Pass the ISC 2 Credentials SSCP Questions and answers with ValidTests

The recovery point objective (RPO) is the maximum acceptable level of data loss following an unplanned “event”, like a disaster (natural or man-made), act of crime or terrorism, or any other business or technical disruption that could cause such data loss. The RPO represents the point in time, prior to such an event or incident, to which lost data can be recovered (given the most recent backup copy of the data).

The recovery time objective (RTO) is a period of time within which business and / or technology capabilities must be restored following an unplanned event or disaster. The RTO is a function of the extent to which the interruption disrupts normal operations and the amount of revenue lost per unit of time as a result of the disaster.

These factors in turn depend on the affected equipment and application(s). Both of these numbers represent key targets that are set by key businesses during business continuity and disaster recovery planning; these targets in turn drive the technology and implementation choices for business resumption services, backup / recovery / archival services, and recovery facilities and procedures.

Many organizations put the cart before the horse in selecting and deploying technologies before understanding the business needs as expressed in RPO and RTO; IT departments later bear the brunt of user complaints that their service expectations are not being met. Defining the RPO and RTO can avoid that pitfall, and in doing so can also make for a compelling business case for recovery technology spending and staffing.

For the CISSP candidate studying for the exam, there are no such objectives for "point of time," and "critical time." Those two answers are simply detracters.

It is important to have ways to measure the success of the plan and tests against the stated objectives. Therefore, results must be quantitatively gauged as opposed to an evaluation based only on observation. Quantitatively measuring the results of the test involves a generic statement measuring all the activities performed during BCP, which gives the best assurance of an effective plan. Although choices A and B are also quantitative, they relate to specific areas, or an analysis of results from one viewpoint, namely the accuracy of the results and the elapsed time.

Source: Information Systems Audit and Control Association, Certified Information Systems Auditor 2002 review manual, Chapter 5: Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity (page 269).

Electronic vaulting refers to the transfer of backup data to an off-site location. This is primarily a batch process of dumping backup data through communications lines to a server at an alternate location.

Electronic vaulting is accomplished by backing up system data over a network. The backup location is usually at a separate geographical location known as the vault site. Vaulting can be used as a mirror or a backup mechanism using the standard incremental or differential backup cycle. Changes to the host system are sent to the vault server in real-time when the backup method is implemented as a mirror. If vaulting updates are recorded in real-time, then it will be necessary to perform regular backups at the off-site location to provide recovery services due to inadvertent or malicious alterations to user or system data.

The following are incorrect answers:

Remote journaling refers to the parallel processing of transactions to an alternate site (as opposed to a batch dump process). Journaling is a technique used by database management systems to provide redundancy for their transactions. When a transaction is completed, the database management system duplicates the journal entry at a remote location. The journal provides sufficient detail for the transaction to be replayed on the remote system. This provides for database recovery in the event that the database becomes corrupted or unavailable.

Database shadowing uses the live processing of remote journaling, but creates even more redundancy by duplicating the database sets to multiple servers. There are also additional redundancy options available within application and database software platforms. For example, database shadowing may be used where a database management system updates records in multiple locations. This technique updates an entire copy of the database at a remote location.

Data clustering refers to the classification of data into groups (clusters). Clustering may also be used, although it should not be confused with redundancy. In clustering, two or more “partners” are joined into the cluster and may all provide service at the same time. For example, in an active–active pair, both systems may provide services at any time. In the case of a failure, the remaining partners may continue to provide service but at a decreased capacity.

The following resource(s) were used for this question:

Hernandez CISSP, Steven (2012-12-21). Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition ((ISC)2 Press) (Kindle Locations 20403-20407 and 20411-20414 and 20375-20377 and 20280-20283). Auerbach Publications. Kindle Edition.

Physically securing the tapes from unauthorized access is obviously a security concern and is considered a function of the Operations Security Domain.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 71.

Hearsay evidence is not normally admissible in court unless it has firsthand evidence that can be used to prove the evidence's accuracy, trustworthiness, and reliability like a business person who generated the computer logs and collected them.

It is important that this person generates and collects logs as a normal part of his business and not just this one time for court. It has to be a documented process that is carried out daily.

The value of evidence depends upon the genuineness and competence of the source; therefore, since record collection is not an activity likely to be performed by senior or executive management, records collected by senior or executive management are not likely to be admissible in court.

Hearsay evidence is usually not admissible in court unless it meets the Business Records Exemption rule to the Hearsay evidence.

• In certain instances computer records fall outside of the hearsay rule (e.g., business records exemption)

• Information relates to regular business activities

• Automatically computer generated data

• No human intervention

• Prove system was operating correctly

• Prove no one changed the data

If you have a documented business process and you make use of intrusion detection tools, log analysis tools, and you produce daily reports of activities, then the computer generated data might be admissible in court and would not be considered Hearsay Evidence.

Reference(s) used for this question:

HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2002, chapter 10: Law, Investigation, and Ethics (page 676).

One of the key item to understand regarding backup is the archive bit. The archive bit is used to determine what files have been backuped already. The archive bit is set if a file is modified or a new file is created, this indicates to the backup program that it has to be saved on the next backup. When a full backup is performed the archive bit will be cleared indicating that the files were backup. This allows backup programs to do an incremental or differential backup that only backs up the changes to the filesystem since the last time the bit was cleared

Full Backup (or Reference Backup)

A Full backup will backup all the files and folders on the drive every time you run the full backup. The archive bit is cleared on all files indicating they were all backuped.

Advantages:

All files from the selected drives and folders are backed up to one backup set.

In the event you need to restore files, they are easily restored from the single backup set.

Disadvantages:

A full backup is more time consuming than other backup options.

Full backups require more disk, tape, or network drive space.

Incremental Backup

An incremental backup provides a backup of files that have changed or are new since the last incremental backup.

For the first incremental backup, all files in the file set are backed up (just as in a full backup). If you use the same file set to perform a incremental backup later, only the files that have changed are backed up. If you use the same file set for a third backup, only the files that have changed since the second backup are backed up, and so on.

Incremental backup will clear the archive bit.

Advantages:

Backup time is faster than full backups.

Incremental backups require less disk, tape, or network drive space.

You can keep several versions of the same files on different backup sets.

Disadvantages:

In order to restore all the files, you must have all of the incremental backups available.

It may take longer to restore a specific file since you must search more than one backup set to find the latest version of a file.

Differential Backup

A differential backup provides a backup of files that have changed since a full backup was performed. A differential backup typically saves only the files that are different or new since the last full backup. Together, a full backup and a differential backup include all the files on your computer, changed and unchanged.

Differential backup do not clear the archive bits.

Advantages:

Differential backups require even less disk, tape, or network drive space than incremental backups.

Backup time is faster than full or incremental backups.

Disadvantages:

Restoring all your files may take considerably longer since you may have to restore both the last differential and full backup.

Restoring an individual file may take longer since you have to locate the file on either the differential or full backup.

For more info see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/136621

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 69.

Although a loss of skilled workers knowledge would cause the company a great loss, it is not identified as a specific loss criteria. It would fall under one of the three other criteria listed as distracters.

Source: HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2002, chapter 9: Disaster Recovery and Business continuity (page 598).

The Fourth Amendment does not apply to a seizure or an arrest by private citizens.

Search and seizure activities can get tricky depending on what is being searched for and where.

For example, American citizens are protected by the Fourth Amendment against unlawful search and seizure, so law enforcement agencies must have probable cause and request a search warrant from a judge or court before conducting such a search.

The actual search can only take place in the areas outlined by the warrant. The Fourth Amendment does not apply to actions by private citizens unless they are acting as police agents. So, for example, if Kristy’s boss warned all employees that the management could remove files from their computers at any time, and her boss was not a police officer or acting as a police agent, she could not successfully claim that her Fourth Amendment rights were violated. Kristy’s boss may have violated some specific privacy laws, but he did not violate Kristy’s Fourth Amendment rights.

In some circumstances, a law enforcement agent may seize evidence that is not included in the warrant, such as if the suspect tries to destroy the evidence. In other words, if there is an impending possibility that evidence might be destroyed, law enforcement may quickly seize the evidence to prevent its destruction. This is referred to as exigent circumstances, and a judge will later decide whether the seizure was proper and legal before allowing the evidence to be admitted. For example, if a police officer had a search warrant that allowed him to search a suspect’s living room but no other rooms, and then he saw the suspect dumping cocaine down the toilet, the police officer could seize the cocaine even though it was in a room not covered under his search warrant. After evidence is gathered, the chain of custody needs to be enacted and enforced to make sure the evidence’s integrity is not compromised.

All other choices were only detractors.

Reference(s) used for this question:

Harris, Shon (2012-10-25). CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (p. 1057). McGraw-Hill. Kindle Edition.

It is a software , hardware or procedural weakness that may provide an attacker the open door he is looking for to enter a computer or network and have unauthorized access to resources within the environment. A vulnerability characterizes the absence or weakness of a safeguard that could be exploited. This vulnerability may be a service running on a server, unpatched applications or operating system software etc.

The following answers are incorrect because:

Threat: A threat is defined as a potential danger to information or systems. The threat is someone or something will identify a specific vulnerability and use it against the company or individual. The entity that takes advantage of a vulnerability is referred to as a 'Threat Agent'. A threat agent could be an intruder accessing the network through a port on the firewall , a process accessing data that violates the security policy.

Risk:A risk is the likelihood of a threat agent taking advantage of a vulnerability and the corresponding business impact. If a firewall has several ports open , there is a higher likelihood that an intruder will use one to access the network in an unauthorized method.

Exposure: An exposure is an instance of being exposed to losses from a threat agent.

REFERENCES:

SHON HARRIS , ALL IN ONE THIRD EDITION : Chapter 3 : Security Management Practices , Pages: 57-59

Selecting and Alternate Site would not be done within the initial BIA. It would be done at a later stage of the BCP and DRP recovery effort. All of the other choices were steps that would be conducted during the BIA. See below the list of steps that would be done during the BIA.

A BIA (business impact analysis ) is considered a functional analysis, in which a team collects data through interviews and documentary sources; documents business functions, activities, and transactions ; develops a hierarchy of business functions; and finally applies a classification scheme to indicate each individual function’s criticality level.

BIA Steps

1. Select individuals to interview for data gathering.

2. Create data-gathering techniques (surveys, questionnaires, qualitative and quantitative approaches).

3. Identify the company’s critical business functions.

4. Identify the resources these functions depend upon.

5. Calculate how long these functions can survive without these resources.

6. Identify vulnerabilities and threats to these functions.

7. Calculate the risk for each different business function.

8. Document findings and report them to management.

Reference(s) used for this question:

Harris, Shon (2012-10-18). CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (p. 905-909). McGraw-Hill. Kindle Edition.

Because the contingency plan contains potentially sensitive operational and personnel information, its distribution should be marked accordingly and controlled. Not all employees would obtain a copy, but only those involved in the execution of the plan.

All other statements are correct.

NOTE FROM CLEMENT:

I have received multiple emails stating the explanations contradict the correct answer. It seems many people have a hard time with negative question. In this case the Incorrect choice (the one that is not true) is the correct choice. Be very carefull of such questions, you will get some on the real exam as well.

Reference(s) used for this question:

SWANSON, Marianne, & al., National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NIST Special Publication 800-34, Contingency Planning Guide for Information Technology Systems

All people that handle the evidence from the time the crime was committed through the final disposition must be identified. This is to ensure that the evidence can be used and has not been tampered with.

The following answers are incorrect:

chain of command. Is incorrect because chain of command is the order of authority and does not apply to evidence.

chain of control. Is incorrect because it is a distractor.

chain of communications. Is incorrect because it is a distractor.

According to the authors, hackers fall in these categories, in increasing threat order: security experts, students, underemployed adults, criminal hackers, corporate spies and disgruntled employees.

Disgruntled employees are the most dangerous security problem of all because they are most likely to have a good knowledge of the organization's IT systems and security measures.

Source: STREBE, Matthew and PERKINS, Charles, Firewalls 24seven, Sybex 2000, Chapter 2: Hackers.

In this step, your main objective is to examine and analyze what has occurred and focus on determining the root cause of the incident.

Recovery is incorrect as recovery is about resuming operations or bringing affected systems back into production

Containment is incorrect as containment is about reducing the potential impact of an incident.

Triage is incorrect as triage is about determining the seriousness of the incident and filtering out false positives

This will expose any weaknesses in the plan and ensure the primary site has been properly repaired before moving back. Moving critical assets first may induce a second disaster if the primary site has not been repaired properly.

The first group to go back would test items such as connectivity, HVAC, power, water, improper procedures, and/or steps that has been overlooked or not done properly. By moving these first, and fixing any problems identified, the critical operations of the company are not negatively affected.

Source: HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2002, chapter 9: Disaster Recovery and Business continuity (page 621).

A prolonged high voltage is a surge.

From: HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, 3rd. Edition McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2005, page 368.

From Shon Harris AIO Fifth Edition:

Protecting power can be done in three ways: through UPSs, power line conditioners, and backup sources.

UPSs use battery packs that range in size and capacity. A UPS can be online or standby.

Online UPS systems use AC line voltage to charge a bank of batteries. When in use, the UPS has an inverter that changes the DC output from the batteries into the required AC form and that regulates the voltage as it powers computer devices.

Online UPS systems have the normal primary power passing through them day in and day out. They constantly provide power from their own inverters, even when the electric power is in proper use. Since the environment's electricity passes through this type of UPS all the time, the UPS device is able to quickly detect when a power failure takes place. An online UPS can provide the necessary electricity and picks up the load after a power failure much more quickly than a standby UPS.

Standby UPS devices stay inactive until a power line fails. The system has sensors that detect a power failure, and the load is switched to the battery pack. The switch to the battery pack is what causes the small delay in electricity being provided.

So an online UPS picks up the load much more quickly than a standby UPS, but costs more of course.

Business attacks concern information loss through competitive intelligence gathering and computer-related attacks. These attacks can be very costly due the loss of trade secrets and reputation.

Intelligence attacks are aimed at sensitive military and law enforcement files containing military data and investigation reports.

Financial attacks are concerned with frauds to banks and large corporations.

Grudge attacks are targeted at individuals and companies who have done something that the attacker doesn't like.

The CISSP for Dummies book has nice coverage of the different types of attacks, here is an extract:

Terrorism Attacks

Terrorism exists at many levels on the Internet. In April 2001, during a period of tense relations between China and the U.S. (resulting from the crash landing of a U.S. Navy reconnaissance plane on Hainan Island), Chinese hackers ( cyberterrorists ) launched a major effort to disrupt critical U.S. infrastructure, which included U.S. government and military systems.

Following the terrorist attacks against the U.S. on September 11, 2001, the general public became painfully aware of the extent of terrorism on the Internet. Terrorist organizations and cells are using online capabilities to coordinate attacks, transfer funds, harm international commerce, disrupt critical systems, disseminate propaganda, and gain useful information about developing techniques and instruments of terror, including nuclear , biological, and chemical weapons.

Military and intelligence attacks

Military and intelligence attacks are perpetrated by criminals, traitors, or foreign intelligence agents seeking classified law enforcement or military information. Such attacks may also be carried out by governments during times of war and conflict.

Financial attacks

Banks, large corporations, and e-commerce sites are the targets of financial attacks, all of which are motivated by greed. Financial attacks may seek to steal or embezzle funds, gain access to online financial information, extort individuals or businesses, or obtain the personal credit card numbers of customers.

Business attacks

Businesses are becoming the targets of more and more computer and Internet attacks. These attacks include competitive intelligence gathering, denial of service, and other computer- related attacks. Businesses are often targeted for several reasons including

Lack of expertise: Despite heightened security awareness, a shortage of qualified security professionals still exists, particularly in private enterprise.

Lack of resources: Businesses often lack the resources to prevent, or even detect, attacks against their systems.

Lack of reporting or prosecution : Because of public relations concerns and the inability to prosecute computer criminals due to either a lack of evidence or a lack of properly handled evidence, the majority of business attacks still go unreported.

The cost to businesses can be significant, including loss of trade secrets or proprietary information, loss of revenue, and loss of reputation.

Grudge attacks

Grudge attacks are targeted at individuals or businesses and are motivated by a desire to take revenge against a person or organization. A disgruntled employee, for example, may steal trade secrets, delete valuable data, or plant a logic bomb in a critical system or application.

Fortunately, these attacks (at least in the case of a disgruntled employee) can be easier to prevent or prosecute than many other types of attacks because:

The attacker is often known to the victim.

The attack has a visible impact that produces a viable evidence trail.

Most businesses (already sensitive to the possibility of wrongful termination suits ) have well-established termination procedures

“Fun” attacks

“Fun” attacks are perpetrated by thrill seekers and script kiddies who are motivated by curiosity or excitement. Although these attackers may not intend to do any harm or use any of the information that they access, they’re still dangerous and their activities are still illegal.

These attacks can also be relatively easy to detect and prosecute. Because the perpetrators are often script kiddies or otherwise inexperienced hackers, they may not know how to cover their tracks effectively.

Also, because no real harm is normally done nor intended against the system, it may be tempting (although ill advised) for a business to prosecute the individual and put a positive public relations spin on the incident. You’ve seen the film at 11: “We quickly detected the attack, prevented any harm to our network, and prosecuted the responsible individual; our security is unbreakable !” Such action, however, will likely motivate others to launch a more serious and concerted grudge attack against the business.

Many computer criminals in this category only seek notoriety. Although it’s one thing to brag to a small circle of friends about defacing a public Web site, the wily hacker who appears on CNN reaches the next level of hacker celebrity-dom. These twisted individuals want to be caught to revel in their 15 minutes of fame.

References:

ANDRESS, Mandy, Exam Cram CISSP, Coriolis, 2001, Chapter 10: Law, Investigation, and Ethics (page 187)

and

CISSP Professional Study Guide by James Michael Stewart, Ed Tittel, Mike Chapple, page 607-609

and

CISSP for Dummies, Miller L. H. and Gregory P. H. ISBN: 0470537914, page 309-311

Failure of a contingency plan is usually management failure to exhibit ongoing interest and concern about the BCP/DRP effort, and to provide financial and other resources as needed. Lack of management support will result in a lack awareness and training.

Source: ANDRESS, Mandy, Exam Cram CISSP, Coriolis, 2001, Chapter 9: Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) (page 163).

It has to be material, relevant and reliable, and the chain of custody must be maintained, it is unlikely that it will be admissible in court if it has been tampered with.

The following answers are incorrect:

It must prove a fact that is immaterial to the case. Is incorrect because evidence must be relevant. If it is immaterial then it is not relevant.

Its reliability must be proven. Is incorrect because it is not the best answer. While evidence must be relevant if the chain of custody cannot be verified, then the evidence could lose it's credibility because there is no proof that the evidence was not tampered with. So, the correct answer above is the BEST answer.

The process for producing it must be documented and repeatable. Is incorrect because just because the process is documented and repeatable does not mean that it will be the same. This amounts to Corroborative Evidence that may help to support a case.