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Comptia Security +: Vocab

Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
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  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. In cryptography - a substitution cipher is a method of encryption by which units of plaintext are substituted with ciphertext according to a regular system; the 'units' may be single letters (the most common) - pairs of letters - triplets of letters






2. The key that is used to encrypt a file or message is the same key that is used to decrypt the file or message






3. A compact disc that contains data only accessible by a computer. All modern CD-ROM drives can also read audio CDs. It is possible to produce composite CDs containing both data and audio with the latter capable of being played on a CD player - whilst






4. A formula - practice - process - design - instrument - pattern - or compilation of information used by a business to obtain an advantage over competitors within the same industry or profession.






5. Provides for less data leakage. Longer distance. Uses light instead of electrical impulse.






6. A little piece of information that is put on your computer to allow communications with the server and that also allow some servers to track everything you go to on the Internet






7. Issued by the United States National Computer Security Center (NCSC - an arm of the NSA) as 'Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria' - a DOD standard 5200.23-STD in December 1985 superseding CSC-STD-001-83 - the TCSEC (frequently referred to as






8. In a computer system (or cryptosystem or algorithm) these are methods of bypassing normal authentication or securing remote access to a computer - while attempting to remain hidden from casual inspection.






9. Packet sniffers (also known as Network Analyzers or Ethernet Sniffers) are software programs that can see the traffic passing over a network or part of a network. As data streams travel back and forth over the network - the program captures each pack






10. Packet sniffers (also known as network or protocol analyzers or Ethernet sniffers) are computer software (usually) or computer hardware that can intercept and log traffic passing over a digital network or part of a network. As data streams travel bac






11. Entails planning and system actions to ensure that a project is following good quality management practices






12. The output of a hash function is a digest.






13. In the context of computer software - a Trojan horse is a malicious program that is disguised as or embedded within legitimate software.






14. Same as a block cipher except that it is applied to a data stream one bit at a time






15. In computing - it is software that is embedded in a hardware device. It is often provided on flash ROMs or as a binary image file that can be uploaded onto existing hardware by a user.






16. A specialized form of software authentication that enables a user to authenticate once and gain access to the resources of multiple software systems.






17. ('rotate by 13 places' - sometimes hyphenated ROT-13) Is a simple Caesar cipher used for obscuring text by replacing each letter with the letter thirteen places down the alphabet






18. Must be in place for you to use a biometric system






19. Animals with teeth. Not as discriminate as guards






20. In a distributed attack - the attacking computer hosts are often zombie computers with broadband connections to the Internet that have been compromised by viruses or Trojan horse programs that allow the perpetrator to remotely control the machine and






21. Identifying risks and assessing the possible damage that can be caused in order to justify security safeguards






22. Virtual LANs. Separating broadcast domains on a single network. A way of partitioning communications channels.






23. Degaussing is the process of reducing or eliminating an unwanted magnetic field. The Degausser is what actually performs the degaussing.






24. Non-repudiation is the concept of ensuring that a contract - especially one agreed to via the Internet - cannot later be denied by one of the parties involved.






25. Making individuals accountable for their actions on a system typically through the use of auditing






26. Driving around enumerating wireless networks with the proper equipment (antennas and the like)






27. Data storage formats and equipment that allow the stored data to be accessed in any order






28. In cryptanalysis - this attack is a method of defeating a cryptographic scheme by trying a large number of possibilities; for example - exhaustively working through all possible keys in order to decrypt a message. In most schemes - the theoretical po






29. Dialing fixed sets telephone numbers looking for open modem connections to machines






30. The art of breaking code. Testing the strength of an algorithm.






31. Jumping into dumpsters to retrieve information about someone/something/a company






32. The Teardrop attack involved sending IP fragments with overlapping payloads to the target machine.






33. In cryptanalysis - a brute force attack is a method of defeating a cryptographic scheme by trying a large number of possibilities. In most schemes - the theoretical possibility of a brute force attack is recognised - but it is set up in such a way th






34. Good for distance - longer than 100M






35. A standard protocol for interfacing external application software with an information server - commonly a web server. This allows the server to pass requests from a client web browser to the external application. The web server can then return the ou






36. If an employee is suspected of wrongdoing - sending them away from work for a while so that their actions can be audited.






37. When two or more processes are linked and execute multiple programs simultaneously






38. Common Object Request Broker Architecture.






39. An attack that is similar to smurf but instead of using ICMP (ping) it uses UDP as its weapon of choice. It broadcasts a spoofed UDP packet to the amplifying network.






40. In computing - the Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol authenticates a user to an Internet access provider. CHAP provides protection against playback attack by the peer through the use of an incrementally changing identifier and of a variable






41. Not a picture - but rather vectors of your finger geometry with an acceptable variance built in to provide for slight changes.






42. A unit that will detect motion for the purpose of setting of the alarms to alert for unauthorized access.






43. A logic bomb is a piece of code intentionally inserted into a software system that will set off a malicious function when specified conditions are met.






44. 'If you cant see it - its secure'. Bad policy to live by.






45. A denial-of-service attack is an attack on a computer system or network that causes a loss of service to users - typically the loss of network connectivity and services by consuming the bandwidth of the victim network or overloading the computational






46. A number of computer software products and specifications from Sun Microsystems that together provide a system for developing and deploying cross-platform applications. Java is used in a wide variety of computing platforms spanning from embedded devi






47. Network devices that operate at layer 2. Every port on a switch is a separate collision domain






48. Also civil law






49. When a DNS server goes out to resolve a name - and gets the wrong response back - it caches the wrong address for the default DNS time period - thus poisoning the cache for that period of time






50. An automated tool with a database of known vulnerabilities that check systems for those vulnerabilities