SSCP ISC Systems Security Certified Practitioner Free Practice Exam Questions (2025 Updated)

In cryptography, a Caesar cipher, also known as Caesar's cipher, the shift cipher, Caesar's code or Caesar shift, is one of the simplest and most widely known encryption techniques. It is a type of substitution cipher in which each letter in the plaintext is replaced by a letter some fixed number of positions down the alphabet. For example, with a left shift of 3, D would be replaced by A, E would become B, and so on. The method is named after Julius Caesar, who used it in his private correspondence.

The encryption step performed by a Caesar cipher is often incorporated as part of more complex schemes, such as the Vigenère cipher, and still has modern application in the ROT13 system. As with all single alphabet substitution ciphers, the Caesar cipher is easily broken and in modern practice offers essentially no communication security.

The following answer were incorrect:

The Jefferson disk, or wheel cipher as Thomas Jefferson named it, also known as the Bazeries Cylinder, is a cipher system using a set of wheels or disks, each with the 26 letters of the alphabet arranged around their edge. The order of the letters is different for each disk and is usually scrambled in some random way. Each disk is marked with a unique number. A hole in the centre of the disks allows them to be stacked on an axle. The disks are removable and can be mounted on the axle in any order desired. The order of the disks is the cipher key, and both sender and receiver must arrange the disks in the same predefined order. Jefferson's device had 36 disks.

An Enigma machine is any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Enigma was invented by the German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I. The early models were used commercially from the early 1920s, and adopted by military and government services of several countries. Several different Enigma models were produced, but the German military models are the ones most commonly discussed.

SIGABA: In the history of cryptography, the ECM Mark II was a cipher machine used by the United States for message encryption from World War II until the 1950s. The machine was also known as the SIGABA or Converter M-134 by the Army, or CSP-888/889 by the Navy, and a modified Navy version was termed the CSP-2900. Like many machines of the era it used an electromechanical system of rotors in order to encipher messages, but with a number of security improvements over previous designs. No successful cryptanalysis of the machine during its service lifetime is publicly known.

Reference(s) used for this question:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_disk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigaba

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine

In cryptography, the one-time pad (OTP) is a type of encryption that is impossible to crack if used correctly. Each bit or character from the plaintext is encrypted by a modular addition with a bit or character from a secret random key (or pad) of the same length as the plaintext, resulting in a ciphertext. If the key is truly random, at least as long as the plaintext, never reused in whole or part, and kept secret, the ciphertext will be impossible to decrypt or break without knowing the key. It has also been proven that any cipher with the perfect secrecy property must use keys with effectively the same requirements as OTP keys. However, practical problems have prevented one-time pads from being widely used.

First described by Frank Miller in 1882, the one-time pad was re-invented in 1917 and patented a couple of years later. It is derived from the Vernam cipher, named after Gilbert Vernam, one of its inventors. Vernam's system was a cipher that combined a message with a key read from a punched tape. In its original form, Vernam's system was vulnerable because the key tape was a loop, which was reused whenever the loop made a full cycle. One-time use came a little later when Joseph Mauborgne recognized that if the key tape were totally random, cryptanalysis would be impossible.

The "pad" part of the name comes from early implementations where the key material was distributed as a pad of paper, so the top sheet could be easily torn off and destroyed after use. For easy concealment, the pad was sometimes reduced to such a small size that a powerful magnifying glass was required to use it. Photos show captured KGB pads that fit in the palm of one's hand, or in a walnut shell. To increase security, one-time pads were sometimes printed onto sheets of highly flammable nitrocellulose so they could be quickly burned.

The following are incorrect answers:

A running key cipher uses articles in the physical world rather than an electronic algorithm. In classical cryptography, the running key cipher is a type of polyalphabetic substitution cipher in which a text, typically from a book, is used to provide a very long keystream. Usually, the book to be used would be agreed ahead of time, while the passage to use would be chosen randomly for each message and secretly indicated somewhere in the message.

The Running Key cipher has the same internal workings as the Vigenere cipher. The difference lies in how the key is chosen; the Vigenere cipher uses a short key that repeats, whereas the running key cipher uses a long key such as an excerpt from a book. This means the key does not repeat, making cryptanalysis more difficult. The cipher can still be broken though, as there are statistical patterns in both the key and the plaintext which can be exploited.

Steganography is a method where the very existence of the message is concealed. It is the art and science of encoding hidden messages in such a way that no one, apart from the sender and intended recipient, suspects the existence of the message. it is sometimes referred to as Hiding in Plain Sight.

Cipher block chaining is a DES operating mode. IBM invented the cipher-block chaining (CBC) mode of operation in 1976. In CBC mode, each block of plaintext is XORed with the previous ciphertext block before being encrypted. This way, each ciphertext block depends on all plaintext blocks processed up to that point. To make each message unique, an initialization vector must be used in the first block.

Reference(s) used for this question:

HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2002, chapter 8: Cryptography (page 555).

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-time_pad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_key_cipher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher_block_chaining#Cipher-block_chaining_.28CBC.29

A Public Key is also known as an asymmetric algorithm and the use of a secret key would be a symmetric algorithm.

The following answers are incorrect:

Use of the recipient's public key for encryption and decryption based on the recipient's private key. Is incorrect this would be known as an asymmetric algorithm.

Use of software encryption assisted by a hardware encryption accelerator. This is incorrect, it is a distractor.

Use of Elliptic Curve Encryption. Is incorrect this would use an asymmetric algorithm.

Kerberos depends on secret keys (symmetric ciphers). Kerberos is a third party authentication protocol. It was designed and developed in the mid 1980's by MIT. It is considered open source but is copyrighted and owned by MIT. It relies on the user's secret keys. The password is used to encrypt and decrypt the keys.

The following answers are incorrect:

It utilizes public key cryptography. Is incorrect because Kerberos depends on secret keys (symmetric ciphers).

It encrypts data after a ticket is granted, but passwords are exchanged in plain text. Is incorrect because the passwords are not exchanged but used for encryption and decryption of the keys.

It is a second party authentication system. Is incorrect because Kerberos is a third party authentication system, you authenticate to the third party (Kerberos) and not the system you are accessing.

References:

MIT http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/

Wikipedi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerberos_%28protocol%29

OIG CBK Access Control (pages 181 - 184)

AIOv3 Access Control (pages 151 - 155)

According to The CISSP Prep Guide, "The Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-1) computes a fixed length message digest from a variable length input message."

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, page 160.

also see:

http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips180-2/fips180-2withchangenotice.pdf

In cryptography, a public key certificate (or identity certificate) is an electronic document which incorporates a digital signature to bind together a public key with an identity — information such as the name of a person or an organization, their address, and so forth. The certificate can be used to verify that a public key belongs to an individual.

In a typical public key infrastructure (PKI) scheme, the signature will be of a certificate authority (CA). In a web of trust scheme, the signature is of either the user (a self-signed certificate) or other users ("endorsements"). In either case, the signatures on a certificate are attestations by the certificate signer that the identity information and the public key belong together.

In computer security, an authorization certificate (also known as an attribute certificate) is a digital document that describes a written permission from the issuer to use a service or a resource that the issuer controls or has access to use. The permission can be delegated.

Some people constantly confuse PKCs and ACs. An analogy may make the distinction clear. A PKC can be considered to be like a passport: it identifies the holder, tends to last for a long time, and should not be trivial to obtain. An AC is more like an entry visa: it is typically issued by a different authority and does not last for as long a time. As acquiring an entry visa typically requires presenting a passport, getting a visa can be a simpler process.

A real life example of this can be found in the mobile software deployments by large service providers and are typically applied to platforms such as Microsoft Smartphone (and related), Symbian OS, J2ME, and others.

In each of these systems a mobile communications service provider may customize the mobile terminal client distribution (ie. the mobile phone operating system or application environment) to include one or more root certificates each associated with a set of capabilities or permissions such as "update firmware", "access address book", "use radio interface", and the most basic one, "install and execute". When a developer wishes to enable distribution and execution in one of these controlled environments they must acquire a certificate from an appropriate CA, typically a large commercial CA, and in the process they usually have their identity verified using out-of-band mechanisms such as a combination of phone call, validation of their legal entity through government and commercial databases, etc., similar to the high assurance SSL certificate vetting process, though often there are additional specific requirements imposed on would-be developers/publishers.

Once the identity has been validated they are issued an identity certificate they can use to sign their software; generally the software signed by the developer or publisher's identity certificate is not distributed but rather it is submitted to processor to possibly test or profile the content before generating an authorization certificate which is unique to the particular software release. That certificate is then used with an ephemeral asymmetric key-pair to sign the software as the last step of preparation for distribution. There are many advantages to separating the identity and authorization certificates especially relating to risk mitigation of new content being accepted into the system and key management as well as recovery from errant software which can be used as attack vectors.

References:

HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, 2001, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, page 540.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribute_certificate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_key_certificate

A stream cipher is a type of symmetric encryption algorithm that operates on continuous streams of plain text and is appropriate for hardware-based encryption.

Stream ciphers can be designed to be exceptionally fast, much faster than any block cipher. A stream cipher generates what is called a keystream (a sequence of bits used as a key).

Stream ciphers can be viewed as approximating the action of a proven unbreakable cipher, the one-time pad (OTP), sometimes known as the Vernam cipher. A one-time pad uses a keystream of completely random digits. The keystream is combined with the plaintext digits one at a time to form the ciphertext. This system was proved to be secure by Claude Shannon in 1949. However, the keystream must be (at least) the same length as the plaintext, and generated completely at random. This makes the system very cumbersome to implement in practice, and as a result the one-time pad has not been widely used, except for the most critical applications.

A stream cipher makes use of a much smaller and more convenient key — 128 bits, for example. Based on this key, it generates a pseudorandom keystream which can be combined with the plaintext digits in a similar fashion to the one-time pad. However, this comes at a cost: because the keystream is now pseudorandom, and not truly random, the proof of security associated with the one-time pad no longer holds: it is quite possible for a stream cipher to be completely insecure if it is not implemented properly as we have seen with the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) protocol.

Encryption is accomplished by combining the keystream with the plaintext, usually with the bitwise XOR operation.

Source: DUPUIS, Clement, CISSP Open Study Guide on domain 5, cryptography, April 1999.

More details can be obtained on Stream Ciphers in RSA Security's FAQ on Stream Ciphers.

RFC 2459 : Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and CRL Profile; GUTMANN, P., X.509 style guide; SMITH, Richard E., Internet Cryptography, 1997, Addison-Wesley Pub Co.

A one-way hash is a function that takes a variable-length string a message, and compresses and transforms it into a fixed length value referred to as a hash value. It provides integrity, but no confidentiality, availability or authentication.

Source: WALLHOFF, John, CBK#5 Cryptography (CISSP Study Guide), April 2002 (page 5).

With the advent of public key cryptography (PKI), it is now possible to communicate securely with untrusted parties over the Internet without prior arrangement. One of the necessities arising from such communication is the ability to accurately verify someone's identity (i.e. whether the person you are communicating with is indeed the person who he/she claims to be). In order to be able to perform identity check for a given entity, there should be a fool-proof method of “binding” the entity's public key to its unique domain name (DN).

A X.509 digital certificate issued by a well known certificate authority (CA), like Verisign, Entrust, Thawte, etc., provides a way of positively identifying the entity by placing trust on the CA to have performed the necessary verifications. A X.509 certificate is a cryptographically sealed data object that contains the entity's unique DN, public key, serial number, validity period, and possibly other extensions.

The Windows Operating System offers a Certificate Viewer utility which allows you to double-click on any certificate and review its attributes in a human-readable format. For instance, the "General" tab in the Certificate Viewer Window (see below) shows who the certificate was issued to as well as the certificate's issuer, validation period and usage functions.

Certification Path graphic

The “Certification Path” tab contains the hierarchy for the chain of certificates. It allows you to select the certificate issuer or a subordinate certificate and then click on “View Certificate” to open the certificate in the Certificate Viewer.

Each end-user certificate is signed by its issuer, a trusted CA, by taking a hash value (MD5 or SHA-1) of ASN.1 DER (Distinguished Encoding Rule) encoded object and then encrypting the resulting hash with the issuer’s private key (CA's Private Key) which is a digital signature. The encrypted data is stored in the “signatureValue” attribute of the entity’s (CA) public certificate.

Once the certificate is signed by the issuer, a party who wishes to communicate with this entity can then take the entity’s public certificate and find out who the issuer of the certificate is. Once the issuer’s of the certificate (CA) is identified, it would be possible to decrypt the value of the “signatureValue” attribute in the entity's certificate using the issuer’s public key to retrieve the hash value. This hash value will be compared with the independently calculated hash on the entity's certificate. If the two hash values match, then the information contained within the certificate must not have been altered and, therefore, one must trust that the CA has done enough background check to ensure that all details in the entity’s certificate are accurate.

The process of cryptographically checking the signatures of all certificates in the certificate chain is called “key chaining”. An additional check that is essential to key chaining is verifying that the value of the "subjectKeyIdentifier” extension in one certificate matches the same in the subsequent certificate.

Similarly, the process of comparing the subject field of the issuer certificate to the issuer field of the subordinate certificate is called “name chaining”. In this process, these values must match for each pair of adjacent certificates in the certification path in order to guarantee that the path represents unbroken chain of entities relating directly to one another and that it has no missing links.

The two steps above are the steps to validate the Certification Path by ensuring the validity of all certificates of the certificate chain to the root certificate as described in the two paragraphs above.

Reference(s) used for this question:

FORD, Warwick & BAUM, Michael S., Secure Electronic Commerce: Building the Infrastructure for Digital Signatures and Encryption (2nd Edition), 2000, Prentice Hall PTR, Page 262.

and

https://www.tibcommunity.com/docs/DOC-2197

The security of the RSA system is based on the assumption that factoring the product into two original large prime numbers is difficult

Source:

KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Chapter 4: Cryptography (page 159).

Shon Harris, CISSP All-in-One Examine Guide, Third Edition, McGraw-Hill Companies, August 2005, Chapter 8: Cryptography, Page 636 - 639

Cryptology is the science that includes both cryptography and cryptanalysis and is not directly concerned with key management. Cryptology is the mathematics, such as number theory, and the application of formulas and algorithms, that underpin cryptography and cryptanalysis.

The following are all concerned with Key Management which makes them the wrong choices:

Internet Security Association Key Management Protocol (ISAKMP) is a key management protocol used by IPSec. ISAKMP (Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol) is a protocol defined by RFC 2408 for establishing Security Associations (SA) and cryptographic keys in an Internet environment. ISAKMP only provides a framework for authentication and key exchange. The actual key exchange is done by the Oakley Key Determination Protocol which is a key-agreement protocol that allows authenticated parties to exchange keying material across an insecure connection using the Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm.

Diffie-Hellman and one variation of the Diffie-Hellman algorithm called the Key Exchange Algorithm (KEA) are also key exchange protocols. Key exchange (also known as "key establishment") is any method in cryptography by which cryptographic keys are exchanged between users, allowing use of a cryptographic algorithm. Diffie–Hellman key exchange (D–H) is a specific method of exchanging keys. It is one of the earliest practical examples of key exchange implemented within the field of cryptography. The Diffie–Hellman key exchange method allows two parties that have no prior knowledge of each other to jointly establish a shared secret key over an insecure communications channel. This key can then be used to encrypt subsequent communications using a symmetric key cipher.

Reference(s) used for this question:

Mike Meyers CISSP Certification Passport, by Shon Harris and Mike Meyers, page 228.

It is highlighted as an EXAM TIP. Which tells you that it is a must know for the purpose of the exam.

HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, Fifth Edition, Chapter 8: Cryptography (page 713-715).

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISAKMP

and

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/cryptology

The Key management for IPSec is called the Internet Key Exchange (IKE)

Note: IKE underwent a series of improvements establishing IKEv2 with RFC 4306. The basis of this answer is IKEv2.

The IKE protocol is a hybrid of three other protocols: ISAKMP (Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol), Oakley and SKEME. ISAKMP provides a framework for authentication and key exchange, but does not define them (neither authentication nor key exchange). The Oakley protocol describes a series of modes for key exchange and the SKEME protocol defines key exchange techniques.

IKE—Internet Key Exchange. A hybrid protocol that implements Oakley and Skeme key exchanges inside the ISAKMP framework. IKE can be used with other protocols, but its initial implementation is with the IPSec protocol. IKE provides authentication of the IPSec peers, negotiates IPSec keys, and negotiates IPSec security associations.

IKE is implemented in accordance with RFC 2409, The Internet Key Exchange.

The Internet Key Exchange (IKE) security protocol is a key management protocol standard that is used in conjunction with the IPSec standard. IPSec can be configured without IKE, but IKE enhances IPSec by providing additional features, flexibility, and ease of configuration for the IPSec standard.

IKE is a hybrid protocol that implements the Oakley key exchange and the SKEME key exchange inside the Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol (ISAKMP) framework. (ISAKMP, Oakley, and SKEME are security protocols implemented by IKE.)

IKE automatically negotiates IPSec security associations (SAs) and enables IPSec secure communications without costly manual preconfiguration. Specifically, IKE provides these benefits:

•Eliminates the need to manually specify all the IPSec security parameters in the crypto maps at both peers.

•Allows you to specify a lifetime for the IPSec security association.

•Allows encryption keys to change during IPSec sessions.

•Allows IPSec to provide anti-replay services.

•Permits certification authority (CA) support for a manageable, scalable IPSec implementation.

•Allows dynamic authentication of peers.

About ISAKMP

The Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol (ISAKMP) is a framework that defines the phases for establishing a secure relationship and support for negotiation of security attributes, it does not establish sessions keys by itself, it is used along with the Oakley session key establishment protocol. The Secure Key Exchange Mechanism (SKEME) describes a secure exchange mechanism and Oakley defines the modes of operation needed to establish a secure connection.

ISAKMP provides a framework for Internet key management and provides the specific protocol support for negotiation of security attributes. Alone, it does not establish session keys. However it can be used with various session key establishment protocols, such as Oakley, to provide a complete solution to Internet key management.

About Oakley

The Oakley protocol uses a hybrid Diffie-Hellman technique to establish session keys on Internet hosts and routers. Oakley provides the important security property of Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) and is based on cryptographic techniques that have survived substantial public scrutiny. Oakley can be used by itself, if no attribute negotiation is needed, or Oakley can be used in conjunction with ISAKMP. When ISAKMP is used with Oakley, key escrow is not feasible.

The ISAKMP and Oakley protocols have been combined into a hybrid protocol. The resolution of ISAKMP with Oakley uses the framework of ISAKMP to support a subset of Oakley key exchange modes. This new key exchange protocol provides optional PFS, full security association attribute negotiation, and authentication methods that provide both repudiation and non-repudiation. Implementations of this protocol can be used to establish VPNs and also allow for users from remote sites (who may have a dynamically allocated IP address) access to a secure network.

About IPSec

The IETF's IPSec Working Group develops standards for IP-layer security mechanisms for both IPv4 and IPv6. The group also is developing generic key management protocols for use on the Internet. For more information, refer to the IP Security and Encryption Overview.

IPSec is a framework of open standards developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) that provides security for transmission of sensitive information over unprotected networks such as the Internet. It acts at the network level and implements the following standards:

IPSec

Internet Key Exchange (IKE)

Data Encryption Standard (DES)

MD5 (HMAC variant)

SHA (HMAC variant)

Authentication Header (AH)

Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP)

IPSec services provide a robust security solution that is standards-based. IPSec also provides data authentication and anti-replay services in addition to data confidentiality services.

For more information regarding IPSec, refer to the chapter "Configuring IPSec Network Security."

About SKEME

SKEME constitutes a compact protocol that supports a variety of realistic scenarios and security models over Internet. It provides clear tradeoffs between security and performance as required by the different scenarios without incurring in unnecessary system complexity. The protocol supports key exchange based on public key, key distribution centers, or manual installation, and provides for fast and secure key refreshment. In addition, SKEME selectively provides perfect forward secrecy, allows for replaceability and negotiation of the underlying cryptographic primitives, and addresses privacy issues as anonymity and repudiatability

SKEME's basic mode is based on the use of public keys and a Diffie-Hellman shared secret generation.

However, SKEME is not restricted to the use of public keys, but also allows the use of a pre-shared key. This key can be obtained by manual distribution or by the intermediary of a key distribution center (KDC) such as Kerberos.

In short, SKEME contains four distinct modes:

Basic mode, which provides a key exchange based on public keys and ensures PFS thanks to Diffie-Hellman.

A key exchange based on the use of public keys, but without Diffie-Hellman.

A key exchange based on the use of a pre-shared key and on Diffie-Hellman.

A mechanism of fast rekeying based only on symmetrical algorithms.

In addition, SKEME is composed of three phases: SHARE, EXCH and AUTH.

During the SHARE phase, the peers exchange half-keys, encrypted with their respective public keys. These two half-keys are used to compute a secret key K. If anonymity is wanted, the identities of the two peers are also encrypted. If a shared secret already exists, this phase is skipped.

The exchange phase (EXCH) is used, depending on the selected mode, to exchange either Diffie-Hellman public values or nonces. The Diffie-Hellman shared secret will only be computed after the end of the exchanges.

The public values or nonces are authenticated during the authentication phase (AUTH), using the secret key established during the SHARE phase.

The messages from these three phases do not necessarily follow the order described above; in actual practice they are combined to minimize the number of exchanged messages.

References used for this question:

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Chapter 4: Cryptography (page 172).

http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4306

http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4301

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Key_Exchange

CISCO ISAKMP and OAKLEY information

CISCO Configuring Internet Key Exchange Protocol

http://www.hsc.fr/ressources/articles/ipsec-tech/index.html.en

A Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) provides confidentiality, access control, integrity, authentication and non-repudiation.

It does not provide reliability services.

Reference(s) used for this question:

TIPTON, Hal, (ISC)2, Introduction to the CISSP Exam presentation.

Key clustering happens when a plaintext message generates identical ciphertext messages using the same transformation algorithm, but with different keys.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Chapter 4: Cryptography (page 130).

While a digital signature binds a document to the possessor of a particular key, a digital timestamp binds a document to its creation at a particular time.

Trusted timestamping is the process of securely keeping track of the creation and modification time of a document. Security here means that no one — not even the owner of the document — should be able to change it once it has been recorded provided that the timestamper's integrity is never compromised.

The administrative aspect involves setting up a publicly available, trusted timestamp management infrastructure to collect, process and renew timestamps or to make use of a commercially available time stamping service.

A modern example of using a Digital Timestamp is the case of an industrial research organization that may later need to prove, for patent purposes, that they made a particular discovery on a particular date; since magnetic media can be altered easily, this may be a nontrivial issue. One possible solution is for a researcher to compute and record in a hardcopy laboratory notebook a cryptographic hash of the relevant data file. In the future, should there be a need to prove the version of this file retrieved from a backup tape has not been altered, the hash function could be recomputed and compared with the hash value recorded in that paper notebook.

According to the RFC 3161 standard, a trusted timestamp is a timestamp issued by a trusted third party (TTP) acting as a Time Stamping Authority (TSA). It is used to prove the existence of certain data before a certain point (e.g. contracts, research data, medical records,...) without the possibility that the owner can backdate the timestamps. Multiple TSAs can be used to increase reliability and reduce vulnerability.

The newer ANSI ASC X9.95 Standard for trusted timestamps augments the RFC 3161 standard with data-level security requirements to ensure data integrity against a reliable time source that is provable to any third party. This standard has been applied to authenticating digitally signed data for regulatory compliance, financial transactions, and legal evidence.

Digital TimeStamp

The following are incorrect answers:

Network Time Protocol (NTP) is used to achieve high accuracy time synchronization for computers across a network.

A Certification Authority (CA) is the entity responsible for the issuance of digital certificates.

A Digital Signature provides integrity and authentication but does not bind a document to a specific time it was created.

Reference used for this question:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trusted_timestamping.gif

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_timestamping

JAVA was developed so that the same program could be executed on multiple hardware and operating system platforms, it is not Architecture Specific.

The following answers are incorrect:

Object-oriented. Is not correct because JAVA is object-oriented. It should use the object-oriented programming methodology.

Distributed. Is incorrect because JAVA was developed to be able to be distrubuted, run on multiple computer systems over a network.

Multithreaded. Is incorrect because JAVA is multi-threaded that is calls to subroutines as is the case with object-oriented programming.

A virus is a program that can replicate itself on a system but not necessarily spread itself by network connections.

XSS or Cross-Site Scripting is a threat to web applications where malicious code is placed on a website that attacks the use using their existing authenticated session status.

Cross-Site Scripting attacks are a type of injection problem, in which malicious scripts are injected into the otherwise benign and trusted web sites. Cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks occur when an attacker uses a web application to send malicious code, generally in the form of a browser side script, to a different end user. Flaws that allow these attacks to succeed are quite widespread and occur anywhere a web application uses input from a user in the output it generates without validating or encoding it.

An attacker can use XSS to send a malicious script to an unsuspecting user. The end user’s browser has no way to know that the script should not be trusted, and will execute the script. Because it thinks the script came from a trusted source, the malicious script can access any cookies, session tokens, or other sensitive information retained by your browser and used with that site. These scripts can even rewrite the content of the HTML page.

Mitigation:

Configure your IPS - Intrusion Prevention System to detect and suppress this traffic.

Input Validation on the web application to normalize inputted data.

Set web apps to bind session cookies to the IP Address of the legitimate user and only permit that IP Address to use that cookie.

See the XSS (Cross Site Scripting) Prevention Cheat Sheet

See the Abridged XSS Prevention Cheat Sheet

See the DOM based XSS Prevention Cheat Sheet

See the OWASP Development Guide article on Phishing.

See the OWASP Development Guide article on Data Validation.

The following answers are incorrect:

Intrusion Detection Systems: Sorry. IDS Systems aren't usually the target of XSS attacks but a properly-configured IDS/IPS can "detect and report on malicious string and suppress the TCP connection in an attempt to mitigate the threat.

Firewalls: Sorry. Firewalls aren't usually the target of XSS attacks.

DNS Servers: Same as above, DNS Servers aren't usually targeted in XSS attacks but they play a key role in the domain name resolution in the XSS attack process.

The following reference(s) was used to create this question:

CCCure Holistic Security+ CBT and Curriculum

and

https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Cross-site_Scripting_%28XSS%29

A trojan horse is any code that appears to have some useful purpose but also contains code that has a malicious or harmful purpose imbedded in it. A Trojan often also includes a trapdoor as a means to gain access to a computer system bypassing security controls.

Wikipedia defines it as:

A Trojan horse, or Trojan, in computing is a non-self-replicating type of malware program containing malicious code that, when executed, carries out actions determined by the nature of the Trojan, typically causing loss or theft of data, and possible system harm. The term is derived from the story of the wooden horse used to trick defenders of Troy into taking concealed warriors into their city in ancient Greece, because computer Trojans often employ a form of social engineering, presenting themselves as routine, useful, or interesting in order to persuade victims to install them on their computers.

The following answers are incorrect:

virus. Is incorrect because a Virus is a malicious program and is does not appear to be harmless, it's sole purpose is malicious intent often doing damage to a system. A computer virus is a type of malware that, when executed, replicates by inserting copies of itself (possibly modified) into other computer programs, data files, or the boot sector of the hard drive; when this replication succeeds, the affected areas are then said to be "infected".

worm. Is incorrect because a Worm is similiar to a Virus but does not require user intervention to execute. Rather than doing damage to the system, worms tend to self-propagate and devour the resources of a system. A computer worm is a standalone malware computer program that replicates itself in order to spread to other computers. Often, it uses a computer network to spread itself, relying on security failures on the target computer to access it. Unlike a computer virus, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program. Worms almost always cause at least some harm to the network, even if only by consuming bandwidth, whereas viruses almost always corrupt or modify files on a targeted computer.

trapdoor. Is incorrect because a trapdoor is a means to bypass security by hiding an entry point into a system. Trojan Horses often have a trapdoor imbedded in them.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_horse_%28computing%29

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_worm

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backdoor_%28computing%29

A Polymorphic virus produces varied but operational copies of itself in hopes of evading anti-virus software.

The following answers are incorrect:

boot sector. Is incorrect because it is not the best answer. A boot sector virus attacks the boot sector of a drive. It describes the type of attack of the virus and not the characteristics of its composition.

parasitic. Is incorrect because it is not the best answer. A parasitic virus attaches itself to other files but does not change its characteristics.

stealth. Is incorrect because it is not the best answer. A stealth virus attempts to hide changes of the affected files but not itself.

Content security measures presumes that the content is available in cleartext on the central mail server.

Encrypted emails have to be decrypted before it can be filtered (e.g. to detect viruses), so you need the decryption key on the central "crypto mail server".

There are several ways for such key management, e.g. by message or key recovery methods. However, that would certainly require further processing in order to achieve such goal.

It refers to the alteration of the existing data , most often seen before it is entered into an application.This type of crime is extremely common and can be prevented by using appropriate access controls and proper segregation of duties. It will more likely be perpetrated by insiders, who have access to data before it is processed.

The other answers are incorrect because :

IP Spoofing is not correct as the questions asks about the crime associated with the insiders. Spoofing is generally accomplished from the outside.

Password sniffing is also not the BEST answer as it requires a lot of technical knowledge in understanding the encryption and decryption process.

Denial of service (DOS) is also incorrect as most Denial of service attacks occur over the internet.

Reference : Shon Harris , AIO v3 , Chapter-10 : Law , Investigation & Ethics , Page : 758-760.

Source: HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2001, Page 644.

Computer worms are also known as Network Mobile Code, or a virus-like bit of code that can replicate itself over a network, infecting adjacent computers.

A computer worm is a standalone malware computer program that replicates itself in order to spread to other computers. Often, it uses a computer network to spread itself, relying on security failures on the target computer to access it. Unlike a computer virus, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program. Worms almost always cause at least some harm to the network, even if only by consuming bandwidth, whereas viruses almost always corrupt or modify files on a targeted computer.

A notable example is the SQL Slammer computer worm that spread globally in ten minutes on January 25, 2003. I myself came to work that day as a software tester and found all my SQL servers infected and actively trying to infect other computers on the test network.

A patch had been released a year prior by Microsoft and if systems were not patched and exposed to a 376 byte UDP packet from an infected host then system would become compromised.

Ordinarily, infected computers are not to be trusted and must be rebuilt from scratch but the vulnerability could be mitigated by replacing a single vulnerable dll called sqlsort.dll.

Replacing that with the patched version completely disabled the worm which really illustrates to us the importance of actively patching our systems against such network mobile code.

The following answers are incorrect:

- Rootkit: Sorry, this isn't correct because a rootkit isn't ordinarily classified as network mobile code like a worm is. This isn't to say that a rootkit couldn't be included in a worm, just that a rootkit isn't usually classified like a worm. A rootkit is a stealthy type of software, typically malicious, designed to hide the existence of certain processes or programs from normal methods of detection and enable continued privileged access to a computer. The term rootkit is a concatenation of "root" (the traditional name of the privileged account on Unix operating systems) and the word "kit" (which refers to the software components that implement the tool). The term "rootkit" has negative connotations through its association with malware.

- Adware: Incorrect answer. Sorry but adware isn't usually classified as a worm. Adware, or advertising-supported software, is any software package which automatically renders advertisements in order to generate revenue for its author. The advertisements may be in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the user during the installation process. The functions may be designed to analyze which Internet sites the user visits and to present advertising pertinent to the types of goods or services featured there. The term is sometimes used to refer to software that displays unwanted advertisements.

- Logic Bomb: Logic bombs like adware or rootkits could be spread by worms if they exploit the right service and gain root or admin access on a computer.

The following reference(s) was used to create this question:

The CCCure CompTIA Holistic Security+ Tutorial and CBT

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootkit

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_worm

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adware

While a masquerading attack can be considered a type of social engineering, the Melissa and ILOVEYOU viruses are examples of masquerading attacks, even if it may cause some kind of denial of service due to the web server being flooded with messages. In this case, the receiver confidently opens a message coming from a trusted individual, only to find that the message was sent using the trusted party's identity.

Source: HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2002, Chapter 10: Law, Investigation, and Ethics (page 650).

As script kiddies are low to moderately skilled hackers using available scripts and tools to easily launch attacks against victims.

The other answers are incorrect because :

Black hats is incorrect as they are malicious , skilled hackers.

White hats is incorrect as they are security professionals.

Phreakers is incorrect as they are telephone/PBX (private branch exchange) hackers.

Reference : Shon Harris AIO v3 , Chapter 12: Operations security , Page : 830

A polymorphic virus has the capability of changing its own code, enabling it to have many different variants, making it harder to detect by anti-virus software. The particularity of a stealth virus is that it tries to hide its presence after infecting a system. A Trojan horse is a set of unauthorized instructions that are added to or replacing a legitimate program. A logic bomb is a set of instructions that is initiated when a specific event occurs.

Source: HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2002, chapter 11: Application and System Development (page 786).

A few years ago the best choice for this question would have been seeing how far their skills can take them. Today this has changed greatly, most crimes committed are financially motivated.

Profit is the most widespread motive behind all cybercrimes and, indeed, most crimes- everyone wants to make money. Hacking for money or for free services includes a smorgasbord of crimes such as embezzlement, corporate espionage and being a “hacker for hire”. Scams are easier to undertake but the likelihood of success is much lower. Money-seekers come from any lifestyle but those with persuasive skills make better con artists in the same way as those who are exceptionally tech-savvy make better “hacks for hire”.

"White hats" are the security specialists (as opposed to Black Hats) interested in helping the community in securing their networks. They will test systems and network with the owner authorization.

A Black Hat is someone who uses his skills for offensive purpose. They do not seek authorization before they attempt to comprise the security mechanisms in place.

"Grey Hats" are people who sometimes work as a White hat and other times they will work as a "Black Hat", they have not made up their mind yet as to which side they prefer to be.

The following are incorrect answers:

All the other choices could be possible reasons but the best one today is really for financial gains.

References used for this question:

http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/00460/crimeMotives.html

and

http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1160835

and

http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/1/B/A/%7B1BA0F612-613A-494D-B6C5-06938FE8BB53%7Dhtcb006.pdf

To minimize the chance of passwords being captured one-time passwords would prevent a password sniffing attack because once used it is no longer valid. Encryption will also minimize these types of attacks.

The following answers are correct:

static and recurring passwords. This is incorrect because if there is no encryption then someone password sniffing would be able to capture the password much easier if it never changed.

encryption and recurring passwords. This is incorrect because while encryption helps, recurring passwords do nothing to minimize the risk of passwords being captured.

static and one-time passwords. This is incorrect because while one-time passwords will prevent these types of attacks, static passwords do nothing to minimize the risk of passwords being captured.

An inside attack is an attack initiated by an entity inside the security perimeter, an entity that is authorized to access system resources but uses them in a way not approved by those who granted the authorization whereas an outside attack is initiated from outside the perimeter, by an unauthorized or illegitimate user of the system. An active attack attempts to alter system resources to affect their operation and a passive attack attempts to learn or make use of the information from the system but does not affect system resources.

Source: SHIREY, Robert W., RFC2828: Internet Security Glossary, may 2000.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 36.

Identification and authentication are the keystones of most access control systems. Identification establishes user accountability for the actions on the system.

The control environment can be established to log activity regarding the identification, authentication, authorization, and use of privileges on a system. This can be used to detect the occurrence of errors, the attempts to perform an unauthorized action, or to validate when provided credentials were exercised. The logging system as a detective device provides evidence of actions (both successful and unsuccessful) and tasks that were executed by authorized users.

Once a person has been identified through the user ID or a similar value, she must be authenticated, which means she must prove she is who she says she is. Three general factors can be used for authentication: something a person knows, something a person has, and something a person is. They are also commonly called authentication by knowledge, authentication by ownership, and authentication by characteristic.

For a user to be able to access a resource, he first must prove he is who he claims to be, has the necessary credentials, and has been given the necessary rights or privileges to perform the actions he is requesting. Once these steps are completed successfully, the user can access and use network resources; however, it is necessary to track the user’s activities and enforce accountability for his actions.

Identification describes a method of ensuring that a subject (user, program, or process) is the entity it claims to be. Identification can be provided with the use of a username or account number. To be properly authenticated, the subject is usually required to provide a second piece to the credential set. This piece could be a password, passphrase, cryptographic key, personal identification number (PIN), anatomical attribute, or token.

These two credential items are compared to information that has been previously stored for this subject. If these credentials match the stored information, the subject is authenticated. But we are not done yet. Once the subject provides its credentials and is properly identified, the system it is trying to access needs to determine if this subject has been given the necessary rights and privileges to carry out the requested actions. The system will look at some type of access control matrix or compare security labels to verify that this subject may indeed access the requested resource and perform the actions it is attempting. If the system determines that the subject may access the resource, it authorizes the subject.

Although identification, authentication, authorization, and accountability have close and complementary definitions, each has distinct functions that fulfill a specific requirement in the process of access control. A user may be properly identified and authenticated to the network, but he may not have the authorization to access the files on the file server. On the other hand, a user may be authorized to access the files on the file server, but until she is properly identified and authenticated, those resources are out of reach.

Reference(s) used for this question:

Schneiter, Andrew (2013-04-15). Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition: Access Control ((ISC)2 Press) (Kindle Locations 889-892). Auerbach Publications. Kindle Edition.

and

Harris, Shon (2012-10-25). CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (Kindle Locations 3875-3878). McGraw-Hill. Kindle Edition.

and

Harris, Shon (2012-10-25). CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (Kindle Locations 3833-3848). McGraw-Hill. Kindle Edition.

and

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 36.

Source: TIPTON, Hal, (ISC)2, Introduction to the CISSP Exam presentation.

Administrative, technical and physical controls are categories of access control mechanisms.

Logical and Technical controls are synonymous. So both of them could be eliminated as possible choices.

Physical Controls: These are controls to protect the organization’s people and physical environment, such as locks, gates, and guards. Physical controls may be called “operational controls” in some contexts.

Physical security covers a broad spectrum of controls to protect the physical assets (primarily the people) in an organization. Physical Controls are sometimes referred to as “operational” controls in some risk management frameworks. These controls range from doors, locks, and windows to environment controls, construction standards, and guards. Typically, physical security is based on the notion of establishing security zones or concentric areas within a facility that require increased security as you get closer to the valuable assets inside the facility. Security zones are the physical representation of the defense-in-depth principle discussed earlier in this chapter. Typically, security zones are associated with rooms, offices, floors, or smaller elements, such as a cabinet or storage locker. The design of the physical security controls within the facility must take into account the protection of the asset as well as the individuals working in that area.

Reference(s) used for this question:

Hernandez CISSP, Steven (2012-12-21). Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition ((ISC)2 Press) (Kindle Locations 1301-1303). Auerbach Publications. Kindle Edition.

and

Hernandez CISSP, Steven (2012-12-21). Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition ((ISC)2 Press) (Kindle Locations 1312-1318). Auerbach Publications. Kindle Edition.

From the glossary of Computer Security Basics:

The Bell-LaPadula model is the security policy model on which the Orange Book requirements are based. From the Orange Book definition, "A formal state transition model of computer security policy that describes a set of access control rules. In this formal model, the entities in a computer system are divided into abstract sets of subjects and objects. The notion of secure state is defined and it is proven that each state transition preserves security by moving from secure state to secure state; thus, inductively proving the system is secure. A system state is defined to be 'secure' if the only permitted access modes of subjects to objects are in accordance with a specific security policy. In order to determine whether or not a specific access mode is allowed, the clearance of a subject is compared to the classification of the object and a determination is made as to whether the subject is authorized for the specific access mode."

The Biba Model is an integrity model of computer security policy that describes a set of rules. In this model, a subject may not depend on any object or other subject that is less trusted than itself.

The Clark Wilson Model is an integrity model for computer security policy designed for a commercial environment. It addresses such concepts as nondiscretionary access control, privilege separation, and least privilege. TEMPEST is a government program that prevents the compromising electrical and electromagnetic signals that emanate from computers and related equipment from being intercepted and deciphered.

Source: RUSSEL, Deborah & GANGEMI, G.T. Sr., Computer Security Basics, O'Reilly, 1991.

Also: U.S. Department of Defense, Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (Orange Book), DOD 5200.28-STD. December 1985 (also available here).

The preventive/technical pairing uses technology to enforce access control policies.

TECHNICAL CONTROLS

Technical security involves the use of safeguards incorporated in computer hardware, operations or applications software, communications hardware and software, and related devices. Technical controls are sometimes referred to as logical controls.

Preventive Technical Controls

Preventive technical controls are used to prevent unauthorized personnel or programs from gaining remote access to computing resources. Examples of these controls include:

Access control software.

Antivirus software.

Library control systems.

Passwords.

Smart cards.

Encryption.

Dial-up access control and callback systems.

Preventive Physical Controls

Preventive physical controls are employed to prevent unauthorized personnel from entering computing facilities (i.e., locations housing computing resources, supporting utilities, computer hard copy, and input data media) and to help protect against natural disasters. Examples of these controls include:

Backup files and documentation.

Fences.

Security guards.

Badge systems.

Double door systems.

Locks and keys.

Backup power.

Biometric access controls.

Site selection.

Fire extinguishers.

Preventive Administrative Controls

Preventive administrative controls are personnel-oriented techniques for controlling people’s behavior to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of computing data and programs. Examples of preventive administrative controls include:

Security awareness and technical training.

Separation of duties.

Procedures for recruiting and terminating employees.

Security policies and procedures.

Supervision.

Disaster recovery, contingency, and emergency plans.

User registration for computer access.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 34.

Is a means of being able to track user actions. Through the use of audit logs and other tools the user actions are recorded and can be used at a later date to verify what actions were performed.

Accountability is the ability to identify users and to be able to track user actions.

The following answers are incorrect:

Documented design as laid out in the Common Criteria. Is incorrect because the Common Criteria is an international standard to evaluate trust and would not be a factor in System Accountability.

Authorization. Is incorrect because Authorization is granting access to subjects, just because you have authorization does not hold the subject accountable for their actions.

Formal verification of system design. Is incorrect because all you have done is to verify the system design and have not taken any steps toward system accountability.

References:

OIG CBK Glossary (page 778)