An overt channel is a path within a computer system or network that is designed for
the authorized transfer of data. The opposite would be a covert channel which is an unauthorized
path.
A covert channel is a way for an entity to receive information in an unauthorized manner. It is an
information flow that is not controlled by a security mechanism. This type of information path was
not developed for communication; thus, the system does not properly protect this path, because
the developers never envisioned information being passed in this way. Receiving information in
this manner clearly violates the system’s security policy.
All of the other choices are bogus detractors.
Reference(s) used for this question:
KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of
Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 219.
and
Shon Harris, CISSP All In One (AIO), 6th Edition , page 380
and
Harris, Shon (2012-10-25). CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (p. 378). McGraw-Hill.
Kindle Edition.

In cryptography, the one-time pad (OTP) is a type of encryption that is impossible to crack if used correctly. Each bit or character from the plaintext is encrypted by a modular addition with a bit or character from a secret random key (or pad) of the same length as the plaintext, resulting in a ciphertext. If the key is truly random, at least as long as the plaintext, never reused in whole or part, and kept secret, the ciphertext will be impossible to decrypt or break without knowing the key. It has also been proven that any cipher with the perfect secrecy property must use keys with effectively the same requirements as OTP keys. However, practical problems have prevented one-time pads from being widely used.
First described by Frank Miller in 1882, the one-time pad was re-invented in 1917 and patented a couple of years later. It is derived from the Vernam cipher, named after Gilbert
Vernam, one of its inventors. Vernam’s system was a cipher that combined a message with a key read from a punched tape. In its original form, Vernam’s system was vulnerable because the key tape was a loop, which was reused whenever the loop made a full cycle.
One-time use came a little later when Joseph Mauborgne recognized that if the key tape were totally random, cryptanalysis would be impossible.
The “pad” part of the name comes from early implementations where the key material was distributed as a pad of paper, so the top sheet could be easily torn off and destroyed after use. For easy concealment, the pad was sometimes reduced to such a small size that a powerful magnifying glass was required to use it. Photos show captured KGB pads that fit in the palm of one’s hand, or in a walnut shell. To increase security, one-time pads were sometimes printed onto sheets of highly flammable nitrocellulose so they could be quickly burned.
The following are incorrect answers:
A running key cipher uses articles in the physical world rather than an electronic algorithm.
In classical cryptography, the running key cipher is a type of polyalphabetic substitution cipher in which a text, typically from a book, is used to provide a very long keystream.
Usually, the book to be used would be agreed ahead of time, while the passage to use would be chosen randomly for each message and secretly indicated somewhere in the message.
The Running Key cipher has the same internal workings as the Vigenere cipher. The difference lies in how the key is chosen; the Vigenere cipher uses a short key that repeats, whereas the running key cipher uses a long key such as an excerpt from a book. This means the key does not repeat, making cryptanalysis more difficult. The cipher can still be broken though, as there are statistical patterns in both the key and the plaintext which can be exploited.
Steganography is a method where the very existence of the message is concealed. It is the art and science of encoding hidden messages in such a way that no one, apart from the sender and intended recipient, suspects the existence of the message. it is sometimes referred to as Hiding in Plain Sight.
Cipher block chaining is a DES operating mode. IBM invented the cipher-block chaining
(CBC) mode of operation in 1976. In CBC mode, each block of plaintext is XORed with the previous ciphertext block before being encrypted. This way, each ciphertext block depends on all plaintext blocks processed up to that point. To make each message unique, an initialization vector must be used in the first block.
Reference(s) used for this question:
HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2002, chapter 8: Cryptography (page 555).
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-time_pad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_key_cipher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher_block_chaining#Cipher-block_chaining_.28CBC.29

The correct answer to this “security”. It is a major factor in deciding if a centralized
or decentralized environment is more appropriate.
Example: In a centralized computing environment, you have a central server and workstations
(often “dumb terminals”) access applications, data, and everything else from that central servers.
Therefore, the vast majority of your security resides on a centrally managed server. In a
decentralized (or distributed) environment, you have a collection of PC’s each with their own
operating systems to maintain, their own software to maintain, local data storage requiring
protection and backup. You may also have PDA’s and “smart phones”, data watches, USB
devices of all types able to store data… the list gets longer all the time.
It is entirely possible to reach a reasonable and acceptable level of security in a distributed
environment. But doing so is significantly more difficult, requiring more effort, more money, and
more time.
The other answers are not correct because:
scalability – A distributed computing environment is almost infinitely scalable. Much more so than a
centralized environment. This is therefore a bad answer.
heterogeneity – Having products and systems from multiple vendors in a distributed environment is
significantly easier than in a centralized environment. This would not be a “challenge of distributed
computing solutions” and so is not a good answer.
usability – This is potentially a challenge in either environment, but whether or not this is a problem
has very little to do with whether it is a centralized or distributed environment. Therefore, this
would not be a good answer.
Reference:
Official ISC2 Guide page: 313-314
All in One Third Edition page: (unavailable at this time)

A policy is a general statement of management’s intent, and
therefore, a policy would not specify the encryption scheme to be
used. The other answers are appropriate for a cryptographic policy.
The general standards document is BSI ISO/IEC 17799:2000,BS 7799-
I: 2000, Information technology-Code of practice for information security management, British Standards Institution, London , UK . The standard is intended to provide a comprehensive set of controls comprising best practices in information security. ISO refers to the
International Organization for Standardization and IEC is the
International Electrotechnical Commission. These two entities form
the system for worldwide standardization.
The main chapter headings of the standard are:
Security Policy
Organizational Security
Asset Classification and Control
Personnel Security
Physical and Environmental Security
Communications and Operations Management
Access Control
Systems Development and Maintenance
Business Continuity Management
Compliance

Section: Mixed questions

Without SAML or other SSO technologies, applications would have to rely on passwords to verify their users, which is problematic….With SAML, SPs only have to store public keys, which are useless to attackers without the private keys held by the IdP.

Explanation/Reference:
Explanation:
Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.) developed a simple method of shifting letters of the alphabet. He simply shifted the alphabet by three positions.
Today, this technique seems too simplistic to be effective, but in the time of Julius Caesar, not very many people could read in the first place, so it provided a high level of protection. The Caesar cipher is an example of a monoalphabetic cipher. Once more people could read and reverse-engineer this type of encryption process, the cryptographers of that day increased the complexity by creating polyalphabetic ciphers.
In the 16th century in France, Blaise de Vigenere developed a polyalphabetic substitution cipher for Henry III. This was based on the Caesar cipher, but it increased the difficulty of the encryption and decryption process Incorrect Answers:
B: The Vigenere polyalphabetic cipher is based on the Caesar cipher, not the Jefferson disks.
C: The Vigenere polyalphabetic cipher is based on the Caesar cipher, not Enigma.
D: The Vigenere polyalphabetic cipher is based on the Caesar cipher, not SIGABA.
References:
Harris, Shon, All In One CISSP Exam Guide, 6th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2013, pp. 761-762

The correct answer is “Workstations are not permitted to transmit until they are given permission from the primary host”. The polling transmission type uses primary and secondary hosts, and the secondary must wait for permission from the primary before transmitting.

The other answers are incorrect because neither algorithm is used.

Public keys are published through digital certificates, signed by certification authority (CA), binding the certificate to the identity of its bearer.
A bit more details:
Although “Digital Certificates” is the best (or least wrong!) in the list of answers presented, for the past decade public keys have been published (ie: made known to the World) by the means of a LDAP server or a key distribution server (ex.: http://pgp.mit.edu/). An indirect publishing method is through OCSP servers (to validate digital signatures’ CRL)
Reference used for this question:
TIPTON, Hal, (ISC)2, Introduction to the CISSP Exam presentation.
and
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd361898.aspx

Symmetric encryption is the type of encryption that is used in Hash Message Authentication Code (HMAC) for key distribution. Encryption is a technique that involves transforming the data or the message into an unreadable or unintelligible form, using a key and an algorithm, and that prevents unauthorized access, modification, or disclosure of the data or the message. Key distribution is a process that involves generating, exchanging, and managing the keys that are used for encryption and decryption, and that ensures that the keys are available and secure for the intended parties. HMAC is a technique that involves generating and appending a code or a tag to the data or the message, using a secret key and a hash function, and that verifies the integrity and the authenticity of the data or the message. Symmetric encryption is a type of encryption that uses the same key for both encryption and decryption, and that requires the key to be shared and agreed upon by both parties before the communication or the transaction. Symmetric encryption is used in HMAC for key distribution, as it provides a fast and efficient way of encrypting and decrypting the data or the message, and of generating and verifying the code or the tag. Symmetric encryption can also reduce the complexity and the overhead of the key distribution process, as it only requires one key to be exchanged and managed between the parties, instead of multiple keys. References: CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, Eighth Edition, Chapter 3:
Security Engineering, page 118. CISSP Practice Exam | Boson, Question 17.

The following answers are incorrect:
IPSEC, SSH, PPTP, SSL, MPLS, and L2TP is incorrect because L2TP and PPTP does
NOT offer encryption.
IPSEC, SSH, SSL, TFTP is incorrect because TFTP does not offers encryption.
IPSEC, SSH, PPTP, SSL, MPLS, L2F, and L2TP is incorrect because MPLS, L2F, and
L2TP do NOT offer encryption.
NOTE:
PPTP did not provide Encryption natively. It is MPPE from Microsoft that would provide encryption.
MPPE is an encryption technology developed by Microsoft to encrypt point-to-point links.
These PPP connections can be over a dialup line or over a VPN tunnel. MPPE works as a subfeature of Microsoft Point-to-Point Compression (MPPC)
MPPC is a scheme used to compress PPP packets between client devices. The MPPC algorithm is designed to optimize bandwidth utilization in order to support multiple simultaneous connections.
MPPE is negotiated using bits in the MPPC option within the Compression Control Protocol
(CCP) MPPC configuration option (CCP configuration option number 18).
MPPE uses the RC4 algorithm with either 40- or 128-bit keys. All keys are derived from the cleartext authentication password of the user. RC4 is stream cipher; therefore, the sizes of the encrypted and decrypted frames are the same size as the original frame. The Cisco implementation of MPPE is fully interoperable with that of Microsoft and uses all available options, including historyless mode. Historyless mode can increase throughput in lossy environments such as VPNs, because neither side needs to send CCP Resets Requests to synchronize encryption contexts when packets are lost.
The following reference(s) were/was used to create this question:
Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition , pages 874 and 355 (IPSEC), 360
(SSH), 359 (PPTP), 362 (SSL), 361 (SOCKS), 360 (L2TP).
and
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6587/products_white_paper09186a008019bf38.sh tml#15190

A hardware RAID implementation is usually platform-independent.
Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the
Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 67.

Section: Mixed questions
Explanation/Reference: https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=9gCn86CmsNQC&pg=PA570&lpg=PA570&dq=CISSP
+Change+management+policies+and+procedures+belong+to+which+type+of
+control&source=bl&ots=riGvVpUO4H&sig=ACfU3U0kRWWaIIj7gwqlovVku880wG5LOg&hl=en&sa=X&ve d=2ahUKEwjA7cGL_anpAhULxoUKHc1lD3UQ6AEwCnoECBIQAQ#v=onepage&q=CISSP%20Change%
20management%20policies%20and%20procedures%20belong%20to%20which%20type%20of%
20control&f=false

A TCP sequence number attack exploits the communication session which was established between the target and the trusted host that initiated the session. It involves hijacking the session between the host and the target by predicting the target’s choice of an initial TCP sequence number. An IP spoofing attack is used to convince a system that it is communication with a known entity that gives an intruder access. It involves modifying the source address of a packet for a trusted source’s address. A SYN attack is when an attacker floods a system with connection requests but does not respond when the target system replies to those requests. A smurf attack occurs when an attacker sends a spoofed (IP spoofing) PING (ICMP ECHO) packet to the broadcast address of a large network (the bounce site). The modified packet containing the address of the target system, all devices on its local network respond with a ICMP REPLY to the target system, which is then saturated with those replies. Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Chapter 3: Telecommunications and Network Security (page 77).

As per FDA data should be attributable, original, accurate, contemporaneous and legible. In an automated system attributability could be achieved by a computer system designed to identify individuals responsible for any input.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration,
Guidance for Industry – Computerized Systems Used in Clinical Trials, April 1999, page 1.

The object-relational database is the marriage of object-oriented and relational technologies and combines the attributes of both. Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 48.

Section: Security Architecture and Engineering
Explanation/Reference: https://csrc.nist.gov/csrc/media/publications/conference-paper/1999/10/21/proceedings-of-the-
22nd-nissc-1999/documents/papers/t09.pdf (11)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribute-based_access_control

During a vulnerability assessment, it’s important to understand the environment, including the systems, applications, and security controls in place. Conducting interviews with relevant parties helps gather information about the system’s configuration, potential weaknesses, and other relevant details that can inform the assessment of vulnerabilities.