Security+

spear phishing

A phishing attack that targets only specific users or organizations

SOC 1

focuses on internal controls over financial reporting

Measured Boot

A UEFI feature that gathers secure metrics to validate the boot process in an attestation report.

Supply-chain attacks

A cyber-attack that seeks to damage an organization by targeting less-secure elements in the supply chain.

trojan

A program disguised as a harmless application that actually produces harmful results.

Error-based SQL injection

Occurs when an invalid statement is submitted to cause the database to fail and output information

Blind SQL Injection

Occurs when the database is vulnerable but configured to suppress error messages. Statements are generated in effort to prompt a response.

PUP

Potentially Unwanted Program

Pharming

Reroutes requests for legitimate websites to false websites

Fileless virus

Software that uses legitimate programs to infect a computer. It does not rely on files and leaves no footprint, making it challenging to detect and remove.

SPIM

Spam over Instant Messaging

lateral movement

The process by which an attacker is able to move from one part of a computing environment to another.

Credential Harvesting

The process of gathering valid usernames, passwords, private emails, and email addresses through infrastructure breaches.

Whitebox testing

This form of testing is conducted with full knowledge of the information system, infrastructure component or application under test.

Graybox testing

This form of testing is conducted with limited or partial information on the information system, infrastructure component or application under test.

Tailgating

When an unauthorized individual enters a restricted-access building by following an authorized user.

ISO 27001

Which ISO framework provides requirements for an information security management system and focuses on managing information security within an organization?

GLBA (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act)

Which of the following standard/law focuses on protecting the financial non-public information?

Baiting

Which social engineering attack uses CDs, DVDs, or USB drives?

Watering hole

Which type of attack does the attacker infect a website that is often visited by the target users?

Vishing

Which type of phishing is conducted over the Voice over IP (VoIP) lines where the attacker pretends to be a legitimate caller from a bank or a financial institution?

Spear phishing

Which type of phishing targets specific individuals and companies?

Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)

a sophisticated, possibly long-running computer hack that is perpetrated by large, well-funded organizations such as governments

Phishing

a technique to gain personal information for the purpose of identity theft, usually by means of fraudulent e-mail; the attacker creates a replica Website or Webpage that tricks the user into providing personal information

Prepending

an automated method to conduct the spear phishing attack

Pure insider

an employee with all the rights and access associated with being employed by the company

US Privacy Act of 1974

applicable to government agencies for the data they hold

Outsider Affiliate

are external entities, which are not employees or do not have a connection with an employee

SSAE SOC 2 Type I/II

assesses the system design/assesses the ongoing effectiveness of the security architecture over a period of 6-12 months

Whaling

attack that is meant to target high-profile candidates, such as the CEO or CIO in an organization, or maybe a well-known and established person, such as a film star.

Dynamic-link library (DLL) injection attack

attack that targets the external software component that is a repository of both code and data

Spamming

simultaneously sending the same unsolicited message to many people, often in an attempt to sell them something

Influence campaigns

social engineering attacks that attempt to guide, adjust, or change public opinion, often waged by nation-states against their real or perceived foreign enemies

CSRF (Cross Site Request Forgery)

vulnerability that can cause a web browser to automatically send an authenticated request to another page

CIS (Center for Internet Security)

A not-for-profit organization (founded partly by SANS). It publishes the well-known "Top 20 Critical Security Controls" (or system design recommendations).

Race Condition

A programming flaw that occurs when two sets of code attempt to access the same resource. The first one to access the resource wins, which can result in inconsistent results.

Birthday Attack

A type of password attack that exploits weaknesses in the mathematical algorithms used to encrypt passwords, in order to take advantage of the probability of different password inputs producing the same encrypted output.

Five Types of Reconnaissance

Active; Passive; Pseudonymous; Internet; Anonymous

Watering Hole Attack

An attack method that infects web sites that a group is likely to trust and visit.

SSL Stripping

An attack that focuses on stripping the security from HTTPS-enabled websites.

Driver Manipulation

An attack that relies on compromising the kernel-mode device drivers that operate at a privileged or system level

Replay Attack

An attack where the data is captured and repeated. Attackers typically modify data before repeating it

Hacktivist

An attacker who launches attacks as part of an activist movement or to further a cause (e.g. Anonymous)

Collision Attack

An attempt to find two input strings of a hash function that produce the same hash result.

computer hoax

An e-mail message containing a false warning to the recipient of a malicious entity circulating through the Internet

C&C (command and control)

An infrastructure of hosts and services with which attackers direct, distribute, and control malware over botnets. Also known as C2.

Password spraying

Brute force attack in which multiple user accounts are tested with a dictionary of common passwords.

logic bomb

Computer code that lies dormant until it is triggered by a specific logical event.

Closed-Source Intelligence

Data that is derived from the provider's own research and analysis efforts, such as data from honeynets that they operate, plus information mined from its customers' systems, suitably anonymized

Shimming Attack

Develop and implement additional code in drivers to enable malicious activity

shoulder surfing

Gaining compromising information through observation (as in looking over someone's shoulder).

Root of Trust (RoT)

Hardware-based mechanisms that guarantee the integrity of the hardware prior to loading the operating system of a computer.

dumpster diving

Involves digging through trash receptacles to find computer manuals, printouts, or password lists that have been thrown away

CCM (Cloud Control Matrix)

It contains 16 domains split across 133 control objectives; It is considered a de-facto standard for cloud security compliance; It focuses on various other security frameworks, such as ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, and NIST

Blackbox testing

This form of testing occurs when the tester has no knowledge of the target or its network structure.

Criminal syndicates

Threat actors who have moved from traditional criminal activities to more rewarding and less risky online attacks.

6NF - Sixth Normal Form

What is the highest level of normalization that you can achieve with a database?

Baiting

When a malicious individual leaves malware-infected removable media, such as a USB drive or optical disc, lying around in plain view.

vertical privilege escalation

attackers grant themselves a higher access level such as administrator, allowing the attacker to perform illegal actions such as running unauthorized code or deleting data

horizontal privilege escalation

attackers grant themselves the same access levels they already have but assume the identity of another user

reconnaissance

can be split into three parts: Footprinting; Scanning; Enumeration

HIDS (host intrusion detection system)

can only detect but not prevent any unauthorized access attempts to the system where it is installed; for example, it will log the number of unsuccessful login attempts of a user and raise an alert.

fixed function HRT

designed to perform a specific function, such as data encryption.

rules of engagement

document that details the: scope of the assessment; contact information; handling sensitive information during the test; steps to be followed before, during and after the test; specific compromise targets; duration of the test

Gramm-Leach-Billey Act (GLBA)

focuses on protecting financial non-public information.

HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)

focuses on protecting healthcare information

COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act)

focuses on protecting the personal information of children below the age of 12

ISO 31000

focuses on risk management. It provides various guidelines for managing risks within the organization.

ISO 27002

focuses on security techniques and codes of practice for information security controls

SOC 2

focuses on various controls, such as security, privacy, availability, and integrity. This report is available to regulators and those who sign the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

SOC 3

focuses on various controls, such as security, privacy, availability, and integrity. This report is available to the general public.

Vishing

form of phishing and is conducted over Voice over IP (VoIP) lines where the attacker pretends to be a legitimate caller from a bank or financial institution

Initiation; Execution; User action; completion

four stages of the phishing process

Session Replay Attack

in this attack, a malicious user gets hold of a valid session ID of an authorized user and reuses it to impersonate the authorized user to perform malicious activities.

salting

increases the length of the passwords by adding more bits to it, making it difficult to guess the real password

cross-site request forgery (XSRF)

is a form of replay attack which allows attackers to perform malicious activities on behalf of the victim.

Tokenization

is a method of replacing the actual string of data with unique identification symbols or numbers

HSM (Hardware Security Module)

is a security device that is used for safeguarding and managing digital keys, which are used for strong authentication.

SED (Self Encrypting Drive)

is a type of hard drive that can encrypt and decrypt the data on its own without user intervention

Smishing

is a type of vishing and is a social engineering attack that uses text messaging to obtain sensitive information such as account details

NGFW (Next Generation Firewall)

is an advanced version of a firewall that can perform the following functions: Firewall Anti-spam Content filtering DLP Malware scanner

ISO 27701

is an extension to 27001 and 27002. It provides various guidelines for privacy information management.

Software Assurance Maturity Model (SAMM)

is an open framework that can be tailored by an organization to manage software development and security risks

programmable HRT

is designed to perform complex tasks and functions. It is possible to upgrade a programmable root of trust.

Insider affiliate

is someone who can be a spouse, friend, or acquaintance of an employee

Insider associate

is someone who is not directly part of the organization, but he or she is a third-party vendor or a contractor

HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention System)

is specific to the local system and is designed to prevent attacks at the host level

result delivery

is the final phase in OSINT in which information about the target is finalized

Data Normalization

is the process of reorganizing the data in the database to ensure that there is no duplicate or redundant data and that all the data is stored logically

SSRF (Server-Side Request Forgery)

manipulates the trusting relationship between web servers

Purple team

often combines the roles of red and blue teams; most often setup for cost optimization as the red and blue team setups could be time-consuming and costly

White team

oversees the testing activities and often creates cyberattack scenarios.

data harvesting

phase in OSINT where the threat actor collects information from identified sources

source identification

phase in OSINT where the threat actor identifies sources from which information can be gathered

data analysis

phase in OSINT where the threat actor performs data analysis of information that was processed in the previous phase

data processing

phase in OSINT where the threat actor processes and identifies information that can help in enumerating the target

FISMMA

provides the mandates to the federal agencies to protect data

ISO 27001

provides the requirements for an information security management system; is a more of a general regulatory framework that can help any organization of any size; It helps an organization to define an information security management system (ISMS)

Time Of Check/Time Of Use

race condition that can result in a NULL pointer/object dereference

Intentional; unintentional

two types of insider threats