and other security compromises. In the political realm, it is known as the separation of powers, as can be seen in democracies where the government is separated into three independent branches: a legislature, an executive, and a judiciary.
Separation_of_duties - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaYour supervisor asks you to implement a new KDC. Which of the following protocols is your supervisor planning to implement?
Kerberos is a type of Key Distribution Center (KDC) that supplies session tickets and session keys to authorized users on an Active Directory domain.
Kerberos () is a computer-network authentication protocol that works on the basis of tickets to allow nodes communicating over a non-secure network to prove their identity to one another in a secure manner. Its designers aimed it primarily at a client–server model, and it provides mutual authentication—both the user and the server verify each other's identity. Kerberos protocol messages are protected against eavesdropping and replay attacks. Kerberos builds on symmetric-key cryptography and requires a trusted third party, and optionally may use public-key cryptography during certain phases of authentication. Kerberos uses UDP port 88 by default. The protocol was named after the character Kerberos (or Cerberus) from Greek mythology, the ferocious three-headed guard dog of Hades.
Kerberos (protocol) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaA mantrap is a device designed to physically trap a person in an enclosed area. Typically, this is a set of doors that cannot be opened simultaneously. The idea is that this will help to prevent tailgating, as the intruder will be momentarily trapped inside the same room as the authorized user.
A mantrap, airlock, sally port or access control vestibule is a physical security access control system comprising a small space with two sets of interlocking doors, such that the first set of doors must close before the second set opens. Airlocks have a very similar design, allowing free ingress and egress while also restricting airflow. In a manual mantrap, a guard locks and unlocks each door in sequence. An intercom and/or video camera are often used to allow the guard to control the trap from a remote location. In an automatic mantrap, identification may be required for each door, sometimes even different measures for each door. For example, a key may open the first door, but a personal identification number entered on a number pad opens the second. Other methods of opening doors include proximity cards or biometric devices such as fingerprint readers or iris recognition scans. Metal detectors are often built in to prevent the entrance of people carrying weapons. This use is particularly frequent in banks and jewelry shops. Fire codes require that automatic mantraps allow exit from the intermediate space while denying access to a secure space such as a data center or research lab. A manually-operated mantrap may allow a guard to lock both doors, trapping a suspect between the doors for questioning or detainment.
Mantrap_(access_control) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaWhich of the following terms involves the sending and receiving of unsolicited messages over Bluetooth?
Bluejacking is the sending of unsolicited messages over Bluetooth to Bluetooth-enabled devices. Bluesnarfing is the unauthorized access to data over Bluetooth.
Bluejacking is the sending of unsolicited messages over Bluetooth to Bluetooth-enabled devices such as mobile phones, PDAs or laptop computers, sending a vCard which typically contains a message in the name field (i.e., for bluedating or bluechat) to another Bluetooth-enabled device via the OBEX protocol. Bluetooth has a very limited range, usually around 10 metres (32.8 ft) on mobile phones, but laptops can reach up to 100 metres (328 ft) with powerful (Class 1) transmitters.
Bluejacking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaA zero-day attack is an attack that is still unknown to the vendor, software developer, and/or system administrators. It is an attack that is newly discovered by malicious users.
A zero-day (also known as a 0-day) is a computer-software vulnerability previously unknown to those who should be interested in its mitigation, like the vendor of the target software. Until the vulnerability is mitigated, hackers can exploit it to adversely affect programs, data, additional computers or a network. An exploit directed at a zero-day is called a zero-day exploit, or zero-day attack. The term "zero-day" originally referred to the number of days since a new piece of software was released to the public, so "zero-day software" was obtained by hacking into a developer's computer before release. Eventually the term was applied to the vulnerabilities that allowed this hacking, and to the number of days that the vendor has had to fix them. Once the vendors learn of the vulnerability, they will usually create patches or advise workarounds to mitigate it. The more recently that the vendor has become aware of the vulnerability, the more likely it is that no fix or mitigation has been developed. Once a fix is developed, the chance of the exploit succeeding decreases as more users apply the fix over time. For zero-day exploits, unless the vulnerability is inadvertently fixed, such as by an unrelated update that happens to fix the vulnerability, the probability that a user has applied a vendor-supplied patch that fixes the problem is zero, so the exploit would remain available. Zero-day attacks are a severe threat.
Zero-day_(computing) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaYou are a network administrator for a large business. Recently, you've noticed a large amount of unusual traffic and you suspect they are SYN attacks. What choice will help you defend against these attacks?
Flood Guards defend against DoS, DDoS, SYN floods, and other flooding type network attacks.
A SYN flood is a form of denial-of-service attack in which an attacker rapidly initiates a connection to a server without finalizing the connection. The server has to spend resources waiting for half-opened connections, which can consume enough resources to make the system unresponsive to legitimate traffic.The packet that the attacker sends is the SYN packet, a part of TCP's three-way handshake used to establish a connection.
SYN_flood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaWhich of the following terms would be used when configuring a firewall to allow certain traffic to pass unobstructed?
Creating a firewall exception will allow that program or data on that port to bypass the firewall. Allowing a session and establishing a tunnel both refer to creating a connection (for example creating an SSH connection). Creating an AP would be creating an Access Point in a wireless network.
In computer security, an access-control list (ACL) is a list of permissions associated with a system resource (object) An ACL specifies which users or system processes are granted access to objects, as well as what operations are allowed on given objects Each entry in a typical ACL specifies a subject and an operation For instance, if a file object has an ACL that contains (Alice: read,write Bob: read), this would give Alice permission to read and write the file and only give Bob permission to read it
Access_control_list - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaYou are creating a new network for your company, you only want to purchase one public IP but have many hosts that will be on the network. What will ensure this is possible?
PAT (Port Address Translation) uses TCP Port numbers to "translate" a group of private IP addresses to a single public IP addresses (one to many). You may also see this one-to-many IP translation called Network Address Translation (NAT) with overload. Both would be acceptable answers here and the terms are both commonly used by different vendors.
Network address translation (NAT) is a method of mapping an IP address space into another by modifying network address information in the IP header of packets while they are in transit across a traffic routing device. The technique was originally used to avoid the need to assign a new address to every host when a network was moved, or when the upstream Internet service provider was replaced, but could not route the network's address space. It has become a popular and essential tool in conserving global address space in the face of IPv4 address exhaustion. One Internet-routable IP address of a NAT gateway can be used for an entire private network.As network address translation modifies the IP address information in packets, NAT implementations may vary in their specific behavior in various addressing cases and their effect on network traffic. The specifics of NAT behavior are not commonly documented by vendors of equipment containing NAT implementations.
Network address translation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaSTP (Spanning Tree Protocol) is a layer 2 protocol used to prevent switching loops. STP can be attacked by a hacker, and cause a network outage.
The Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is a network protocol that builds a loop-free logical topology for Ethernet networks. The basic function of STP is to prevent bridge loops and the broadcast radiation that results from them. Spanning tree also allows a network design to include backup links providing fault tolerance if an active link fails. As the name suggests, STP creates a spanning tree that characterizes the relationship of nodes within a network of connected layer-2 bridges, and disables those links that are not part of the spanning tree, leaving a single active path between any two network nodes. STP is based on an algorithm that was invented by Radia Perlman while she was working for Digital Equipment Corporation.In 2001, the IEEE introduced Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) as 802.1w. RSTP provides significantly faster recovery in response to network changes or failures, introducing new convergence behaviors and bridge port roles to do this. RSTP was designed to be backwards-compatible with standard STP. STP was originally standardized as IEEE 802.1D but the functionality of spanning tree (802.1D), rapid spanning tree (802.1w), and multiple spanning tree (802.1s) has since been incorporated into IEEE 802.1Q-2014.
Spanning_Tree_Protocol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaMD5 (Message-Digest algorithm 5) is a hashing algorithm, commonly used to verify integrity when downloading or transferring files. MD5 is used before and after the file transfer and the generated 128 bit digests can be compared. If they match, the file is exactly the same. If not, some sort of error or malicious attack has occurred.
md5sum is a computer program that calculates and verifies 128-bit MD5 hashes, as described in RFC 1321. The MD5 hash functions as a compact digital fingerprint of a file. As with all such hashing algorithms, there is theoretically an unlimited number of files that will have any given MD5 hash. However, it is very unlikely that any two non-identical files in the real world will have the same MD5 hash, unless they have been specifically created to have the same hash.The underlying MD5 algorithm is no longer deemed secure. Thus, while md5sum is well-suited for identifying known files in situations that are not security related, it should not be relied on if there is a chance that files have been purposefully and maliciously tampered. In the latter case, the use of a newer hashing tool such as sha256sum is recommended. md5sum is used to verify the integrity of files, as virtually any change to a file will cause its MD5 hash to change. Most commonly, md5sum is used to verify that a file has not changed as a result of a faulty file transfer, a disk error or non-malicious meddling. The md5sum program is included in most Unix-like operating systems or compatibility layers such as Cygwin. The original C code was written by Ulrich Drepper and extracted from a 2001 release of glibc.
Md5sum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaTelnet is a remote command line interface tool, which uses port 23 to communicate.
Telnet is an application protocol used on the Internet or local area network to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communication facility using a virtual terminal connection. User data is interspersed in-band with Telnet control information in an 8-bit byte oriented data connection over the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). Telnet was developed in 1969 beginning with RFC 15, extended in RFC 855, and standardized as Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Internet Standard STD 8, one of the first Internet standards. The name stands for "teletype network".Historically, Telnet provided access to a command-line interface on a remote host. However, because of serious security concerns when using Telnet over an open network such as the Internet, its use for this purpose has waned significantly in favor of SSH.The term telnet is also used to refer to the software that implements the client part of the protocol. Telnet client applications are available for virtually all computer platforms. Telnet is also used as a verb. To telnet means to establish a connection using the Telnet protocol, either with a command line client or with a graphical interface. For example, a common directive might be: "To change your password, telnet into the server, log in and run the passwd command." In most cases, a user would be telnetting into a Unix-like server system or a network device (such as a router).
Telnet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaAn attacker attempted to compromise a web form by inserting the following input into the username field: admin)(|(password=*)) Which of the following types of attacks was attempted?
This web based injection is targeting the LDAP server. Specifically, the admin account and its password.
A Hardware Security Module (HSM) is a physical device used to manage digital signatures and certificates and keys.
A hardware security module (HSM) is a physical computing device that safeguards and manages digital keys, performs encryption and decryption functions for digital signatures, strong authentication and other cryptographic functions. These modules traditionally come in the form of a plug-in card or an external device that attaches directly to a computer or network server. A hardware security module contains one or more secure cryptoprocessor chips.
Hardware_security_module - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaSHA and MD5 are hashing algorithms, used for one way encryption and data integrity.
A hash function is any function that can be used to map data of arbitrary size to fixed-size values. The values returned by a hash function are called hash values, hash codes, digests, or simply hashes. The values are usually used to index a fixed-size table called a hash table. Use of a hash function to index a hash table is called hashing or scatter storage addressing. Hash functions and their associated hash tables are used in data storage and retrieval applications to access data in a small and nearly constant time per retrieval. They require an amount of storage space only fractionally greater than the total space required for the data or records themselves. Hashing is a computationally and storage space-efficient form of data access that avoids the non-constant access time of ordered and unordered lists and structured trees, and the often exponential storage requirements of direct access of state spaces of large or variable-length keys. Use of hash functions relies on statistical properties of key and function interaction: worst-case behaviour is intolerably bad with a vanishingly small probability, and average-case behaviour can be nearly optimal (minimal collision).Hash functions are related to (and often confused with) checksums, check digits, fingerprints, lossy compression, randomization functions, error-correcting codes, and ciphers. Although the concepts overlap to some extent, each one has its own uses and requirements and is designed and optimized differently. The hash function differs from these concepts mainly in terms of data integrity.
Hash_function - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaYour organization has a web server that must be accessible by external users. Which of the following options is the best location for the server?
A Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), sometimes called a Perimeter Network , is a separate area of a network designated for externally facing systems and servers. It is the logical place for a web server that requires external access.
In computer security, a DMZ or demilitarized zone (sometimes referred to as a perimeter network or screened subnet) is a physical or logical subnetwork that contains and exposes an organization's external-facing services to an untrusted, usually larger, network such as the Internet. The purpose of a DMZ is to add an additional layer of security to an organization's local area network (LAN): an external network node can access only what is exposed in the DMZ, while the rest of the organization's network is firewalled. The DMZ functions as a small, isolated network positioned between the Internet and the private network.This is not to be confused with a DMZ host, a feature present in some home routers which frequently differs greatly from an ordinary DMZ. The name is from the term demilitarized zone, an area between states in which military operations are not permitted.
DMZ_(computing) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaA router has a single Ethernet connection to a switch. In the router configuration, the Ethernet interface has three sub-interfaces, each configured with ACLs applied to them and 802.1q trunks. Which of the following is MOST likely the reason for the sub-interfaces?
This configuration is known as a router on a stick. Where a single router routes for multiple VLANS, through sub-interfaces or several physical interfaces. Each interface will have it's own IP, belonging to a separate subnet and VLAN.
A virtual LAN (VLAN) is any broadcast domain that is partitioned and isolated in a computer network at the data link layer (OSI layer 2). LAN is the abbreviation for local area network and in this context virtual refers to a physical object recreated and altered by additional logic. VLANs work by applying tags to network frames and handling these tags in networking systems – creating the appearance and functionality of network traffic that is physically on a single network but acts as if it is split between separate networks. In this way, VLANs can keep network applications separate despite being connected to the same physical network, and without requiring multiple sets of cabling and networking devices to be deployed. VLANs allow network administrators to group hosts together even if the hosts are not directly connected to the same network switch. Because VLAN membership can be configured through software, this can greatly simplify network design and deployment. Without VLANs, grouping hosts according to their resource needs the labor of relocating nodes or rewiring data links. VLANs allow devices that must be kept separate to share the cabling of a physical network and yet be prevented from directly interacting with one another. This managed sharing yields gains in simplicity, security, traffic management, and economy. For example, a VLAN can be used to separate traffic within a business based on individual users or groups of users or their roles (e.g. network administrators), or based on traffic characteristics (e.g. low-priority traffic prevented from impinging
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