SSCP Exam Question 272
What would be the name of a Logical or Virtual Table dynamically generated to restrict the information a user can access in a database?
Correct Answer: B
Explanation/Reference:
Database views; Database views are mechanisms that restrict access to the information that a user can access in a database.Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide:
Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 35.
Wikipedia has a detailed explantion as well:
In database theory, a view is a virtual or logical table composed of the result set of a query. Unlike ordinary tables (base tables) in a relational database, a view is not part of the physical schema: it is a dynamic, virtual table computed or collated from data in the database. Changing the data in a table alters the data shown in the view.
Views can provide advantages over tables;
They can subset the data contained in a table
They can join and simplify multiple tables into a single virtual table
Views can act as aggregated tables, where aggregated data (sum, average etc.) are calculated and presented as part of the data
Views can hide the complexity of data, for example a view could appear as Sales2000 or Sales2001, transparently partitioning the actual underlying table
Views do not incur any extra storage overhead
Depending on the SQL engine used, views can provide extra security.
Limit the exposure to which a table or tables are exposed to outer world Just like functions (in programming) provide abstraction, views can be used to create abstraction. Also, just like functions, views can be nested, thus one view can aggregate data from other views. Without the use of views it would be much harder to normalise databases above second normal form. Views can make it easier to create lossless join decomposition.
Database views; Database views are mechanisms that restrict access to the information that a user can access in a database.Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide:
Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 35.
Wikipedia has a detailed explantion as well:
In database theory, a view is a virtual or logical table composed of the result set of a query. Unlike ordinary tables (base tables) in a relational database, a view is not part of the physical schema: it is a dynamic, virtual table computed or collated from data in the database. Changing the data in a table alters the data shown in the view.
Views can provide advantages over tables;
They can subset the data contained in a table
They can join and simplify multiple tables into a single virtual table
Views can act as aggregated tables, where aggregated data (sum, average etc.) are calculated and presented as part of the data
Views can hide the complexity of data, for example a view could appear as Sales2000 or Sales2001, transparently partitioning the actual underlying table
Views do not incur any extra storage overhead
Depending on the SQL engine used, views can provide extra security.
Limit the exposure to which a table or tables are exposed to outer world Just like functions (in programming) provide abstraction, views can be used to create abstraction. Also, just like functions, views can be nested, thus one view can aggregate data from other views. Without the use of views it would be much harder to normalise databases above second normal form. Views can make it easier to create lossless join decomposition.
SSCP Exam Question 273
An effective information security policy should not have which of the following characteristic?
Correct Answer: B
An effective information security policy should be designed with a long-term
focus. All other characteristics apply.
Source: ALLEN, Julia H., The CERT Guide to System and Network Security Practices,
Addison-Wesley, 2001, Appendix B, Practice-Level Policy Considerations (page 397).
focus. All other characteristics apply.
Source: ALLEN, Julia H., The CERT Guide to System and Network Security Practices,
Addison-Wesley, 2001, Appendix B, Practice-Level Policy Considerations (page 397).
SSCP Exam Question 274
A _________ is an information path that is not normally used for communication within a computer system. It is not protected by the any of the systems security mechanisms.
Correct Answer: C
Covert channels can be used as a secret way to convey information to another person or program or for other illicit means.
SSCP Exam Question 275
What is the primary role of smartcards in a PKI?
Correct Answer: D
Reference: HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, 2001, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, page 139;
SNYDER, J., What is a SMART CARD?.
Wikipedia has a nice definition at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamper_resistance
Security Tamper-resistant microprocessors are used to store and process private or sensitive information, such as private keys or electronic money credit. To prevent an attacker from retrieving or modifying the information, the chips are designed so that the information is not accessible through external means and can be accessed only by the embedded software, which should contain the appropriate security measures.
Examples of tamper-resistant chips include all secure cryptoprocessors, such as the IBM 4758 and chips used in smartcards, as well as the Clipper chip.
It has been argued that it is very difficult to make simple electronic devices secure against tampering, because numerous attacks are possible, including:
physical attack of various forms (microprobing, drills, files, solvents, etc.)
freezing the device
applying out-of-spec voltages or power surges
applying unusual clock signals
inducing software errors using radiation
measuring the precise time and power requirements of certain operations (see power analysis)
Tamper-resistant chips may be designed to zeroise their sensitive data (especially cryptographic keys) if they detect penetration of their security encapsulation or out-ofspecification environmental parameters. A chip may even be rated for "cold zeroisation", the ability to zeroise itself even after its power supply has been crippled.
Nevertheless, the fact that an attacker may have the device in his possession for as long as he likes, and perhaps obtain numerous other samples for testing and practice, means that it is practically impossible to totally eliminate tampering by a sufficiently motivated opponent. Because of this, one of the most important elements in protecting a system is overall system design. In particular, tamper-resistant systems should "fail gracefully" by ensuring that compromise of one device does not compromise the entire system. In this manner, the attacker can be practically restricted to attacks that cost less than the expected return from compromising a single device (plus, perhaps, a little more for kudos). Since the most sophisticated attacks have been estimated to cost several hundred thousand dollars to carry out, carefully designed systems may be invulnerable in practice.
SNYDER, J., What is a SMART CARD?.
Wikipedia has a nice definition at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamper_resistance
Security Tamper-resistant microprocessors are used to store and process private or sensitive information, such as private keys or electronic money credit. To prevent an attacker from retrieving or modifying the information, the chips are designed so that the information is not accessible through external means and can be accessed only by the embedded software, which should contain the appropriate security measures.
Examples of tamper-resistant chips include all secure cryptoprocessors, such as the IBM 4758 and chips used in smartcards, as well as the Clipper chip.
It has been argued that it is very difficult to make simple electronic devices secure against tampering, because numerous attacks are possible, including:
physical attack of various forms (microprobing, drills, files, solvents, etc.)
freezing the device
applying out-of-spec voltages or power surges
applying unusual clock signals
inducing software errors using radiation
measuring the precise time and power requirements of certain operations (see power analysis)
Tamper-resistant chips may be designed to zeroise their sensitive data (especially cryptographic keys) if they detect penetration of their security encapsulation or out-ofspecification environmental parameters. A chip may even be rated for "cold zeroisation", the ability to zeroise itself even after its power supply has been crippled.
Nevertheless, the fact that an attacker may have the device in his possession for as long as he likes, and perhaps obtain numerous other samples for testing and practice, means that it is practically impossible to totally eliminate tampering by a sufficiently motivated opponent. Because of this, one of the most important elements in protecting a system is overall system design. In particular, tamper-resistant systems should "fail gracefully" by ensuring that compromise of one device does not compromise the entire system. In this manner, the attacker can be practically restricted to attacks that cost less than the expected return from compromising a single device (plus, perhaps, a little more for kudos). Since the most sophisticated attacks have been estimated to cost several hundred thousand dollars to carry out, carefully designed systems may be invulnerable in practice.
SSCP Exam Question 276
How can an individual/person best be identified or authenticated to prevent local masquarading attacks?
Correct Answer: D
Section: Access Control
Explanation/Reference:
The only way to be truly positive in authenticating identity for access is to base the authentication on the physical attributes of the persons themselves (i.e., biometric identification). Physical attributes cannot be shared, borrowed, or duplicated. They ensure that you do identify the person, however they are not perfect and they would have to be supplemented by another factor.
Some people are getting thrown off by the term Masquarade. In general, a masquerade is a disguise. In terms of communications security issues, a masquerade is a type of attack where the attacker pretends to be an authorized user of a system in order to gain access to it or to gain greater privileges than they are authorized for. A masquerade may be attempted through the use of stolen logon IDs and passwords, through finding security gaps in programs, or through bypassing the authentication mechanism. Spoofing is another term used to describe this type of attack as well.
A UserId only provides for identification.
A password is a weak authentication mechanism since passwords can be disclosed, shared, written down, and more.
A smart card can be stolen and its corresponding PIN code can be guessed by an intruder. A smartcard can be borrowed by a friend of yours and you would have no clue as to who is really logging in using that smart card.
Any form of two-factor authentication not involving biometrics cannot be as reliable as a biometric system to identify the person.
Biometric identifying verification systems control people. If the person with the correct hand, eye, face, signature, or voice is not present, the identification and verification cannot take place and the desired action (i.e., portal passage, data, or resource access) does not occur.
As has been demonstrated many times, adversaries and criminals obtain and successfully use access cards, even those that require the addition of a PIN. This is because these systems control only pieces of plastic (and sometimes information), rather than people. Real asset and resource protection can only be accomplished by people, not cards and information, because unauthorized persons can (and do) obtain the cards and information.
Further, life-cycle costs are significantly reduced because no card or PIN administration system or personnel are required. The authorized person does not lose physical characteristics (i.e., hands, face, eyes, signature, or voice), but cards and PINs are continuously lost, stolen, or forgotten. This is why card access systems require systems and people to administer, control, record, and issue (new) cards and PINs. Moreover, the cards are an expensive and recurring cost.
NOTE FROM CLEMENT:
This question has been generating lots of interest. The keyword in the question is: Individual (the person) and also the authenticated portion as well.
I totally agree with you that Two Factors or Strong Authentication would be the strongest means of authentication. However the question is not asking what is the strongest mean of authentication, it is asking what is the best way to identify the user (individual) behind the technology. When answering questions do not make assumptions to facts not presented in the question or answers.
Nothing can beat Biometrics in such case. You cannot lend your fingerprint and pin to someone else, you cannot borrow one of my eye balls to defeat the Iris or Retina scan. This is why it is the best method to authenticate the user.
I think the reference is playing with semantics and that makes it a bit confusing. I have improved the question to make it a lot clearer and I have also improve the explanations attached with the question.
The reference mentioned above refers to authenticating the identity for access. So the distinction is being made that there is identity and there is authentication. In the case of physical security the enrollment process is where the identity of the user would be validated and then the biometrics features provided by the user would authenticate the user on a one to one matching basis (for authentication) with the reference contained in the database of biometrics templates. In the case of system access, the user might have to provide a username, a pin, a passphrase, a smart card, and then provide his biometric attributes.
Biometric can also be used for Identification purpose where you do a one to many match. You take a facial scan of someone within an airport and you attempt to match it with a large database of known criminal and terrorists. This is how you could use biometric for Identification.
There are always THREE means of authentication, they are:
Something you know (Type 1)
Something you have (Type 2)
Something you are (Type 3)
Reference(s) used for this question:
TIPTON, Harold F. & KRAUSE, Micki, Information Security Management Handbook, 4th edition (volume 1) ,
2000, CRC Press, Chapter 1, Biometric Identification (page 7).
and
Search Security at http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/masquerade
Explanation/Reference:
The only way to be truly positive in authenticating identity for access is to base the authentication on the physical attributes of the persons themselves (i.e., biometric identification). Physical attributes cannot be shared, borrowed, or duplicated. They ensure that you do identify the person, however they are not perfect and they would have to be supplemented by another factor.
Some people are getting thrown off by the term Masquarade. In general, a masquerade is a disguise. In terms of communications security issues, a masquerade is a type of attack where the attacker pretends to be an authorized user of a system in order to gain access to it or to gain greater privileges than they are authorized for. A masquerade may be attempted through the use of stolen logon IDs and passwords, through finding security gaps in programs, or through bypassing the authentication mechanism. Spoofing is another term used to describe this type of attack as well.
A UserId only provides for identification.
A password is a weak authentication mechanism since passwords can be disclosed, shared, written down, and more.
A smart card can be stolen and its corresponding PIN code can be guessed by an intruder. A smartcard can be borrowed by a friend of yours and you would have no clue as to who is really logging in using that smart card.
Any form of two-factor authentication not involving biometrics cannot be as reliable as a biometric system to identify the person.
Biometric identifying verification systems control people. If the person with the correct hand, eye, face, signature, or voice is not present, the identification and verification cannot take place and the desired action (i.e., portal passage, data, or resource access) does not occur.
As has been demonstrated many times, adversaries and criminals obtain and successfully use access cards, even those that require the addition of a PIN. This is because these systems control only pieces of plastic (and sometimes information), rather than people. Real asset and resource protection can only be accomplished by people, not cards and information, because unauthorized persons can (and do) obtain the cards and information.
Further, life-cycle costs are significantly reduced because no card or PIN administration system or personnel are required. The authorized person does not lose physical characteristics (i.e., hands, face, eyes, signature, or voice), but cards and PINs are continuously lost, stolen, or forgotten. This is why card access systems require systems and people to administer, control, record, and issue (new) cards and PINs. Moreover, the cards are an expensive and recurring cost.
NOTE FROM CLEMENT:
This question has been generating lots of interest. The keyword in the question is: Individual (the person) and also the authenticated portion as well.
I totally agree with you that Two Factors or Strong Authentication would be the strongest means of authentication. However the question is not asking what is the strongest mean of authentication, it is asking what is the best way to identify the user (individual) behind the technology. When answering questions do not make assumptions to facts not presented in the question or answers.
Nothing can beat Biometrics in such case. You cannot lend your fingerprint and pin to someone else, you cannot borrow one of my eye balls to defeat the Iris or Retina scan. This is why it is the best method to authenticate the user.
I think the reference is playing with semantics and that makes it a bit confusing. I have improved the question to make it a lot clearer and I have also improve the explanations attached with the question.
The reference mentioned above refers to authenticating the identity for access. So the distinction is being made that there is identity and there is authentication. In the case of physical security the enrollment process is where the identity of the user would be validated and then the biometrics features provided by the user would authenticate the user on a one to one matching basis (for authentication) with the reference contained in the database of biometrics templates. In the case of system access, the user might have to provide a username, a pin, a passphrase, a smart card, and then provide his biometric attributes.
Biometric can also be used for Identification purpose where you do a one to many match. You take a facial scan of someone within an airport and you attempt to match it with a large database of known criminal and terrorists. This is how you could use biometric for Identification.
There are always THREE means of authentication, they are:
Something you know (Type 1)
Something you have (Type 2)
Something you are (Type 3)
Reference(s) used for this question:
TIPTON, Harold F. & KRAUSE, Micki, Information Security Management Handbook, 4th edition (volume 1) ,
2000, CRC Press, Chapter 1, Biometric Identification (page 7).
and
Search Security at http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/masquerade
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