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

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)

The two most common implementations of Intrusion Detection are Network-based and Host-based.

IDS can be implemented as a network device, such as a router, switch, firewall, or dedicated device monitoring traffic, typically referred to as network IDS (NIDS).

The" (IDS) "technology can also be incorporated into a host system (HIDS) to monitor a single system for undesirable activities. "

A network intrusion detection system (NIDS) is a network device .... that monitors traffic traversing the network segment for which it is integrated." Remember that NIDS are usually passive in nature.

HIDS is the implementation of IDS capabilities at the host level. Its most significant difference from NIDS is that related processes are limited to the boundaries of a single-host system. However, this presents advantages in effectively detecting objectionable activities because the IDS process is running directly on the host system, not just observing it from the network.

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 3649-3652). Auerbach Publications. Kindle Edition.

A host-based IDS can review the system and event logs in order to detect an attack on the host and to determine if the attack was successful.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 48.

In an online transaction processing system (OLTP) all transactions are recorded as they occur. When erroneous or invalid transactions are detected the transaction can be recovered by reviewing the logs.

As explained in the ISC2 OIG:

OLTP is designed to record all of the business transactions of an organization as they occur. It is a data processing system facilitating and managing transaction-oriented applications. These are characterized as a system used by many concurrent users who are actively adding and modifying data to effectively change real-time data.

OLTP environments are frequently found in the finance, telecommunications, insurance, retail, transportation, and travel industries. For example, airline ticket agents enter data in the database in real-time by creating and modifying travel reservations, and these are increasingly joined by users directly making their own reservations and purchasing tickets through airline company Web sites as well as discount travel Web site portals. Therefore, millions of people may be accessing the same flight database every day, and dozens of people may be looking at a specific flight at the same time.

The security concerns for OLTP systems are concurrency and atomicity.

Concurrency controls ensure that two users cannot simultaneously change the same data, or that one user cannot make changes before another user is finished with it. In an airline ticket system, it is critical for an agent processing a reservation to complete the transaction, especially if it is the last seat available on the plane.

Atomicity ensures that all of the steps involved in the transaction complete successfully. If one step should fail, then the other steps should not be able to complete. Again, in an airline ticketing system, if the agent does not enter a name into the name data field correctly, the transaction should not be able to complete.

OLTP systems should act as a monitoring system and detect when individual processes abort, automatically restart an aborted process, back out of a transaction if necessary, allow distribution of multiple copies of application servers across machines, and perform dynamic load balancing.

A security feature uses transaction logs to record information on a transaction before it is processed, and then mark it as processed after it is done. If the system fails during the transaction, the transaction can be recovered by reviewing the transaction logs.

Checkpoint restart is the process of using the transaction logs to restart the machine by running through the log to the last checkpoint or good transaction. All transactions following the last checkpoint are applied before allowing users to access the data again.

Wikipedia has nice coverage on what is OLTP:

Online transaction processing, or OLTP, refers to a class of systems that facilitate and manage transaction-oriented applications, typically for data entry and retrieval transaction processing. The term is somewhat ambiguous; some understand a "transaction" in the context of computer or database transactions, while others (such as the Transaction Processing Performance Council) define it in terms of business or commercial transactions.

OLTP has also been used to refer to processing in which the system responds immediately to user requests. An automatic teller machine (ATM) for a bank is an example of a commercial transaction processing application.

The technology is used in a number of industries, including banking, airlines, mailorder, supermarkets, and manufacturing. Applications include electronic banking, order processing, employee time clock systems, e-commerce, and eTrading.

There are two security concerns for OLTP system: Concurrency and Atomicity

ATOMICITY

In database systems, atomicity (or atomicness) is one of the ACID transaction properties. In an atomic transaction, a series of database operations either all occur, or nothing occurs. A guarantee of atomicity prevents updates to the database occurring only partially, which can cause greater problems than rejecting the whole series outright.

The etymology of the phrase originates in the Classical Greek concept of a fundamental and indivisible component; see atom.

An example of atomicity is ordering an airline ticket where two actions are required: payment, and a seat reservation. The potential passenger must either:

both pay for and reserve a seat; OR

neither pay for nor reserve a seat.

The booking system does not consider it acceptable for a customer to pay for a ticket without securing the seat, nor to reserve the seat without payment succeeding.

CONCURRENCY

Database concurrency controls ensure that transactions occur in an ordered fashion.

The main job of these controls is to protect transactions issued by different users/applications from the effects of each other. They must preserve the four characteristics of database transactions ACID test: Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability. Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACID for more details on the ACID test.

Thus concurrency control is an essential element for correctness in any system where two database transactions or more, executed with time overlap, can access the same data, e.g., virtually in any general-purpose database system. A well established concurrency control theory exists for database systems: serializability theory, which allows to effectively design and analyze concurrency control methods and mechanisms.

Concurrency is not an issue in itself, it is the lack of proper concurrency controls that makes it a serious issue.

The following answers are incorrect:

The transactions should be dropped from processing. Is incorrect because the transactions are processed and when erroneous or invalid transactions are detected the transaction can be recovered by reviewing the logs.

The transactions should be processed after the program makes adjustments. Is incorrect because the transactions are processed and when erroneous or invalid transactions are detected the transaction can be recovered by reviewing the logs.

The transactions should be corrected and reprocessed. Is incorrect because the transactions are processed and when erroneous or invalid transactions are detected the transaction can be recovered by reviewing the logs.

References:

Hernandez CISSP, Steven (2012-12-21). Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition ((ISC)2 Press) (Kindle Locations 12749-12768). Auerbach Publications. Kindle Edition.

and

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

and

http://databases.about.com/od/administration/g/concurrency.htm

IT auditors determine whether systems are in compliance with the security policies, procedures, standards, baselines, designs, architectures, management direction and other requirements" and "provide top company management with an independent view of the controls that have been designed and their effectiveness."

"Information systems security professionals" is incorrect. Security professionals develop the security policies and supporting baselines, etc.

"Data owners" is incorrect. Data owners have overall responsibility for information assets and assign the appropriate classification for the asset as well as ensure that the asset is protected with the proper controls.

"Data custodians" is incorrect. Data custodians care for an information asset on behalf of the data owner.

References:

CBK, pp. 38 - 42.

AIO3. pp. 99 - 104

Accountability can actually be seen in two different ways:

1) Although audit trails are also needed for accountability, no user can be accountable for their actions unless properly authenticated.

2) Accountability is another facet of access control. Individuals on a system are responsible for their actions. This accountability property enables system activities to be traced to the proper individuals. Accountability is supported by audit trails that record events on the system and network. Audit trails can be used for intrusion detection and for the reconstruction of past events. Monitoring individual activities, such as keystroke monitoring, should be accomplished in accordance with the company policy and appropriate laws. Banners at the log-on time should notify the user of any monitoring that is being conducted.

The point is that unless you employ an appropriate auditing mechanism, you don't have accountability. Authorization only gives a user certain permissions on the network. Accountability is far more complex because it also includes intrusion detection, unauthorized actions by both unauthorized users and authorized users, and system faults. The audit trail provides the proof that unauthorized modifications by both authorized and unauthorized users took place. No proof, No accountability.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Page 50.

The Shon Harris AIO book, 4th Edition, on Page 243 also states:

Auditing Capabilities ensures users are accountable for their actions, verify that the secutiy policies are enforced,

and can be used as investigation tools. Accountability is tracked by recording user, system, and application activities.

This recording is done through auditing functions and mechanisms within an operating sytem or application.

Audit trail contain information about operating System activities, application events, and user actions.

A weakness of the signature-based (or knowledge-based) intrusion detection approach is that only attack signatures that are stored in a database are detected. Network-based intrusion detection can either be signature-based or statistical anomaly-based (also called behavior-based).

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Chapter 2: Access control systems (page 49).

There are two conceptual approaches to intrusion detection. Knowledge-based intrusion detection uses a database of known vulnerabilities to look for current attempts to exploit them on a system and trigger an alarm if an attempt is found. The other approach, not as common, is called behaviour-based or statistical analysis-based. A host-based intrusion detection system is a common implementation of intrusion detection, not a conceptual approach.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Chapter 3: Telecommunications and Network Security (page 63).

Also: HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2002, chapter 4: Access Control (pages 193-194).

The data or information owner also referred to as "Data Owner" would be the best person. That is the individual or officer who is ultimately responsible for the protection of the information and can therefore decide what are the adequate security controls according to the data sensitivity and data criticality. The auditor would be the best person to determine the adequacy of controls and whether or not they are working as expected by the owner.

The function of the auditor is to come around periodically and make sure you are doing what you are supposed to be doing. They ensure the correct controls are in place and are being maintained securely. The goal of the auditor is to make sure the organization complies with its own policies and the applicable laws and regulations.

Organizations can have internal auditors and/ or external auditors. The external auditors commonly work on behalf of a regulatory body to make sure compliance is being met. For example CobiT, which is a model that most information security auditors follow when evaluating a security program. While many security professionals fear and dread auditors, they can be valuable tools in ensuring the overall security of the organization. Their goal is to find the things you have missed and help you understand how to fix the problem.

The Official ISC2 Guide (OIG) says:

IT auditors determine whether users, owners, custodians, systems, and networks are in compliance with the security policies, procedures, standards, baselines, designs, architectures, management direction, and other requirements placed on systems. The auditors provide independent assurance to the management on the appropriateness of the security controls. The auditor examines the information systems and determines whether they are designed, configured, implemented, operated, and managed in a way ensuring that the organizational objectives are being achieved. The auditors provide top company management with an independent view of the controls and their effectiveness.

Example:

Bob is the head of payroll. He is therefore the individual with primary responsibility over the payroll database, and is therefore the information/data owner of the payroll database. In Bob's department, he has Sally and Richard working for him. Sally is responsible for making changes to the payroll database, for example if someone is hired or gets a raise. Richard is only responsible for printing paychecks. Given those roles, Sally requires both read and write access to the payroll database, but Richard requires only read access to it. Bob communicates these requirements to the system administrators (the "information/data custodians") and they set the file permissions for Sally's and Richard's user accounts so that Sally has read/write access, while Richard has only read access.

So in short Bob will determine what controls are required, what is the sensitivily and criticality of the Data. Bob will communicate this to the custodians who will implement the requirements on the systems/DB. The auditor would assess if the controls are in fact providing the level of security the Data Owner expects within the systems/DB. The auditor does not determine the sensitivity of the data or the crititicality of the data.

The other answers are not correct because:

A "system auditor" is never responsible for anything but auditing... not actually making control decisions but the auditor would be the best person to determine the adequacy of controls and then make recommendations.

A "system manager" is really just another name for a system administrator, which is actually an information custodian as explained above.

A "Data or information user" is responsible for implementing security controls on a day-to-day basis as they utilize the information, but not for determining what the controls should be or if they are adequate.

References:

Official ISC2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition , Page 477

Schneiter, Andrew (2013-04-15). Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition : Information Security Governance and Risk Management ((ISC)2 Press) (Kindle Locations 294-298). Auerbach Publications. Kindle Edition.

Harris, Shon (2012-10-25). CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (Kindle Locations 3108-3114).

Information Security Glossary

Responsibility for use of information resources

Traffic anomaly-based is the correct choice. An anomaly based IDS can detect unknown attacks. A traffic anomaly based IDS identifies any unacceptable deviation from expected behavior based on network traffic.

Protocol anomaly based is not the best choice as while a protocol anomaly based IDS can identify unknown attacks, this type of system is more suited to identifying deviations from established protocol standards such as HTTP. This type of IDS faces problems in analyzing complex or custom protocols.

Pattern matching is not the best choice as a pattern matching IDS cannot identify unknown attacks. This type of system can only compare packets against signatures of known attacks.

Stateful matching is not the best choice as a statful matching IDS cannot identify unknown attacks. This type of system works by scanning traffic streams for patterns or signatures of attacks.

Organizations should have a process for (1) requesting, establishing, issuing, and closing user accounts; (2) tracking users and their respective access authorizations; and (3) managing these functions.

Reviews should examine the levels of access each individual has, conformity with the concept of least privilege, whether all accounts are still active, whether management authorizations are up-to-date, whether required training has been completed, and so forth. These reviews can be conducted on at least two levels: (1) on an application-by-application basis, or (2) on a system wide basis.

The strength of user passwords is beyond the scope of a simple user account management review, since it requires specific tools to try and crack the password file/database through either a dictionary or brute-force attack in order to check the strength of passwords.

Reference(s) used for this question:

SWANSON, Marianne & GUTTMAN, Barbara, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NIST Special Publication 800-14, Generally Accepted Principles and Practices for Securing Information Technology Systems, September 1996 (page 28).

Monitoring has to be conducted is a lawful manner and applied in a consistent fashion; thus should be applied uniformly to all employees, not only to a small number.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Chapter 9: Law, Investigation, and Ethics (page 304).

Knowledge-based Intrusion Detection Systems use a database of previous attacks and known system vulnerabilities to look for current attempts to exploit their vulnerabilities, and trigger an alarm if an attempt is found.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 87.

Application-Based ID System - "a subset of HIDS that analyze what's going on in an application using the transaction log files of the application." Source: Official ISC2 CISSP CBK Review Seminar Student Manual Version 7.0 p. 87

Host-Based ID System - "an implementation of IDS capabilities at the host level. Its most significant difference from NIDS is intrusion detection analysis, and related processes are limited to the boundaries of the host." Source: Official ISC2 Guide to the CISSP CBK - p. 197

Network-Based ID System - "a network device, or dedicated system attached to teh network, that monitors traffic traversing teh network segment for which it is integrated." Source: Official ISC2 Guide to the CISSP CBK - p. 196

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 49.

The security controls and mechanisms that are in place must have a degree of transparency.

This enables the user to perform tasks and duties without having to go through extra steps because of the presence of the security controls. Transparency also does not let the user know too much about the controls, which helps prevent him from figuring out how to circumvent them. If the controls are too obvious, an attacker can figure out how to compromise them more easily.

Security (more specifically, the implementation of most security controls) has long been a sore point with users who are subject to security controls. Historically, security controls have been very intrusive to users, forcing them to interrupt their work flow and remember arcane codes or processes (like long passwords or access codes), and have generally been seen as an obstacle to getting work done. In recent years, much work has been done to remove that stigma of security controls as a detractor from the work process adding nothing but time and money. When developing access control, the system must be as transparent as possible to the end user. The users should be required to interact with the system as little as possible, and the process around using the control should be engineered so as to involve little effort on the part of the user.

For example, requiring a user to swipe an access card through a reader is an effective way to ensure a person is authorized to enter a room. However, implementing a technology (such as RFID) that will automatically scan the badge as the user approaches the door is more transparent to the user and will do less to impede the movement of personnel in a busy area.

In another example, asking a user to understand what applications and data sets will be required when requesting a system ID and then specifically requesting access to those resources may allow for a great deal of granularity when provisioning access, but it can hardly be seen as transparent. A more transparent process would be for the access provisioning system to have a role-based structure, where the user would simply specify the role he or she has in the organization and the system would know the specific resources that user needs to access based on that role. This requires less work and interaction on the part of the user and will lead to more accurate and secure access control decisions because access will be based on predefined need, not user preference.

When developing and implementing an access control system special care should be taken to ensure that the control is as transparent to the end user as possible and interrupts his work flow as little as possible.

The following answers were incorrect:

All of the other detractors were incorrect.

Reference(s) used for this question:

HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, 6th edition. Operations Security, Page 1239-1240

Harris, Shon (2012-10-25). CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (Kindle Locations 25278-25281). McGraw-Hill. Kindle Edition.

Schneiter, Andrew (2013-04-15). Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition : Access Control ((ISC)2 Press) (Kindle Locations 713-729). Auerbach Publications. Kindle Edition.

This means that many of the tools used for ethical hacking have the potential of exploiting vulnerabilities and causing disruption to IT system. It is up to the individuals performing the tests to be familiar with their use and to make sure that no such disruption can happen or at least shoudl be avoided.

The first step before sending even one single packet to the target would be to have a signed agreement with clear rules of engagement and a signed contract. The signed contract explains to the client the associated risks and the client must agree to them before you even send one packet to the target range. This way the client understand that some of the test could lead to interruption of service or even crash a server. The client signs that he is aware of such risks and willing to accept them.

The following are incorrect answers:

An organization should use ethical hackers who do not sell auditing, hardware, software, firewall, hosting, and/or networking services. An ethical hacking firm's independence can be questioned if they sell security solutions at the same time as doing testing for the same client. There has to be independance between the judge (the tester) and the accuse (the client).

Testing should be done remotely to simulate external threats Testing simulating a cracker from the Internet is often time one of the first test being done, this is to validate perimeter security. By performing tests remotely, the ethical hacking firm emulates the hacker's approach more realistically.

Ethical hacking should not involve writing to or modifying the target systems negatively. Even though ethical hacking should not involve negligence in writing to or modifying the target systems or reducing its response time, comprehensive penetration testing has to be performed using the most complete tools available just like a real cracker would.

Reference(s) used for this question:

KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Appendix F: The Case for Ethical Hacking (page 520).

Companies can set predefined thresholds for the number of certain types of errors that will be allowed before the activity is considered suspicious. The threshold is a baseline for violation activities that may be normal for a user to commit before alarms are raised. This baseline is referred to as a clipping level.

The following are incorrect answers:

Clipping levels enable a security administrator to customize the audit trail to record only those violations which are deemed to be security relevant. This is not the best answer, you would not record ONLY security relevant violations, all violations would be recorded as well as all actions performed by authorized users which may not trigger a violation. This could allow you to indentify abnormal activities or fraud after the fact.

Clipping levels enable the security administrator to customize the audit trail to record only actions for users with access to user accounts with a privileged status. It could record all security violations whether the user is a normal user or a privileged user.

Clipping levels enable a security administrator to view all reductions in security levels which have been made to user accounts which have incurred violations. The keyword "ALL" makes this question wrong. It may detect SOME but not all of violations. For example, application level attacks may not be detected.

Reference(s) used for this question:

Harris, Shon (2012-10-18). CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (p. 1239). McGraw-Hill. Kindle Edition.

and

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

It is the systems auditor that should lead the effort to ensure that the security controls are in place and effective. The audit would verify that the controls comply with polices, procedures, laws, and regulations where applicable. The findings would provide these to senior management.

The following answers are incorrect:

the local security specialist. Is incorrect because an independent review should take place by a third party. The security specialist might offer mitigation strategies but it is the auditor that would ensure the effectiveness of the controls

the business manager. Is incorrect because the business manager would be responsible that the controls are in place, but it is the auditor that would ensure the effectiveness of the controls.

the central security manager. Is incorrect because the central security manager would be responsible for implementing the controls, but it is the auditor that is responsibe for ensuring their effectiveness.

As stated in SP 800-34 Rev. 1:

To be effective, the plan must be maintained in a ready state that accurately reflects system requirements, procedures, organizational structure, and policies. During the Operation/Maintenance phase of the SDLC, information systems undergo frequent changes because of shifting business needs, technology upgrades, or new internal or external policies.

As a general rule, the plan should be reviewed for accuracy and completeness at an organization-defined frequency (at least once a year for the purpose of the exam) or whenever significant changes occur to any element of the plan. Certain elements, such as contact lists, will require more frequent reviews.

Remember, there could be two good answers as specified above. Either once a year or whenever significant changes occur to the plan. You will of course get only one of the two presented within you exam.

Reference(s) used for this question:

NIST SP 800-34 Revision 1

To assist in Intrusion Detection you would review audit logs for access violations.

The following answers are incorrect:

access control lists. This is incorrect because access control lists determine who has access to what but do not detect intrusions.

security clearances. This is incorrect because security clearances determine who has access to what but do not detect intrusions.

host-based authentication. This is incorrect because host-based authentication determine who have been authenticated to the system but do not dectect intrusions.

Conducting security awareness and technical training to ensure that end users and system users are aware of the rules of behaviour and their responsibilities in protecting the organization's mission is an example of a preventive management control, therefore not an operational control.

Source: STONEBURNER, Gary et al., NIST Special publication 800-30, Risk management Guide for Information Technology Systems, 2001 (page 37).

Detective security controls are like a burglar alarm. They detect and report an unauthorized or undesired event (or an attempted undesired event). Detective security controls are invoked after the undesirable event has occurred. Example detective security controls are log monitoring and review, system audit, file integrity checkers, and motion detection.

Visual surveillance or recording devices such as closed circuit television are used in conjunction with guards in order to enhance their surveillance ability and to record events for future analysis or prosecution.

When events are monitored, it is considered preventative whereas recording of events is considered detective in nature.

Below you have explanations of other types of security controls from a nice guide produce by James Purcell (see reference below):

Preventive security controls are put into place to prevent intentional or unintentional disclosure, alteration, or destruction (D.A.D.) of sensitive information. Some example preventive controls follow:

Policy – Unauthorized network connections are prohibited.

Firewall – Blocks unauthorized network connections.

Locked wiring closet – Prevents unauthorized equipment from being physically plugged into a network switch.

Notice in the preceding examples that preventive controls crossed administrative, technical, and physical categories discussed previously. The same is true for any of the controls discussed in this section.

Corrective security controls are used to respond to and fix a security incident. Corrective security controls also limit or reduce further damage from an attack. Examples follow:

Procedure to clean a virus from an infected system

A guard checking and locking a door left unlocked by a careless employee

Updating firewall rules to block an attacking IP address

Note that in many cases the corrective security control is triggered by a detective security control.

Recovery security controls are those controls that put a system back into production after an incident. Most Disaster Recovery activities fall into this category. For example, after a disk failure, data is restored from a backup tape.

Directive security controls are the equivalent of administrative controls. Directive controls direct that some action be taken to protect sensitive organizational information. The directive can be in the form of a policy, procedure, or guideline.

Deterrent security controls are controls that discourage security violations. For instance, “Unauthorized Access Prohibited” signage may deter a trespasser from entering an area. The presence of security cameras might deter an employee from stealing equipment. A policy that states access to servers is monitored could deter unauthorized access.

Compensating security controls are controls that provide an alternative to normal controls that cannot be used for some reason. For instance, a certain server cannot have antivirus software installed because it interferes with a critical application. A compensating control would be to increase monitoring of that server or isolate that server on its own network segment.

Note that there is a third popular taxonomy developed by NIST and described in NIST Special Publication 800-53, “Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems.” NIST categorizes security controls into 3 classes and then further categorizes the controls within the classes into 17 families. Within each security control family are dozens of specific controls. The NIST taxonomy is not covered on the CISSP exam but is one the CISSP should be aware of if you are employed within the US federal workforce.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Chapter 10: Physical security (page 340).

and

CISSP Study Guide By Eric Conrad, Seth Misenar, Joshua Feldman, page 50-52

and

Security Control Types and Operational Security, James E. Purcell, http://www.giac.org/cissp-papers/207.pdf

Controls provide accountability for individuals who are accessing sensitive information. This accountability is accomplished through access control mechanisms that require identification and authentication and through the audit function. These controls must be in accordance with and accurately represent the organization's security policy. Assurance procedures ensure that the control mechanisms correctly implement the security policy for the entire life cycle of an information system.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 33.

If audit trails have been properly defined and implemented, they will record information that can assist in detecting intrusions.

Source: HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2002, Chapter 4: Access Control (page 186).

An issue with signature-based ID is that only attack signatures that are stored in their database are detected.

New attacks without a signature would not be reported. They do require constant updates in order to maintain their effectiveness.

Reference used for this question:

KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 49.

A HIDS does not consume large amounts of system resources is the correct choice. HIDS can consume inordinate amounts of CPU and system resources in order to function effectively, especially during an event.

All the other answers are characteristics of HIDSes

A HIDS can:

scrutinize event logs, critical system files, and other auditable system resources;

look for unauthorized change or suspicious patterns of behavior or activity

can send alerts when unusual events are discovered

Response is the correct choice. A response would essentially be the action that is taken once an alarm has been produced by an IDS, but is not a fundamental component of the alarm.

The following are incorrect answers:

Communications is the component of an alarm that delivers alerts through a variety of channels such as email, pagers, instant messages and so on.

An Enunciator is the component of an alarm that uses business logic to compose the content and format of an alert and determine the recipients of that alert.

A sensor is a fundamental component of IDS alarms. A sensor detects an event and produces an appropriate notification.

Domain: Access Control

As per FDA data should be attributable, original, accurate, contemporaneous and legible. In an automated system attributability could be achieved by a computer system designed to identify individuals responsible for any input.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, Guidance for Industry - Computerized Systems Used in Clinical Trials, April 1999, page 1.

To be effective a patch management program must be in place (due diligence) and detailed procedures would specify how and when the patches are applied properly (Due Care). Remember, the question asked for NOT a violation of Due Diligence, in this case, applying patches demonstrates due care and the patch management process in place demonstrates due diligence.

Due diligence is the act of investigating and understanding the risks the company faces. A company practices by developing and implementing security policies, procedures, and standards. Detecting risks would be based on standards such as ISO 2700, Best Practices, and other published standards such as NIST standards for example.

Due Diligence is understanding the current threats and risks. Due diligence is practiced by activities that make sure that the protection mechanisms are continually maintained and operational where risks are constantly being evaluated and reviewed. The security policy being outdated would be an example of violating the due diligence concept.

Due Care is implementing countermeasures to provide protection from those threats. Due care is when the necessary steps to help protect the company and its resources from possible risks that have been identifed. If the information owner does not lay out the foundation of data protection (doing something about it) and ensure that the directives are being enforced (actually being done and kept at an acceptable level), this would violate the due care concept.

If a company does not practice due care and due diligence pertaining to the security of its assets, it can be legally charged with negligence and held accountable for any ramifications of that negligence. Liability is usually established based on Due Diligence and Due Care or the lack of either.

A good way to remember this is using the first letter of both words within Due Diligence (DD) and Due Care (DC).

Due Diligence = Due Detect

Steps you take to identify risks based on best practices and standards.

Due Care = Due Correct.

Action you take to bring the risk level down to an acceptable level and maintaining that level over time.

The Following answer were wrong:

Security policy being outdated:

While having and enforcing a security policy is the right thing to do (due care), if it is outdated, you are not doing it the right way (due diligence). This questions violates due diligence and not due care.

Data owners not laying out the foundation for data protection:

Data owners are not recognizing the "right thing" to do. They don't have a security policy.

Network administrator not taking mandatory two week vacation:

The two week vacation is the "right thing" to do, but not taking the vacation violates due diligence (not doing the right thing the right way)

Reference(s) used for this question

Shon Harris, CISSP All In One, Version 5, Chapter 3, pg 110

The greatest danger from BootP or DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) is from an intruder on the network impersonating a DHCP server and thereby misconfiguring the DHCP clients. Other choices are possible consequences of DHCP impersonation.

Source: STREBE, Matthew and PERKINS, Charles, Firewalls 24seven, Sybex 2000, Chapter 4: Sockets and Services from a Security Viewpoint.

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a useful tool for remotely managing network devices.

Since it can be used to reconfigure devices, SNMP traffic should be blocked at the organization's firewall.

Using a VPN with encryption or some type of Tunneling software would be highly recommended in this case.

Source: STREBE, Matthew and PERKINS, Charles, Firewalls 24seven, Sybex 2000, Chapter 4: Sockets and Services from a Security Viewpoint.

The data link layer (layer 2) establishes the communications link between individual devices over a physical link or channel. It also ensures that messages are delivered to the proper device and translates the messages from layers above into bits for the physical layer (layer 1) to transmit.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Chapter 3: Telecommunications and Network Security (page 83).

The proxy (application layer firewall, circuit level proxy, or application proxy ) is a second generation firewall

"First generation firewall" incorrect. A packet filtering firewall is a first generation firewall.

"Third generation firewall" is incorrect. Stateful Firewall are considered third generation firewalls

"Fourth generation firewall" is incorrect. Dynamic packet filtering firewalls are fourth generation firewalls

References:

CBK, p. 464

AIO3, pp. 482 - 484

Neither CBK or AIO3 use the generation terminology for firewall types but you will encounter it frequently as a practicing security professional. See http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/iaabu/centri4/user/scf4ch3.htm for a general discussion of the different generations.

When using link encryption, packets have to be decrypted at each hop and encrypted again.

Information staying encrypted from one end of its journey to the other is a characteristic of end-to-end encryption, not link encryption.

Link Encryption vs. End-to-End Encryption

Link encryption encrypts the entire packet, including headers and trailers, and has to be decrypted at each hop.

End-to-end encryption does not encrypt the IP Protocol headers, and therefore does not need to be decrypted at each hop.

All hosts on a network have a logical ID that is called an IP address. An IP address is a numeric identifier that is assigned to each machine on an IP network. It designates the location of a device on a network. A MAC address is typically called a hardware address because it is "burned" into the NIC card. TCP address and Datagram address are imposter answers.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 87.

Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS) is a communication protocol that allows wireless devices to send and receive encrypted information over the Internet. S-WAP is not defined. WSP (Wireless Session Protocol) and WDP (Wireless Datagram Protocol) are part of Wireless Access Protocol (WAP).

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 173).

With a packet switched network, packets are difficult to monitor because they can be transmitted using different paths.

A packet-switched network is a digital communications network that groups all transmitted data, irrespective of content, type, or structure into suitably sized blocks, called packets. The network over which packets are transmitted is a shared network which routes each packet independently from all others and allocates transmission resources as needed.

The principal goals of packet switching are to optimize utilization of available link capacity, minimize response times and increase the robustness of communication. When traversing network adapters, switches and other network nodes, packets are buffered and queued, resulting in variable delay and throughput, depending on the traffic load in the network.

Most modern Wide Area Network (WAN) protocols, including TCP/IP, X.25, and Frame Relay, are based on packet-switching technologies. In contrast, normal telephone service is based on a circuit-switching technology, in which a dedicated line is allocated for transmission between two parties. Circuit-switching is ideal when data must be transmitted quickly and must arrive in the same order in which it's sent. This is the case with most real-time data, such as live audio and video. Packet switching is more efficient and robust for data that can withstand some delays in transmission, such as e-mail messages and Web pages.

All of the other answer are wrong

Reference(s) used for this question:

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

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet-switched_network

and

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/packet_switching.html

The IEEE 802.5 standard defines the token ring media access method. 802.3 refers to Ethernet's CSMA/CD, 802.11 refers to wireless communications and 802.2 refers to the logical link control.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Chapter 3: Telecommunications and Network Security (page 109).

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) works as a message transfer agent.

Source: HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2001, Page 821.