CISSP Exam Dumps - Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)

 The security access policy that contains fixed security attributes that are used by the system to determine a user’s access to a file or object is Mandatory Access Control (MAC). MAC is a type of access control model that assigns permissions to users and objects based on their security labels, which indicate their level of sensitivity or trustworthiness. MAC is enforced by the system or the network, rather than by the owner or the creator of the object, and it cannot be modified or overridden by the users. MAC can provide some benefits for security, such as enhancing the confidentiality and the integrity of the data, preventing unauthorized access or disclosure, and supporting the audit and compliance activities. MAC is commonly used in military or government environments, where the data is classified according to its level of sensitivity, such as top secret, secret, confidential, or unclassified. The users are granted security clearance based on their level of trustworthiness, such as their background, their role, or their need to know. The users can only access the objects that have the same or lower security classification than their security clearance, and the objects can only be accessed by the users that have the same or higher security clearance than their security classification. This is based on the concept of no read up and no write down, which requires that a user can only read data of lower or equal sensitivity level, and can only write data of higher or equal sensitivity level. MAC contains fixed security attributes that are used by the system to determine a user’s access to a file or object, by using the following methods:

• Assigning security labels to the users and the objects, which consist of a security classification and a set of security categories. The security classification indicates the level of sensitivity of the data, such as top secret, secret, confidential, or unclassified. The security categories indicate the subject matter or the scope of the data, such as nuclear, military, or intelligence. The security labels are attached to the users and the objects as metadata or tags, and they cannot be changed or removed by the users.
• Comparing the security labels of the users and the objects, using a reference monitor or an access control matrix. The reference monitor is a software component that intercepts and evaluates the requests for access to the objects, and grants or denies the access based on the security labels of the users and the objects. The access control matrix is a data structure that lists the users and the objects, and the permissions that each user has on each object, based on the security labels of the users and the objects.

The data owner is the person who has the authority and responsibility for the data stored, processed, or transmitted by an Information System (IS). The data owner is responsible for the monetary losses if there was a data breach, as the data owner is accountable for the security, quality, and integrity of the data, as well as for defining the classification, sensitivity, retention, and disposal of the data. The Data Protection Authority (DPA) is not responsible for the monetary losses, but for the enforcement of the data protection laws and regulations. The Cloud Service Provider (CSP) is not responsible for the monetary losses, but for the provision of the cloud services and the protection of the cloud infrastructure. The application developers are not responsible for the monetary losses, but for the development and maintenance of the software applications. References: CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, Eighth Edition, Chapter 1: Security and Risk Management, page 48; Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Fifth Edition, Chapter 1: Security and Risk Management, page 40.

 Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is a protocol that is often used between gateway hosts on the Internet. A gateway host is a network device that connects two or more different networks, such as a router or a firewall. BGP is a routing protocol that exchanges routing information between autonomous systems (ASes), which are groups of networks under a single administrative control. BGP is used to determine the best path to reach a destination network on the Internet, based on various factors such as hop count, bandwidth, latency, and policy. BGP is also used to implement interdomain routing policies, such as traffic engineering, load balancing, and security. BGP is the de facto standard for Internet routing and is widely deployed by Internet service providers (ISPs) and large enterprises. The other options are not protocols that are often used between gateway hosts on the Internet. Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP) is an obsolete protocol that was used to exchange routing information between ASes before BGP. Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a protocol that is used to exchange routing information within an AS, not between ASes. Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is a protocol that is used to send error and control messages between hosts and routers, not to exchange routing information. References: Border Gateway Protocol - Wikipedia; What is Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)? - Definition from WhatIs.com; What is BGP? | How BGP Routing Works | Cloudflare.

 Identify and Access Management (IAM) is the process of managing the identities and access rights of users and devices in an organization. IAM solutions can provide various benefits, such as improving security, compliance, productivity, and user experience. However, implementing an IAM solution may also require significant investment and resources, and therefore, it is important to obtain support from the stakeholders and decision-makers. One of the best metrics to obtain when gaining support for an IAM solution is the help desk costs required to support password reset requests. This metric can demonstrate the following advantages of an IAM solution:

• Reducing the workload and expenses of the help desk staff, who often spend a large amount of time and money on handling password reset requests from users who forget or lose their passwords.
• Enhancing the security and compliance of the organization, by reducing the risks of unauthorized access, identity theft, phishing, and credential compromise, which can result from weak or shared passwords, or passwords that are not changed frequently or securely.
• Improving the productivity and user experience of the users, by enabling them to reset their own passwords quickly and easily, without having to contact the help desk or wait for a response. This can also reduce the downtime and frustration of the users, and increase their satisfaction and loyalty.

The best technique to address the threat of an imminent DDoS attack targeting a web application is to coordinate with and utilize the capabilities within the ISP. A DDoS attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic. A DDoS attack can cause severe damage to the availability, performance, and reputation of the web application, as well as incur financial losses and legal liabilities. Therefore, it is important to have a DDoS mitigation strategy in place to prevent or minimize the impact of such attacks. One of the most effective ways to mitigate DDoS attacks is to leverage the capabilities of the ISP, as they have more resources, bandwidth, and expertise to handle large volumes of traffic and filter out malicious packets. The ISP can also provide additional services such as traffic monitoring, alerting, reporting, and analysis, as well as assist with the investigation and prosecution of the attackers. The ISP can also work with other ISPs and network operators to coordinate the response and share information about the attack. The other options are not the best techniques to address the threat of an imminent DDoS attack, as they may not be sufficient, timely, or scalable to handle the attack. Deploying load balancers, setting up web application firewalls, and implementing reverse web-proxies are some of the measures that can be taken at the application level to improve the resilience and security of the web application, but they may not be able to cope with the magnitude and complexity of a DDoS attack, especially if the attack targets the network layer or the infrastructure layer. Moreover, these measures may require more time, cost, and effort to implement and maintain, and may not be feasible to deploy in a short notice. References: What is a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack?; What is a DDoS Attack? DDoS Meaning, Definition & Types | Fortinet; Denial-of-service attack - Wikipedia.

Information ownership is the most important factor when determining who can accept the risk associated with a vulnerability. Information ownership is the concept that assigns the roles and responsibilities for the creation, maintenance, protection, and disposal of information assets within an organization. Information owners are the individuals or entities who have the authority and accountability for the information assets, and who can make decisions regarding the information lifecycle, classification, access, and usage. Information owners are also responsible for accepting or rejecting the risk associated with the information assets, and for ensuring that the risk is managed and communicated appropriately. Information owners can delegate some of their responsibilities to other roles, such as information custodians, information users, or information stewards, but they cannot delegate their accountability for the information assets and the associated risk. Countermeasure effectiveness, type of potential loss, and incident likelihood are not the most important factors when determining who can accept the risk associated with a vulnerability, although they are relevant or useful factors. Countermeasure effectiveness is the measure of how well a security control reduces or eliminates the risk. Countermeasure effectiveness can help to evaluate the cost-benefit and performance of the security control, and to determine the level of residual risk. Type of potential loss is the measure of the adverse impact or consequence that can result from a risk event. Type of potential loss can include financial, operational, reputational, legal, or strategic losses. Type of potential loss can help to assess the severity and priority of the risk, and to justify the investment and implementation of the security control. Incident likelihood is the measure of the probability or frequency of a risk event occurring. Incident likelihood can be influenced by various factors, such as the threat capability, the vulnerability exposure, the environmental conditions, or the historical data. Incident likelihood can help to estimate the level and trend of the risk, and to select the appropriate risk response and security control.

 The most effective method to mitigate Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks is to use whitelist input validation. XSS attacks occur when an attacker injects malicious code, usually in the form of a script, into a web application that is then executed by the browser of an unsuspecting user. XSS attacks can compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the web application and the user’s data. Whitelist input validation is a technique that checks the user input against a predefined set of acceptable values or characters, and rejects any input that does not match the whitelist. Whitelist input validation can prevent XSS attacks by filtering out any malicious or unexpected input that may contain harmful scripts. Whitelist input validation should be applied at the point of entry of the user input, and should be combined with output encoding or sanitization to ensure that any input that is displayed back to the user is safe and harmless. Use Software as a Service (SaaS), require client certificates, and validate data output are not the most effective methods to mitigate XSS attacks, although they may be related or useful techniques. Use Software as a Service (SaaS) is a model that delivers software applications over the Internet, usually on a subscription or pay-per-use basis. SaaS can provide some benefits for web security, such as reducing the attack surface, outsourcing the maintenance and patching of the software, and leveraging the expertise and resources of the service provider. However, SaaS does not directly address the issue of XSS attacks, as the service provider may still have vulnerabilities or flaws in their web applications that can be exploited by XSS attackers. Require client certificates is a technique that uses digital certificates to authenticate the identity of the clients who access a web application. Client certificates are issued by a trusted certificate authority (CA), and contain the public key and other information of the client. Client certificates can provide some benefits for web security, such as enhancing the confidentiality and integrity of the communication, preventing unauthorized access, and enabling mutual authentication. However, client certificates do not directly address the issue of XSS attacks, as the client may still be vulnerable to XSS attacks if the web application does not properly validate and encode the user input. Validate data output is a technique that checks the data that is sent from the web application to the client browser, and ensures that it is correct, consistent, and safe. Validate data output can provide some benefits for web security, such as detecting and correcting any errors or anomalies in the data, preventing data leakage or corruption, and enhancing the quality and reliability of the web application. However, validate data output is not sufficient to prevent XSS attacks, as the data output may still contain malicious scripts that can be executed by the client browser. Validate data output should be complemented with output encoding or sanitization to ensure that any data output that is displayed to the user is safe and harmless. 

 The main use of Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) is to tunnel data in the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP). L2TP is a tunneling protocol that operates at the data link layer (Layer 2) of the OSI model, and is used to support virtual private networks (VPNs) or as part of the delivery of services by ISPs. L2TP does not provide encryption or authentication by itself, but it can be combined with IPsec to provide security and confidentiality for the tunneled data. L2TP is commonly used to tunnel PPP sessions over an IP network, such as the Internet. PPP is a protocol that establishes a direct connection between two nodes, and provides authentication, encryption, and compression for the data transmitted over the connection. PPP is often used to connect a remote client to a corporate network, or a user to an ISP. By using L2TP to encapsulate PPP packets, the connection can be extended over a public or shared network, creating a VPN. This way, the user can access the network resources and services securely and transparently, as if they were directly connected to the network. The other options are not the main use of L2TP, as they involve different protocols or layers. L2TP does not tunnel data through a firewall, but rather over an IP network. L2TP does not operate at the session layer or the transport layer, but at the data link layer. L2TP does not use the Payload Compression Protocol (PCP), but rather the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP). References: Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol - Wikipedia; What is the Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)? - NordVPN; Understanding VPN protocols: OpenVPN, L2TP, WireGuard & more.