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Question 41
Who can best decide what are the adequate technical security controls in a computer-based application system in regards to the protection of the data being used, the criticality of the data, and it's sensitivity level?
Correct Answer: B
The data or information owner also referred to as "Data Owner" would be the best person. That is the individual or officer who is ultimately responsible for the protection of the information and can therefore decide what are the adequate security controls according to the data sensitivity and data criticality. The auditor would be the best person to determine the adequacy of controls and whether or not they are working as expected by the owner.
The function of the auditor is to come around periodically and make sure you are doing what you are supposed to be doing. They ensure the correct controls are in place and are being maintained securely. The goal of the auditor is to make sure the organization complies with its own policies and the applicable laws and regulations. Organizations can have internal auditors and/ or external auditors. The external auditors commonly work on behalf of a regulatory body to make sure compliance is being met. For example CobiT, which is a model that most information security auditors follow when evaluating a security program. While many security professionals fear and dread auditors, they can be valuable tools in ensuring the overall security of the organization. Their goal is to find the things you have missed and help you understand how to fix the problem.
The Official ISC2 Guide (OIG) says: IT auditors determine whether users, owners, custodians, systems, and networks are in compliance with the security policies, procedures, standards, baselines, designs, architectures, management direction, and other requirements placed on systems. The auditors provide independent assurance to the management on the appropriateness of the security controls. The auditor examines the information systems and determines whether they are designed, configured, implemented, operated, and managed in a way ensuring that the organizational objectives are being achieved. The auditors provide top company management with an independent view of the controls and their effectiveness.
Example: Bob is the head of payroll. He is therefore the individual with primary responsibility over the payroll database, and is therefore the information/data owner of the payroll database. In Bob's
department, he has Sally and Richard working for him. Sally is responsible for making changes to
the payroll database, for example if someone is hired or gets a raise. Richard is only responsible
for printing paychecks. Given those roles, Sally requires both read and write access to the payroll
database, but Richard requires only read access to it. Bob communicates these requirements to
the system administrators (the "information/data custodians") and they set the file permissions for
Sally's and Richard's user accounts so that Sally has read/write access, while Richard has only
read access.
So in short Bob will determine what controls are required, what is the sensitivily and criticality of
the Data. Bob will communicate this to the custodians who will implement the requirements on the
systems/DB. The auditor would assess if the controls are in fact providing the level of security the
Data Owner expects within the systems/DB. The auditor does not determine the sensitivity of the
data or the crititicality of the data.
The other answers are not correct because:
A "system auditor" is never responsible for anything but auditing... not actually making control
decisions but the auditor would be the best person to determine the adequacy of controls and then
make recommendations.
A "system manager" is really just another name for a system administrator, which is actually an
information custodian as explained above.
A "Data or information user" is responsible for implementing security controls on a day-to-day
basis as they utilize the information, but not for determining what the controls should be or if they
are adequate.
References:
Official ISC2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition , Page 477
Schneiter, Andrew (2013-04-15). Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition :
Information Security Governance and Risk Management ((ISC)2 Press) (Kindle Locations 294-
298). Auerbach Publications. Kindle Edition.
Harris, Shon (2012-10-25). CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (Kindle Locations 3108-
3114).
Information Security Glossary
Responsibility for use of information resources
The function of the auditor is to come around periodically and make sure you are doing what you are supposed to be doing. They ensure the correct controls are in place and are being maintained securely. The goal of the auditor is to make sure the organization complies with its own policies and the applicable laws and regulations. Organizations can have internal auditors and/ or external auditors. The external auditors commonly work on behalf of a regulatory body to make sure compliance is being met. For example CobiT, which is a model that most information security auditors follow when evaluating a security program. While many security professionals fear and dread auditors, they can be valuable tools in ensuring the overall security of the organization. Their goal is to find the things you have missed and help you understand how to fix the problem.
The Official ISC2 Guide (OIG) says: IT auditors determine whether users, owners, custodians, systems, and networks are in compliance with the security policies, procedures, standards, baselines, designs, architectures, management direction, and other requirements placed on systems. The auditors provide independent assurance to the management on the appropriateness of the security controls. The auditor examines the information systems and determines whether they are designed, configured, implemented, operated, and managed in a way ensuring that the organizational objectives are being achieved. The auditors provide top company management with an independent view of the controls and their effectiveness.
Example: Bob is the head of payroll. He is therefore the individual with primary responsibility over the payroll database, and is therefore the information/data owner of the payroll database. In Bob's
department, he has Sally and Richard working for him. Sally is responsible for making changes to
the payroll database, for example if someone is hired or gets a raise. Richard is only responsible
for printing paychecks. Given those roles, Sally requires both read and write access to the payroll
database, but Richard requires only read access to it. Bob communicates these requirements to
the system administrators (the "information/data custodians") and they set the file permissions for
Sally's and Richard's user accounts so that Sally has read/write access, while Richard has only
read access.
So in short Bob will determine what controls are required, what is the sensitivily and criticality of
the Data. Bob will communicate this to the custodians who will implement the requirements on the
systems/DB. The auditor would assess if the controls are in fact providing the level of security the
Data Owner expects within the systems/DB. The auditor does not determine the sensitivity of the
data or the crititicality of the data.
The other answers are not correct because:
A "system auditor" is never responsible for anything but auditing... not actually making control
decisions but the auditor would be the best person to determine the adequacy of controls and then
make recommendations.
A "system manager" is really just another name for a system administrator, which is actually an
information custodian as explained above.
A "Data or information user" is responsible for implementing security controls on a day-to-day
basis as they utilize the information, but not for determining what the controls should be or if they
are adequate.
References:
Official ISC2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition , Page 477
Schneiter, Andrew (2013-04-15). Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition :
Information Security Governance and Risk Management ((ISC)2 Press) (Kindle Locations 294-
298). Auerbach Publications. Kindle Edition.
Harris, Shon (2012-10-25). CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (Kindle Locations 3108-
3114).
Information Security Glossary
Responsibility for use of information resources
Question 42
In a stateful inspection firewall, data packets are captured by an inspection engine that is operating at the:
Correct Answer: A
Most stateful packet inspection firewalls work at the network or transport layers. For the TCP/IP protcol, this allows the firewall to make decisions both on IP addresses, protocols and TCP/UDP port numbers
Application layer is incorrect. This is too high in the OSI stack for this type of firewall.
Inspection layer is incorrect. There is no such layer in the OSI stack.
"Data link layer" is incorrect. This is too low in the OSI stack for this type of firewall.
References:
CBK, p. 466
AIO3, pp. 485 - 486
Application layer is incorrect. This is too high in the OSI stack for this type of firewall.
Inspection layer is incorrect. There is no such layer in the OSI stack.
"Data link layer" is incorrect. This is too low in the OSI stack for this type of firewall.
References:
CBK, p. 466
AIO3, pp. 485 - 486
Question 43
What is the main focus of the Bell-LaPadula security model?
Correct Answer: C
The Bell-LaPadula model is a formal model dealing with confidentiality. The Bell-LaPadula Model (abbreviated BLP) is a state machine model used for enforcing access control in government and military applications. It was developed by David Elliott Bell and Leonard
J. LaPadula, subsequent to strong guidance from Roger R. Schell to formalize the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) multilevel security (MLS) policy. The model is a formal state transition model of computer security policy that describes a set of access control rules which use security labels on objects and clearances for subjects. Security labels range from the most sensitive (e.g."Top Secret"), down to the least sensitive (e.g., "Unclassified" or "Public"). The Bell-LaPadula model focuses on data confidentiality and controlled access to classified information, in contrast to the Biba Integrity Model which describes rules for the protection of data integrity. In this formal model, the entities in an information system are divided into subjects and objects. The notion of a "secure state" is defined, and it is proven that each state transition preserves security by moving from secure state to secure state, thereby inductively proving that the system satisfies the security objectives of the model. The Bell-LaPadula model is built on the concept of a state machine with a set of allowable states in a computer network system. The transition from one state to another state is defined by transition functions.
A system state is defined to be "secure" if the only permitted access modes of subjects to objects are in accordance with a security policy. To determine whether a specific access mode is allowed, the clearance of a subject is compared to the classification of the object (more precisely, to the combination of classification and set of compartments, making up the security level) to determine if the subject is authorized for the specific access mode. The clearance/classification scheme is expressed in terms of a lattice. The model defines two mandatory access control (MAC) rules and one discretionary access control (DAC) rule with three security properties:
The Simple Security Property - a subject at a given security level may not read an object at a
higher security level (no read-up).
The -property (read "star"-property) - a subject at a given security level must not write to any
object at a lower security level (no write-down). The -property is also known as the Confinement
property.
The Discretionary Security Property - use of an access matrix to specify the discretionary access
control.
The following are incorrect answers:
Accountability is incorrect. Accountability requires that actions be traceable to the user that
performed them and is not addressed by the Bell-LaPadula model.
Integrity is incorrect. Integrity is addressed in the Biba model rather than Bell-Lapadula.
Availability is incorrect. Availability is concerned with assuring that data/services are available to
authorized users as specified in service level objectives and is not addressed by the Bell-Lapadula
model.
References:
CBK, pp. 325-326
AIO3, pp. 279 - 284
AIOv4 Security Architecture and Design (pages 333 - 336)
AIOv5 Security Architecture and Design (pages 336 - 338)
Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell-La_Padula_model
J. LaPadula, subsequent to strong guidance from Roger R. Schell to formalize the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) multilevel security (MLS) policy. The model is a formal state transition model of computer security policy that describes a set of access control rules which use security labels on objects and clearances for subjects. Security labels range from the most sensitive (e.g."Top Secret"), down to the least sensitive (e.g., "Unclassified" or "Public"). The Bell-LaPadula model focuses on data confidentiality and controlled access to classified information, in contrast to the Biba Integrity Model which describes rules for the protection of data integrity. In this formal model, the entities in an information system are divided into subjects and objects. The notion of a "secure state" is defined, and it is proven that each state transition preserves security by moving from secure state to secure state, thereby inductively proving that the system satisfies the security objectives of the model. The Bell-LaPadula model is built on the concept of a state machine with a set of allowable states in a computer network system. The transition from one state to another state is defined by transition functions.
A system state is defined to be "secure" if the only permitted access modes of subjects to objects are in accordance with a security policy. To determine whether a specific access mode is allowed, the clearance of a subject is compared to the classification of the object (more precisely, to the combination of classification and set of compartments, making up the security level) to determine if the subject is authorized for the specific access mode. The clearance/classification scheme is expressed in terms of a lattice. The model defines two mandatory access control (MAC) rules and one discretionary access control (DAC) rule with three security properties:
The Simple Security Property - a subject at a given security level may not read an object at a
higher security level (no read-up).
The -property (read "star"-property) - a subject at a given security level must not write to any
object at a lower security level (no write-down). The -property is also known as the Confinement
property.
The Discretionary Security Property - use of an access matrix to specify the discretionary access
control.
The following are incorrect answers:
Accountability is incorrect. Accountability requires that actions be traceable to the user that
performed them and is not addressed by the Bell-LaPadula model.
Integrity is incorrect. Integrity is addressed in the Biba model rather than Bell-Lapadula.
Availability is incorrect. Availability is concerned with assuring that data/services are available to
authorized users as specified in service level objectives and is not addressed by the Bell-Lapadula
model.
References:
CBK, pp. 325-326
AIO3, pp. 279 - 284
AIOv4 Security Architecture and Design (pages 333 - 336)
AIOv5 Security Architecture and Design (pages 336 - 338)
Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell-La_Padula_model
Question 44
Which of the following is a class C fire?
Correct Answer: A
Explanation/Reference:
Explanation:
Class C fires are electrical fires.
Class C fires are electrical fires which that may occur in electrical equipment or wiring. Class C fire extinguishers use gas, CO2 or dry powders as these extinguishing agents are non-conductive.
Incorrect Answers:
B: A flammable liquid fire (such as gasoline, oil, lacquers) is a Class B fire. Therefore, this answer is incorrect.
C: A common combustibles fire (such as wood, paper, cloth) is a Class A fire. Therefore, this answer is incorrect.
D: Soda acid is not a type of fire; it's a type of fire extinguisher. Therefore, this answer is incorrect.
References:
Harris, Shon, All In One CISSP Exam Guide, 6th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2013, p. 472
Explanation:
Class C fires are electrical fires.
Class C fires are electrical fires which that may occur in electrical equipment or wiring. Class C fire extinguishers use gas, CO2 or dry powders as these extinguishing agents are non-conductive.
Incorrect Answers:
B: A flammable liquid fire (such as gasoline, oil, lacquers) is a Class B fire. Therefore, this answer is incorrect.
C: A common combustibles fire (such as wood, paper, cloth) is a Class A fire. Therefore, this answer is incorrect.
D: Soda acid is not a type of fire; it's a type of fire extinguisher. Therefore, this answer is incorrect.
References:
Harris, Shon, All In One CISSP Exam Guide, 6th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2013, p. 472
Question 45
The use of proximity card to gain access to a building is an example of what type of security control?
Correct Answer: D
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