Most Recent ISC2 SSCP Exam Questions & Answers

The retina, a thin nerve (1/50th of an inch) on the back of the eye, is the part of the eye which senses light and transmits impulses through the optic nerve to the brain - the equivalent of film in a camera. Blood vessels used for biometric identification are located along the neural retina, the outermost of retina's four cell layers.

The following answers are incorrect:

The amount of light reaching the retina The amount of light reaching the retina is not used in the biometric scan of the retina.

The amount of light reflected by the retina The amount of light reflected by the retina is not used in the biometric scan of the retina.

The pattern of light receptors at the back of the eye This is a distractor

The following reference(s) were/was used to create this question:

Retina Scan Technology.

ISC2 Official Guide to the CBK, 2007 (Page 161)

Response is the correct choice. A response would essentially be the action that is taken once an alarm has been produced by an IDS, but is not a fundamental component of the alarm.

The following are incorrect answers:

Communications is the component of an alarm that delivers alerts through a variety of channels such as email, pagers, instant messages and so on.

An Enunciator is the component of an alarm that uses business logic to compose the content and format of an alert and determine the recipients of that alert.

A sensor is a fundamental component of IDS alarms. A sensor detects an event and produces an appropriate notification.

Domain: Access Control

Official guide to the CISSP CBK. page 203.

The Bell-LaPadula model focuses on data confidentiality and 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 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 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 an access control matrix to specify the discretionary access control.

The transfer of information from a high-sensitivity document to a lower-sensitivity document may happen in the Bell-LaPadula model via the concept of trusted subjects. Trusted Subjects are not restricted by the property. Untrusted subjects are.

Trusted Subjects must be shown to be trustworthy with regard to the security policy. This security model is directed toward access control and is characterized by the phrase: 'no read up, no write down.' Compare the Biba model, the Clark-Wilson model and the Chinese Wall.

With Bell-LaPadula, users can create content only at or above their own security level (i.e. secret researchers can create secret or top-secret files but may not create public files; no write-down). Conversely, users can view content only at or below their own security level (i.e. secret researchers can view public or secret files, but may not view top-secret files; no read-up).

Strong Property

The Strong Property is an alternative to the Property in which subjects may write to objects with only a matching security level. Thus, the write-up operation permitted in the usual Property is not present, only a write-to-same level operation. The Strong Property is usually discussed in the context of multilevel database management systems and is motivated by integrity concerns.

Tranquility principle

The tranquility principle of the Bell-LaPadula model states that the classification of a subject or object does not change while it is being referenced. There are two forms to the tranquility principle: the 'principle of strong tranquility' states that security levels do not change during the normal operation of the system and the 'principle of weak tranquility' states that security levels do not change in a way that violates the rules of a given security policy.

Another interpretation of the tranquility principles is that they both apply only to the period of time during which an operation involving an object or subject is occurring. That is, the strong tranquility principle means that an object's security level/label will not change during an operation (such as read or write); the weak tranquility principle means that an object's security level/label may change in a way that does not violate the security policy during an operation.

Reference(s) used for this question:

http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biba_Model

http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biba_Model

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandatory_access_control

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discretionary_access_control

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark-Wilson_model

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewer_and_Nash_model

These factors cover the integrity, confidentiality, and availability components of information system security.

Integrity is important in access control as it relates to ensuring only authorized subjects can make changes to objects.

Authenticity is different from authentication. Authenticity pertains to something being authentic, not necessarily having a direct correlation to access control.

Confidentiality is pertinent to access control in that the access to sensitive information is controlled to protect confidentiality.

vailability is protected by access controls in that if an attacket attempts to disrupt availability they would first need access.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 49.

The Business Impact Analysis is critical for the development of a business continuity plan (BCP). It identifies risks, critical processes and resources needed in case of recovery and quantifies the impact a disaster will have upon the organization. The development of a mission statement is normally performed before 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

The more detailed and granular steps of a BIA are outlined here:

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:

Hernandez CISSP

, Steven (2012-12-21). Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition ((ISC)2 Press) (Kindle Location 21076). Auerbach Publications. Kindle Edition.

and

Harris, Shon (2012-10-18). CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (p. 905-910). McGraw-Hill. Kindle Edition.