IGCSE Cyber Security Practice Questions
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Tamie ClaytonIGCSE Cyber Security Practice Questions
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Tamie ClaytonCommon questions
Powered by AISmishing and vishing are variations of social engineering that exploit the human element by tricking victims into disclosing personal information. Smishing involves sending misleading SMS messages to individuals, urging them to click a link or provide personal information. Vishing uses voice calls to deceive victims into revealing sensitive data under the guise of a legitimate entity or urgent situation .
Spyware is designed to gather information about a user without their knowledge, like browsing habits or software usage, and send this data back to the attacker. Keyloggers, a specific type of spyware, record keystrokes to capture sensitive information such as passwords and credit card numbers. Combined, they create a comprehensive profile of a user's online behavior and access patterns, enhancing the attacker's ability to perform identity theft or unauthorized access .
The SSL Handshake is a process that establishes a secure connection between a web browser and a server. During the handshake, the server authenticates to the client by providing its SSL certificate, which the client verifies against a list of trusted certificates. Once verified, secure encryption keys are exchanged to commence encrypted communication. This process ensures that data transmitted between the client and server is confidential and tamper-proof, forming the foundation of secure web transactions .
Pharming attacks involve redirecting users from legitimate websites to fraudulent ones without their knowledge, typically by manipulating the DNS cache of a legitimate website. DNS cache poisoning means corrupting the DNS records, causing the web browser to be directed to a different, malicious IP address. Unlike phishing, which requires tricking the user into clicking on a fraudulent link voluntarily, pharming can operate covertly without user interaction .
A Phishing attack typically involves sending an email that appears to come from a reputable source, prompting the recipient to perform a specific action, such as clicking on a link or providing personal information. The 'call to action' plays a crucial role in making the attack effective by creating a sense of urgency or importance, thereby increasing the likelihood that the victim will respond and unwittingly disclose sensitive information .
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack involves overwhelming a target system, typically a server or network resource, with a massive volume of traffic from multiple sources, causing it to become unusable or unreachable. Botnets are networks of compromised computers, known as zombies, under the control of an attacker. These zombie computers are used to generate traffic simultaneously in a coordinated manner to execute the DDoS attack effectively .
A Trojan Horse relies on user deception by disguising itself as legitimate or benign software that users are tricked into downloading and executing. Once inside the system, it performs hidden functions, which often include stealing data, creating backdoors for unauthorized access, or enabling other types of malicious activities .
TLS (Transport Layer Security) is the successor to SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and provides enhanced security for data transmission. While both protocols are designed to encrypt data exchanged over the internet, TLS offers improvements such as stronger encryption algorithms, better performance, and enhanced security features like forward secrecy that protect past communication sessions even if current session keys are compromised .
The primary difference between a virus and a worm is in their spread mechanisms. A virus requires user interaction to spread to other files or systems, typically by attaching itself to a legitimate program or file that a user unknowingly executes. In contrast, a worm is self-replicating and can spread autonomously through networks by exploiting vulnerabilities without needing any user action .
It is essential to keep anti-malware software updated to protect against new threats because cyber attackers continuously evolve their techniques and develop new strains of malware. Updates typically include the latest definitions and detection algorithms that help identify and neutralize recently discovered malware threats, ensuring robust defense capabilities against emerging vulnerabilities .