CSSLP : Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional : Part 13

CSSLP : Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional : Part 13

1. In which of the following types of tests are the disaster recovery checklists distributed to the members of disaster recovery team and asked to review the assigned checklist?

   • Parallel test
   • Simulation test
   • Full-interruption test
   • Checklist test

   Explanation:

   A checklist test is a test in which the disaster recovery checklists are distributed to the members of the disaster recovery team. All members are asked to review the assigned checklist. The checklist test is a simple test and it is easy to conduct this test. It allows to accomplish the following three goals: It ensures that the employees are aware of their responsibilities and they have the refreshed knowledge. It provides an individual with an opportunity to review the checklists for obsolete information and update any items that require modification during the changes in the organization. It ensures that the assigned members of disaster recovery team are still working for the organization. Answer: B is incorrect. A simulation test is a method used to test the disaster recovery plans. It operates just like a structured walk- through test. In the simulation test, the members of a disaster recovery team present with a disaster scenario and then, discuss on appropriate responses. These suggested responses are measured and some of them are taken by the team. The range of the simulation test should be defined carefully for avoiding excessive disruption of normal business activities. Answer: A is incorrect. A parallel test includes the next level in the testing procedure, and relocates the employees to an alternate recovery site and implements site activation procedures. These employees present with their disaster recovery responsibilities as they would for an actual disaster. The disaster recovery sites have full responsibilities to conduct the day-to-day organization’s business. Answer: C is incorrect. A full-interruption test includes the operations that shut down at the primary site and are shifted to the recovery site according to the disaster recovery plan. It operates just like a parallel test. The full-interruption test is very expensive and difficult to arrange. Sometimes, it causes a major disruption of operations if the test fails.

2. FITSAF stands for Federal Information Technology Security Assessment Framework. It is a methodology for assessing the security of information systems. Which of the following FITSAF levels shows that the procedures and controls have been implemented?

   • Level 2
   • Level 3 
   • Level 5
   • Level 1
   • Level 4
   Explanation:
   The following are the five levels of FITSAF based on SEI’s Capability Maturity Model (CMM): Level 1: The first level reflects that an asset has documented a security policy. Level 2: The second level shows that the asset has documented procedures and controls to implement the policy. Level 3: The third level indicates that these procedures and controls have been implemented. Level 4: The fourth level shows that the procedures and controls are tested and reviewed. Level 5: The fifth level is the final level and shows that the asset has procedures and controls fully integrated into a comprehensive program.

3. Which of the following is a name, symbol, or slogan with which a product is identified?

   • Trademark 
   • Copyright
   • Trade secret
   • Patent
   Explanation:
   A trademark is a name, symbol, or slogan with which a product is identified. Its uniqueness makes the product noticeable among the same type of products. For example, Pentium and Athlon are brand names of the CPUs that are manufactured by Intel and AMD, respectively. The trademark law protects a company’s trademark by making it illegal for other companies to use it without taking prior permission of the trademark owner. A trademark is registered so that others cannot use identical or similar marks. Answer: C is incorrect. A trade secret is a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, or compilation of information which is not generally known. It helps a business to obtain an economic advantage over its competitors or customers. In some jurisdictions, such secrets are referred to as confidential information or classified information. Answer: B is incorrect. A copyright is a form of intellectual property, which secures to its holder the exclusive right to produce copies of his or her works of original expression, such as a literary work, movie, musical work or sound recording, painting, photograph, computer program, or industrial design, for a defined, yet extendable, period of time. It does not cover ideas or facts. Copyright laws protect intellectual property from misuse by other individuals. Answer: D is incorrect. A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted to anyone who invents any new and useful machine, process, composition of matter, etc. A patent enables the inventor to legally enforce his right to exclude others from using his invention.

4. Which of the following attacks causes software to fail and prevents the intended users from accessing software?

   • Enabling attack
   • Reconnaissance attack
   • Sabotage attack 
   • Disclosure attack
   Explanation:
   A sabotage attack is an attack that causes software to fail. It also prevents the intended users from accessing software. A sabotage attack is referred to as a denial of service (DoS) or compromise of availability. Answer: B is incorrect. The reconnaissance attack enables an attacker to collect information about software and operating environment. Answer: D is incorrect. The disclosure attack exposes the revealed data to an attacker. Answer: A is incorrect. The enabling attack delivers an easy path for other attacks.

5. Which of the following are the types of access controls? Each correct answer represents a complete solution. Choose three.

   • Physical
   • Technical
   • Administrative
   • Automatic
   Explanation:
   Security guards, locks on the gates, and alarms come under physical access control. Policies and procedures implemented by an organization come under administrative access control. IDS systems, encryption, network segmentation, and antivirus controls come under technical access control. Answer: D is incorrect. There is no such type of access control as automatic control.

6. What are the subordinate tasks of the Initiate and Plan IA C&A phase of the DIACAP process? Each correct answer represents a complete solution. Choose all that apply. 

   • Initiate IA implementation plan
   • Develop DIACAP strategy
   • Assign IA controls.
   • Assemble DIACAP team
   • Register system with DoD Component IA Program.
   • Conduct validation activity.
   Explanation:
   The Department of Defense Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP) is a process defined by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) for managing risk.
   The subordinate tasks of the Initiate and Plan IA C&A phase are as follows: Register system with DoD Component IA Program. Assign IA controls. Assemble DIACAP team. Develop DIACAP strategy. Initiate IA implementation plan. Answer: F is incorrect. Validation activities are conducted in the second phase of the DIACAP process, i.e., Implement and Validate Assigned IA Controls.

7. You are the project manager of the CUL project in your organization. You and the project team are assessing the risk events and creating a probability and impact matrix for the identified risks. Which one of the following statements best describes the requirements for the data type used in qualitative risk analysis?

   • A qualitative risk analysis encourages biased data to reveal risk tolerances.
   • A qualitative risk analysis required unbiased stakeholders with biased risk tolerances.
   • A qualitative risk analysis requires accurate and unbiased data if it is to be credible. 
   • A qualitative risk analysis requires fast and simple data to complete the analysis.
   Explanation:
   Of all the choices only this answer is accurate. The PMBOK clearly states that the data must be accurate and unbiased to be credible. Answer: D is incorrect. This is not a valid statement about the qualitative risk analysis data. Answer: A is incorrect. This is not a valid statement about the qualitative risk analysis data. Answer: B is incorrect. This is not a valid statement about the qualitative risk analysis data.

8. FIPS 199 defines the three levels of potential impact on organizations. Which of the following potential impact levels shows limited adverse effects on organizational operations, organizational assets, or individuals?

   • Moderate
   • Low 
   • Medium
   • High
   Explanation:
   The potential impact is called low if the loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability is expected to have a limited adverse effect on organizational operations, organizational assets, or individuals. Answer: C is incorrect. Such a type of potential impact level does not exist Answer: A is incorrect. The potential impact is known to be moderate if the loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability is expected to have a serious adverse effect on organizational operations, organizational assets, or individuals. Answer: D is incorrect. The potential impact is called high if the loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability is expected to have a severe or catastrophic adverse effect on organizational operations, organizational assets, or individuals.

9. Which of the following methods does the Java Servlet Specification v2.4 define in the HttpServletRequest interface that control programmatic security? Each correct answer represents a complete solution. Choose all that apply.

   • getCallerIdentity()
   • isUserInRole()
   • getUserPrincipal()
   • getRemoteUser()
   Explanation:
   The various methods of the HttpServletRequest interface are as follows: getRemoteUser(): It returns the user name that is used for the client authentication. The value of the getRemoteUser() method returns null if no user is authenticated. isUserInRole(): It determines whether the remote user is granted a specified user role. The value of the isUserInRole() method returns true if the remote user is granted the specified user role; otherwise it returns false. getUserPrincipal(): It determines the principle name of the current user and returns the java.security.Principal object. The java.security.Principal object contains the remote user name. The value of the getUserPrincipal() method returns null if no user is authenticated. Answer: A is incorrect. It is not defined in the
   HttpServletRequest interface. The getCallerIdentity() method is used to obtain the java.security.Identity of the caller.

10. Della work as a project manager for BlueWell Inc. A threat with a dollar value of $250,000 is expected to happen in her project and the frequency of threat occurrence per year is 0.01. What will be the annualized loss expectancy in her project?

    • $2,000
    • $2,500 
    • $3,510
    • $3,500
    Explanation:
    The annualized loss expectancy in her project will be $2,500. Annualized loss expectancy (ALE) is the annually expected financial loss to an organization from a threat. The annualized loss expectancy (ALE) is the product of the annual rate of occurrence (ARO) and the single loss expectancy (SLE). It is mathematically expressed as follows: ALE = Single Loss Expectancy (SLE) * Annualized Rate of Occurrence (ARO) Here, it is as follows:
    ALE = SLE * ARO
    = 250,000 * 0.01
    = 2,500
    Answer: D, C, and A are incorrect. These are not valid answers.

11. Which of the following coding practices are helpful in simplifying code? Each correct answer represents a complete solution. Choose all that apply.

    • Programmers should use multiple small and simple functions rather than a single complex function.
    • Software should avoid ambiguities and hidden assumptions, recursions, and GoTo statements.
    • Programmers should implement high-consequence functions in minimum required lines of code and follow proper coding standards.
    • Processes should have multiple entry and exit points.
    Explanation:
    The various coding practices that are helpful in simplifying the code are as follows: Programmers should implement high-consequence functions in minimum required lines of code and follow the proper coding standards. Software should implement the functions that are defined in the software specification. Software should avoid ambiguities and hidden assumptions, recursion, and GoTo statements. Programmers should use multiple small and simple functions rather than a complex function. The processes should have only one entry point and minimum exit points. Interdependencies should be minimum so that a process module or component can be disabled when it is not needed, or replaced when it is found insecure or a better alternative is available, without disturbing the software operations. Programmers should use object-oriented techniques to keep the code simple and small. Some of the object-oriented techniques are object inheritance, encapsulation, and polymorphism. Answer: D is incorrect. Processes should have only one entry point and the minimum number of exit points.

12. The NIST Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB) paper “Perspectives on Cloud Computing and Standards” specifies potential advantages and disdvantages of virtualization. Which of the following disadvantages does it include? Each correct answer represents a complete solution. Choose all that apply.

    • It increases capabilities for fault tolerant computing using rollback and snapshot features.
    • It increases intrusion detection through introspection.
    • It initiates the risk that malicious software is targeting the VM environment.
    • It increases overall security risk shared resources.
    • It creates the possibility that remote attestation may not work.
    • It involves new protection mechanisms for preventing VM escape, VM detection, and VM-VM interference.
    • It increases configuration effort because of complexity and composite system.
    Explanation:
    The potential security disadvantages of virtualization are as follows: It increases configuration effort because of complexity and composite system. It initiates the problem of how to prevent overlap while mapping VM storage onto host files. It introduces the problem of virtualizing the TPM. It creates the possibility that remote attestation may not work. It initiates the problem of detecting VM covert channels. It involves new protection mechanisms for preventing VM escape, VM detection, and VM-VM interference. It initiates the possibility of virtual networking configuration errors. It initiates the risk that malicious software is targeting the VM environment.
    It increases overall security risk shared resources, such as networks, clipboards, clocks, printers, desktop management, and folders. Answer: A and B are incorrect. These are not the disadvantages of virtualization, as described in the NIST Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB) paper “Perspectives on Cloud Computing and Standards”.

13. Which of the following processes culminates in an agreement between key players that a system in its current configuration and operation provides adequate protection controls? 

    • Information Assurance (IA)
    • Information systems security engineering (ISSE)
    • Certification and accreditation (C&A) 
    • Risk Management
    Explanation:
    Certification and accreditation (C&A) is a set of processes that culminate in an agreement between key players that a system in its current configuration and operation provides adequate protection controls. Certification and Accreditation (C&A or CnA) is a process for implementing information security. It is a systematic procedure for evaluating, describing, testing, and authorizing systems prior to or after a system is in operation. The C&A process is used extensively in the U.S. Federal Government. Some C&A processes include FISMA, NIACAP, DIACAP, and DCID 6/3. Certification is a comprehensive assessment of the management, operational, and technical security controls in an information system, made in support of security accreditation, to determine the extent to which the controls are implemented correctly, operating as intended, and producing the desired outcome with respect to meeting the security requirements for the system. Accreditation is the official management decision given by a senior agency official to authorize operation of an information system and to explicitly accept the risk to agency operations (including mission, functions, image, or reputation), agency assets, or individuals, based on the implementation of an agreed-upon set of security controls. Answer: D is incorrect. Risk management is a set of processes that ensures a risk-based approach is used to determine adequate, cost- effective security for a system. Answer: A is incorrect. Information assurance (IA) is the process of organizing and monitoring information-related risks. It ensures that only the approved users have access to the approved information at the approved time. IA practitioners seek to protect and defend information and information systems by ensuring confidentiality, integrity, authentication, availability, and non-repudiation. These objectives are applicable whether the information is in storage, processing, or transit, and whether threatened by an attack. Answer: B is incorrect. ISSE is a set of processes and solutions used during all phases of a system’s life cycle to meet the system’s information protection needs.

14. Adam works as a Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator for a garment company in the United States. A project has been assigned to him to investigate a case of a disloyal employee who is suspected of stealing design of the garments, which belongs to the company and selling those garments of the same design under different brand name. Adam investigated that the company does not have any policy related to the copy of design of the garments. He also investigated that the trademark under which the employee is selling the garments is almost identical to the original trademark of the company. On the grounds of which of the following laws can the employee be prosecuted?

    • Espionage law
    • Trademark law 
    • Cyber law
    • Copyright law
    Explanation:
    The Trademark law is a piece of legislation that contains the federal statutes of trademark law in the United States. The Act prohibits a number of activities, including trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and false advertising. Trademarks were traditionally protected in the United States only under State common law, growing out of the tort of unfair competition. Trademark law in the United States is almost entirely enforced through private lawsuits. The exception is in the case of criminal counterfeiting of goods. Otherwise, the responsibility is entirely on the mark owner to file suit in either state or federal civil court in order to restrict an infringing use. Failure to “police” a mark by stopping infringing uses can result in the loss of protection. Answer: D is incorrect. Copyright law of the United States governs the legally enforceable rights of creative and artistic works under the laws of the United States. Copyright law in the United States is part of federal law, and is authorized by the U.S. Constitution. The power to enact copyright law is granted in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8, also known as the Copyright Clause. This clause forms the basis for U.S. copyright law (“Science”, “Authors”, “Writings”) and patent law (“useful Arts”, “Inventors”, “Discoveries”), and includes the limited terms (or durations) allowed for copyrights and patents (“limited Times”), as well as the items they may protect. In the U.S., registrations of claims of copyright, recordation of copyright transfers, and other administrative aspects of copyright are the responsibility of the United States Copyright Office, a part of the Library of Congress. Answer: A is incorrect. The Espionage Act of 1917 was a United States federal law passed shortly after entering World War I, on June 15, 1917, which made it a crime for a person: To convey information with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the armed forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies. This was punishable by death or by imprisonment for not more than 30 years. To convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies and whoever when the United States is at war, to cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or to willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States. Answer: C is incorrect. Cyber law is a very wide term, which wraps up the legal issue related to the use of communicative, transactional and distributive aspect of networked information device and technologies. It is commonly known as INTERNET LAW. These Laws are important to apply as Internet does not tend to make any geographical and jurisdictional boundaries clear; this is the reason why Cyber law is not very efficient. A single transaction may involve the laws of at least three jurisdictions, which are as follows: 1.The laws of the state/nation in which the user resides 2.The laws of the state/nation that apply where the server hosting the transaction is located 3.The laws of the state/nation, which apply to the person or business with whom the transaction takes place

15. Which of the following is the duration of time and a service level within which a business process must be restored after a disaster in order to avoid unacceptable consequences associated with a break in business continuity?

    • RTO 
    • RTA
    • RPO
    • RCO
    Explanation:
    The Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is the duration of time and a service level within which a business process must be restored after a disaster or disruption in order to avoid unacceptable consequences associated with a break in business continuity. It includes the time for trying to fix the problem without a recovery, the recovery itself, tests and the communication to the users. Decision time for user representative is not included. The business continuity timeline usually runs parallel with an incident management timeline and may start at the same, or different, points. In accepted business continuity planning methodology, the RTO is established during the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) by the owner of a process (usually in conjunction with the Business Continuity planner). The RTOs are then presented to senior management for acceptance. The RTO attaches to the business process and not the resources required to support the process. Answer: B is incorrect. The Recovery Time Actual (RTA) is established during an exercise, actual event, or predetermined based on recovery methodology the technology support team develops. This is the time frame the technology support takes to deliver the recovered infrastructure to the business. Answer: D is incorrect. The Recovery Consistency Objective (RCO) is used in Business Continuity Planning in addition to Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO). It applies data consistency objectives to Continuous Data Protection services. Answer: C is incorrect. The Recovery Point Objective (RPO) describes the acceptable amount of data loss measured in time. It is the point in time to which data must be recovered as defined by the organization. The RPO is generally a definition of what an organization determines is an “acceptable loss” in a disaster situation. If the RPO of a company is 2 hours and the time it takes to get the data back into production is 5 hours, the RPO is still 2 hours. Based on this RPO the data must be restored to within 2 hours of the disaster.

16. SIMULATION

    Fill in the blank with an appropriate phrase. models address specifications, requirements, design, verification and validation, and maintenance activities.

    • Life cycle
    Explanation:
    A life cycle model helps to provide an insight into the development process and emphasizes on the relationships among the different activities in this process. This model describes a structured approach to the development and adjustment process involved in producing and maintaining systems. The life cycle model addresses specifications, design, requirements, verification and validation, and maintenance activities.

17. Which of the following security design patterns provides an alternative by requiring that a user’s authentication credentials be verified by the database before providing access to that user’s data?

    • Secure assertion
    • Authenticated session
    • Password propagation 
    • Account lockout
    Explanation:
    Password propagation provides an alternative by requiring that a user’s authentication credentials be verified by the database before providing access to that user’s data. Answer: D is incorrect. Account lockout implements a limit on the incorrect password attempts to protect an account from automated password-guessing attacks. Answer: B is incorrect. Authenticated session allows a user to access more than one access-restricted Web page without re-authenticating every page. It also integrates user authentication into the basic session model. Answer: A is incorrect. Secure assertion distributes application-specific sanity checks throughout the system.

18. You work as a systems engineer for BlueWell Inc. Which of the following tools will you use to look outside your own organization to examine how others achieve their performance levels, and what processes they use to reach those levels?

    • Benchmarking 
    • Six Sigma
    • ISO 9001:2000
    • SEI-CMM
    Explanation:

    Benchmarking is the tool used by system assessment process to provide a point of reference by which performance measurements can be reviewed with respect to other organizations. Benchmarking is also recognized as Best Practice Benchmarking or Process Benchmarking. It is a process used in management and mostly useful for strategic management. It is the process of comparing the business processes and performance metrics including cost, cycle time, productivity, or quality to another that is widely considered to be an industry standard benchmark or best practice. It allows organizations to develop plans on how to implement best practice with the aim of increasing some aspect of performance. Benchmarking might be a one-time event, although it is frequently treated as a continual process in which organizations continually seek out to challenge their practices. It allows organizations to develop plans on how to make improvements or adapt specific best practices, usually with the aim of increasing some aspect of performance. Answer: C is incorrect. The ISO 9001:2000 standard combines the three standards 9001, 9002, and 9003 into one, called 9001. Design and development procedures are required only if a company does in fact engage in the creation of new products. The 2000 version sought to make a radical change in thinking by actually placing the concept of process management front and center (“Process management” was the monitoring and optimizing of a company’s tasks and activities, instead of just inspecting the final product). The ISO 9001:2000 version also demands involvement by upper executives, in order to integrate quality into the business system and avoid delegation of quality functions to junior administrators. Another goal is to improve effectiveness via process performance metrics numerical measurement of the effectiveness of tasks and activities. Expectations of continual process improvement and tracking customer satisfaction were made explicit. Answer: B is incorrect. Six Sigma is a business management strategy, initially implemented by Motorola. As of 2009 it enjoys widespread application in many sectors of industry, although its application is not without controversy. Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects and variability in manufacturing and business processes. It uses a set of quality management methods, including statistical methods, and creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization (“Black Belts”, “Green Belts”, etc.) who are experts in these methods. Each Six Sigma project carried out within an organization follows a defined sequence of steps and has quantified financial targets (cost reduction or profit increase). The often used Six Sigma symbol is as follows:

    

    Answer: D is incorrect. Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) was created by Software Engineering Institute (SEI). CMMI in software engineering and organizational development is a process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements for effective process improvement. It can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization. CMMI can help integrate traditionally separate organizational functions, set process improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality processes, and provide a point of reference for appraising current processes. CMMI is now the de facto standard for measuring the maturity of any process. Organizations can be assessed against the CMMI model using Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI).

19. Which of the following methods determines the principle name of the current user and returns the jav a.security.Principal object in the HttpServletRequest interface?

    • getUserPrincipal() 
    • isUserInRole()
    • getRemoteUser()
    • getCallerPrincipal()
    Explanation:
    The getUserPrincipal() method determines the principle name of the current user and returns the java.security.Principal object. The java.security.Principal object contains the remote user name. The value of the getUserPrincipal() method returns null if no user is authenticated. Answer: C is incorrect. The getRemoteUser() method returns the user name that is used for the client authentication. The value of the getRemoteUser() method returns null if no user is authenticated. Answer: B is incorrect. The isUserInRole() method determines whether the remote user is granted a specified user role. The value of the isUserInRole() method returns true if the remote user is granted the specified user role; otherwise it returns false. Answer: D is incorrect. The getCallerPrincipal() method is used to identify a caller using a java.security.Principal object. It is not used in the HttpServletRequest interface.

20. In which of the following testing methodologies do assessors use all available documentation and work under no constraints, and attempt to circumvent the security features of an information system?

    • Full operational test
    • Penetration test 
    • Paper test
    • Walk-through test
    Explanation:
    A penetration testing is a method of evaluating the security of a computer system or network by simulating an attack from a malicious source. The process involves an active analysis of the system for any potential vulnerabilities that may result from poor or improper system configuration, known or unknown hardware or software flaws, or operational weaknesses in process or technical countermeasures. This analysis is carried out from the position of a potential attacker, and can involve active exploitation of security vulnerabilities. Any security issues that are found will be presented to the system owner together with an assessment of their impact and often with a proposal for mitigation or a technical solution. The intent of a penetration test is to determine feasibility of an attack and the amount of business impact of a successful exploit, if discovered. It is a component of a full security audit. Answer: C is incorrect. A paper test is the least complex test in the disaster recovery and business continuity testing approaches. In this test, the BCP/DRP plan documents are distributed to the appropriate managers and BCP/DRP team members for review, markup, and comment. This approach helps the auditor to ensure that the plan is complete and that all team members are familiar with their responsibilities within the plan. Answer: D is incorrect. A walk-through test is an extension of the paper testing in the business continuity and disaster recovery process. In this testing methodology, appropriate managers and BCP/DRP team members discuss and walk through procedures of the plan. They also discuss the training needs, and clarification of critical plan elements. Answer: A is incorrect. A full operational test includes all team members and participants in the disaster recovery and business continuity process. This full operation test involves the mobilization of personnel. It restores operations in the same manner as an outage or disaster would. The full operational test extends the preparedness test by including actual notification, mobilization of resources, processing of data, and utilization of backup media for restoration.