SSCP Exam Question 401
What is the goal of the Maintenance phase in a common development process of a security policy?
Correct Answer: A
Section: Security Operation Adimnistration
Explanation/Reference:
"publication within the organization" is the goal of the Publication Phase "write a proposal to management that states the objectives of the policy" is part of Initial and Evaluation Phase "Present the document to an approving body" is part of Approval Phase.
Reference: TIPTON, Harold F. & KRAUSE, MICKI, Information Security Management Handbook, 4th Edition, Volume 3, 2002, Auerbach Publications.
Also: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Chapter 8: Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Planning (page 286).
Explanation/Reference:
"publication within the organization" is the goal of the Publication Phase "write a proposal to management that states the objectives of the policy" is part of Initial and Evaluation Phase "Present the document to an approving body" is part of Approval Phase.
Reference: TIPTON, Harold F. & KRAUSE, MICKI, Information Security Management Handbook, 4th Edition, Volume 3, 2002, Auerbach Publications.
Also: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Chapter 8: Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Planning (page 286).
SSCP Exam Question 402
What is the name for a substitution cipher that shifts the alphabet by 13 places?
Correct Answer: C
Explanation/Reference:
An extremely simple example of conventional cryptography is a substitution cipher.
A substitution cipher substitutes one piece of information for another. This is most frequently done by offsetting letters of the alphabet. Two examples are Captain Midnight's Secret Decoder Ring, which you may have owned when you were a kid, and Julius Caesar's cipher. In both cases, the algorithm is to offset the alphabet and the key is the number of characters to offset it. So the offset could be one, two, or any number you wish. ROT-13 is an example where it is shifted 13 spaces. The Ceaser Cipher is another example where it is shifted 3 letters to the left.
ROT13 ("rotate by 13 places", sometimes hyphenated ROT-13) is a simple letter substitution cipher that replaces a letter with the letter 13 letters after it in the alphabet. ROT13 is an example of the Caesar cipher, developed in ancient Rome.
In the basic Latin alphabet, ROT13 is its own inverse; that is, to undo ROT13, the same algorithm is applied, so the same action can be used for encoding and decoding. The algorithm provides virtually no cryptographic security, and is often cited as a canonical example of weak encryption.
ROT13 is used in online forums as a means of hiding spoilers, puzzle solutions, and offensive materials from the casual glance. ROT13 has been described as the "Usenet equivalent of a magazine printing the answer to a quiz upside down". ROT13 has inspired a variety of letter and word games on-line, and is frequently mentioned in newsgroup conversations. See diagram Below:

Rot 13 Cipher
The following are incorrect:
The Caesar cipher is a simple substitution cipher that involves shifting the alphabet three positions to the right. 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.

Caesar Cipher
Polyalphabetic cipher refers to using multiple alphabets at a time. A polyalphabetic cipher is any cipher based on substitution, using multiple substitution alphabets. The Vigenère cipher is probably the best- known example of a polyalphabetic cipher, though it is a simplified special case.

Viginere Cipher
Transposition cipher is a different type of cipher. In cryptography, a transposition cipher is a method of encryption by which the positions held by units of plaintext (which are commonly characters or groups of characters) are shifted according to a regular system, so that the ciphertext constitutes a permutation of the plaintext. That is, the order of the units is changed. See the reference below for multiple examples of Transpositio Ciphers.
An exemple of Transposition cipher could be columnar transposition, the message is written out in rows of a fixed length, and then read out again column by column, and the columns are chosen in some scrambled order. Both the width of the rows and the permutation of the columns are usually defined by a keyword. For example, the word ZEBRAS is of length 6 (so the rows are of length 6), and the permutation is defined by the alphabetical order of the letters in the keyword. In this case, the order would be "6 3 2 4 1 5".
In a regular columnar transposition cipher, any spare spaces are filled with nulls; in an irregular columnar transposition cipher, the spaces are left blank. Finally, the message is read off in columns, in the order specified by the keyword. For example, suppose we use the keyword ZEBRAS and the message WE ARE DISCOVERED. FLEE AT ONCE. In a regular columnar transposition, we write this into the grid as Follows:

Transposition Cipher
Providing five nulls (QKJEU) at the end. The ciphertext is then read off as:
EVLNE ACDTK ESEAQ ROFOJ DEECU WIREE
Reference(s) used for this question:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROT13
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_cipher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyalphabetic_cipher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transposition_cipher
An extremely simple example of conventional cryptography is a substitution cipher.
A substitution cipher substitutes one piece of information for another. This is most frequently done by offsetting letters of the alphabet. Two examples are Captain Midnight's Secret Decoder Ring, which you may have owned when you were a kid, and Julius Caesar's cipher. In both cases, the algorithm is to offset the alphabet and the key is the number of characters to offset it. So the offset could be one, two, or any number you wish. ROT-13 is an example where it is shifted 13 spaces. The Ceaser Cipher is another example where it is shifted 3 letters to the left.
ROT13 ("rotate by 13 places", sometimes hyphenated ROT-13) is a simple letter substitution cipher that replaces a letter with the letter 13 letters after it in the alphabet. ROT13 is an example of the Caesar cipher, developed in ancient Rome.
In the basic Latin alphabet, ROT13 is its own inverse; that is, to undo ROT13, the same algorithm is applied, so the same action can be used for encoding and decoding. The algorithm provides virtually no cryptographic security, and is often cited as a canonical example of weak encryption.
ROT13 is used in online forums as a means of hiding spoilers, puzzle solutions, and offensive materials from the casual glance. ROT13 has been described as the "Usenet equivalent of a magazine printing the answer to a quiz upside down". ROT13 has inspired a variety of letter and word games on-line, and is frequently mentioned in newsgroup conversations. See diagram Below:

Rot 13 Cipher
The following are incorrect:
The Caesar cipher is a simple substitution cipher that involves shifting the alphabet three positions to the right. 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.

Caesar Cipher
Polyalphabetic cipher refers to using multiple alphabets at a time. A polyalphabetic cipher is any cipher based on substitution, using multiple substitution alphabets. The Vigenère cipher is probably the best- known example of a polyalphabetic cipher, though it is a simplified special case.

Viginere Cipher
Transposition cipher is a different type of cipher. In cryptography, a transposition cipher is a method of encryption by which the positions held by units of plaintext (which are commonly characters or groups of characters) are shifted according to a regular system, so that the ciphertext constitutes a permutation of the plaintext. That is, the order of the units is changed. See the reference below for multiple examples of Transpositio Ciphers.
An exemple of Transposition cipher could be columnar transposition, the message is written out in rows of a fixed length, and then read out again column by column, and the columns are chosen in some scrambled order. Both the width of the rows and the permutation of the columns are usually defined by a keyword. For example, the word ZEBRAS is of length 6 (so the rows are of length 6), and the permutation is defined by the alphabetical order of the letters in the keyword. In this case, the order would be "6 3 2 4 1 5".
In a regular columnar transposition cipher, any spare spaces are filled with nulls; in an irregular columnar transposition cipher, the spaces are left blank. Finally, the message is read off in columns, in the order specified by the keyword. For example, suppose we use the keyword ZEBRAS and the message WE ARE DISCOVERED. FLEE AT ONCE. In a regular columnar transposition, we write this into the grid as Follows:

Transposition Cipher
Providing five nulls (QKJEU) at the end. The ciphertext is then read off as:
EVLNE ACDTK ESEAQ ROFOJ DEECU WIREE
Reference(s) used for this question:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROT13
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_cipher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyalphabetic_cipher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transposition_cipher
SSCP Exam Question 403
What is used to bind a document to its creation at a particular time?
Correct Answer: C
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
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
SSCP Exam Question 404
In which phase of Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol is peer authentication performed?
Correct Answer: B
The Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol is a key management protocol
standard that is used in conjunction with the IPSec standard. IKE enhances IPSec by
providing additional features, flexibility, and ease of configuration for the IPSec standard.
IPSec can however, be configured without IKE by manually configuring the gateways
communicating with each other for example.
A security association (SA) is a relationship between two or more entities that describes
how the entities will use security services to communicate securely.
In phase 1 of this process, IKE creates an authenticated, secure channel between the two
IKE peers, called the IKE security association. The Diffie-Hellman key agreement is always
performed in this phase.
In phase 2 IKE negotiates the IPSec security associations and generates the required key
material for IPSec. The sender offers one or more transform sets that are used to specify
an allowed combination of transforms with their respective settings.
Benefits provided by IKE include:
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.
References:
RFC 2409: The Internet Key Exchange (IKE);
DORASWAMY, Naganand & HARKINS, Dan, Ipsec: The New Security Standard for the
Internet, Intranets, and Virtual Private Networks, 1999, Prentice Hall PTR;
SMITH, Richard E., Internet Cryptography, 1997, Addison-Wesley Pub Co.
Reference: http://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=25474
standard that is used in conjunction with the IPSec standard. IKE enhances IPSec by
providing additional features, flexibility, and ease of configuration for the IPSec standard.
IPSec can however, be configured without IKE by manually configuring the gateways
communicating with each other for example.
A security association (SA) is a relationship between two or more entities that describes
how the entities will use security services to communicate securely.
In phase 1 of this process, IKE creates an authenticated, secure channel between the two
IKE peers, called the IKE security association. The Diffie-Hellman key agreement is always
performed in this phase.
In phase 2 IKE negotiates the IPSec security associations and generates the required key
material for IPSec. The sender offers one or more transform sets that are used to specify
an allowed combination of transforms with their respective settings.
Benefits provided by IKE include:
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.
References:
RFC 2409: The Internet Key Exchange (IKE);
DORASWAMY, Naganand & HARKINS, Dan, Ipsec: The New Security Standard for the
Internet, Intranets, and Virtual Private Networks, 1999, Prentice Hall PTR;
SMITH, Richard E., Internet Cryptography, 1997, Addison-Wesley Pub Co.
Reference: http://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=25474
SSCP Exam Question 405
What layer of the ISO/OSI model do routers normally operate at?
Correct Answer: D
Routers are switching devices that operate at the network layer (layer 3) by examining network addresses.
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 111).
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 111).
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