- (Topic 1)
How would nonrepudiation be best classified as?
Correct Answer:
A
Systems accountability depends on the ability to ensure that senders cannot deny sending information and that receivers cannot deny receiving it. Because the mechanisms implemented in nonrepudiation prevent the ability to successfully repudiate an action, it can be considered as a preventive control.
Source: STONEBURNER, Gary, NIST Special Publication 800-33: Underlying Technical Models for Information Technology Security, National Institute of Standards and Technology, December 2001, page 7.
- (Topic 1)
Which of the following is a trusted, third party authentication protocol that was developed under Project Athena at MIT?
Correct Answer:
A
Kerberos is a trusted, third party authentication protocol that was developed under Project Athena at MIT.
Kerberos is a network authentication protocol. It is designed to provide strong authentication for client/server applications by using secret-key cryptography. A free implementation of this protocol is available from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Kerberos is available in many commercial products as well.
The Internet is an insecure place. Many of the protocols used in the Internet do not provide any security. Tools to "sniff" passwords off of the network are in common use by systems crackers. Thus, applications which send an unencrypted password over the network are extremely vulnerable. Worse yet, other client/server applications rely on the client program to be "honest" about the identity of the user who is using it. Other applications rely on the client to restrict its activities to those which it is allowed to do, with no other enforcement by the server.
Some sites attempt to use firewalls to solve their network security problems. Unfortunately, firewalls assume that "the bad guys" are on the outside, which is often a very bad
assumption. Most of the really damaging incidents of computer crime are carried out by insiders. Firewalls also have a significant disadvantage in that they restrict how your users can use the Internet. (After all, firewalls are simply a less extreme example of the dictum that there is nothing more secure then a computer which is not connected to the network --- and powered off!) In many places, these restrictions are simply unrealistic and unacceptable.
Kerberos was created by MIT as a solution to these network security problems. The Kerberos protocol uses strong cryptography so that a client can prove its identity to a server (and vice versa) across an insecure network connection. After a client and server have used Kerberos to prove their identity, they can also encrypt all of their communications to assure privacy and data integrity as they go about their business.
Kerberos is freely available from MIT, under a copyright permission notice very similar to the one used for the BSD operating and X11 Windowing system. MIT provides Kerberos in source form, so that anyone who wishes to use it may look over the code for themselves and assure themselves that the code is trustworthy. In addition, for those who prefer to rely on a professional supported product, Kerberos is available as a product from many different vendors.
In summary, Kerberos is a solution to your network security problems. It provides the tools of authentication and strong cryptography over the network to help you secure your information systems across your entire enterprise. We hope you find Kerberos as useful as it has been to us. At MIT, Kerberos has been invaluable to our Information/Technology architecture.
KryptoKnight is a Peer to Peer authentication protocol incorporated into the NetSP product from IBM.
SESAME is an authentication and access control protocol, that also supports communication confidentiality and integrity. It provides public key based authentication along with the Kerberos style authentication, that uses symmetric key cryptography. Sesame supports the Kerberos protocol and adds some security extensions like public key based authentication and an ECMA-style Privilege Attribute Service. The complete Sesame protocol is a two step process. In the first step, the client successfully authenticates itself to the Authentication Server and obtains a ticket that can be presented to the Privilege Attribute Server. In the second step, the initiator obtains proof of his access rights in the form of Privilege Attributes Certificate (PAC). The PAC is a specific form of Access Control Certificate as defined in the ECMA-219 document. This document describes the extensions to Kerberos for public key based authentication as adopted in Sesame.
SESAME, KryptoKnight, and NetSP never took off and the protocols are no longer commonly used.
References:
http://www.cmf.nrl.navy.mil/CCS/people/kenh/kerberos-faq.html#whatis and
Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 40.
- (Topic 6)
Each data packet is assigned the IP address of the sender and the IP address of the:
Correct Answer:
A
Each data packet is assigned the IP address of the sender and the IP address of the recipient. The term network refers to the part of the IP address that identifies each network. The terms host and node refer to the parts of the IP address that identify a specific machine on a network.
Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the
Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 87.
- (Topic 2)
During which phase of an IT system life cycle are security requirements developed?
Correct Answer:
C
The software development life cycle (SDLC) (sometimes referred to as the System Development Life Cycle) is the process of creating or altering software systems, and the models and methodologies that people use to develop these systems.
The NIST SP 800-64 revision 2 has within the description section of para 3.2.1:
This section addresses security considerations unique to the second SDLC phase. Key security activities for this phase include:
• Conduct the risk assessment and use the results to supplement the baseline security controls;
• Analyze security requirements;
• Perform functional and security testing;
• Prepare initial documents for system certification and accreditation; and
• Design security architecture.
Reviewing this publication you may want to pick development/acquisition. Although initiation would be a decent choice, it is correct to say during this phase you would only brainstorm the idea of security requirements. Once you start to develop and acquire hardware/software components then you would also develop the security controls for these. The Shon Harris reference below is correct as well.
Shon Harris' Book (All-in-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide) divides the SDLC differently:
Project initiation
Functional design analysis and planning System design specifications
Software development Installation Maintenance support
Revision and replacement
According to the author (Shon Harris), security requirements should be developed during the functional design analysis and planning phase.
SDLC POSITIONING FROM NIST 800-64
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SDLC Positioning in the enterprise
Information system security processes and activities provide valuable input into managing IT systems and their development, enabling risk identification, planning and mitigation. A risk management approach involves continually balancing the protection of agency information and assets with the cost of security controls and mitigation strategies throughout the complete information system development life cycle (see Figure 2-1 above). The most effective way to implement risk management is to identify critical assets and operations, as well as systemic vulnerabilities across the agency. Risks are shared and not bound by organization, revenue source, or topologies. Identification and verification of critical assets and operations and their interconnections can be achieved through the system security planning process, as well as through the compilation of information from the Capital Planning and Investment Control (CPIC) and Enterprise Architecture (EA) processes to establish insight into the agency’s vital business operations, their supporting assets, and existing interdependencies and relationships.
With critical assets and operations identified, the organization can and should perform a business impact analysis (BIA). The purpose of the BIA is to relate systems and assets with the critical services they provide and assess the consequences of their disruption. By identifying these systems, an agency can manage security effectively by establishing priorities. This positions the security office to facilitate the IT program’s cost-effective performance as well as articulate its business impact and value to the agency.
SDLC OVERVIEW FROM NIST 800-64
SDLC Overview from NIST 800-64 Revision 2
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NIST 800-64 Revision 2 is one publication within the NISTstandards that I would recommend you look at for more details about the SDLC. It describe in great details what activities would take place and they have a nice diagram for each of the phases of the SDLC. You will find a copy at:
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-64-Rev2/SP800-64-Revision2.pdf DISCUSSION:
Different sources present slightly different info as far as the phases names are concerned.
People sometimes gets confused with some of the NIST standards. For example NIST 800-64 Security Considerations in the Information System Development Life Cycle has slightly different names, the activities mostly remains the same.
NIST clearly specifies that Security requirements would be considered throughout ALL of the phases. The keyword here is considered, if a question is about which phase they would be developed than Functional Design Analysis would be the correct choice.
Within the NIST standard they use different phase, howeverr under the second phase you will see that they talk specifically about Security Functional requirements analysis which confirms it is not at the initiation stage so it become easier to come out with the answer to this question. Here is what is stated:
The security functional requirements analysis considers the system security environment, including the enterprise information security policy and the enterprise security architecture. The analysis should address all requirements for confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information, and should include a review of all legal, functional, and other security requirements contained in applicable laws, regulations, and guidance.
At the initiation step you would NOT have enough detailed yet to produce the Security Requirements. You are mostly brainstorming on all of the issues listed but you do not develop them all at that stage.
By considering security early in the information system development life cycle (SDLC), you may be able to avoid higher costs later on and develop a more secure system from the start.
NIST says:
NIST`s Information Technology Laboratory recently issued Special Publication (SP) 800- 64, Security Considerations in the Information System Development Life Cycle, by Tim Grance, Joan Hash, and Marc Stevens, to help organizations include security requirements in their planning for every phase of the system life cycle, and to select, acquire, and use appropriate and cost-effective security controls.
I must admit this is all very tricky but reading skills and paying attention to KEY WORDS is a must for this exam.
References:
HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, Fifth Edition, Page 956
and
NIST S-64 Revision 2 at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-64-Rev2/SP800-64-
Revision2.pdf and
http://www.mks.com/resources/resource-pages/software-development-life-cycle-sdlc- system-development
- (Topic 1)
A timely review of system access audit records would be an example of which of the basic security functions?
Correct Answer:
D
By reviewing system logs you can detect events that have occured.
The following answers are incorrect:
avoidance. This is incorrect, avoidance is a distractor. By reviewing system logs you have not avoided anything.
deterrence. This is incorrect because system logs are a history of past events. You cannot deter something that has already occurred.
prevention. This is incorrect because system logs are a history of past events. You cannot prevent something that has already occurred.
