1. What Is Cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is a broad term that includes securing data and the technology systems responsible for moving, storing, and authenticating data. For businesses, cybersecurity encompasses the technology that’s in place to help keep your business safe, the people and processes that ensure your business stays safe, and the education to ensure your employees remain vigilant against potential cyberthreats.
A smart cybersecurity solution incorporates multiple layers of technology, processes, and education to help keep your business safe. Imagine it like stacking numerous layers of swiss cheese on top of each other. Alone, one layer has holes; however, you can cover up the gaps when you stack multiple layers on top of each other, making it more challenging to worm through the holes in the stack.
2. What is a Firewall and Why is it Used?
A Firewall is a network security system set on the boundaries of the system/network that monitors and controls network traffic. Firewalls are mainly used to protect the system/network from viruses, worms, malware, etc. Firewalls can also be to prevent remote access and content filtering.
3. What’s Cryptography?
One of the main studied concepts in cybersecurity is cryptography. Cryptography is the study of systems and techniques for securing information from unauthorized access. Cryptography teaches the best practices, techniques and processes for protecting information from unauthorized users.
4. What’s the CIA Triad in Cybersecurity?
The CIA triad is a common concept in cybersecurity that refers to
• Confidentiality
• Integrity
• Availability
of information. In cybersecurity, confidentiality refers to the sensitivity of information and how to protect this sensitive information from unauthorized third parties. Integrity refers to the quality of data being of its original context and nature and without being modified by unauthorized third parties or partners. Availability refers to how accessible or reachable information is to the people it serves. In protecting information from unauthorized access, this information can have a set of complexity such that it’s inaccessible to its end users. So, reconciling data safety and its use, availability becomes of critical importance.
5. What’s the Difference Between Encryption and Hashing?
Although encryption and hashing both serve the same purpose of converting readable information or data into unreadable data, the two share distinct differences or variations.
• Encrypted data can be converted back to readable text through a process known as decryption.
• Hashed text or data cannot be converted back to readable text or data.
6. Explain MITM (Man-in-the-Middle) Attack and How to Prevent it?
A MITM(Man-in-the-Middle) attack is a type of attack where the hacker places himself in between the communication of two parties and steal the information. Suppose there are two parties A and B having a communication. Then the hacker joins this communication. He impersonates as party B to A and impersonates as party A in front of B. The data from both the parties are sent to the hacker and the hacker redirects the data to the destination party after stealing the data required. While the two parties think that they are communicating with each other, in reality, they are communicating with the hacker.
You can prevent MITM attack by using the following practices:
• Use VPN
• Use strong WEP/WPA encryption
• Use Intrusion Detection Systems
• Force HTTPS
• Public Key Pair Based Authentication
7. What’s a VPN?
Known as a virtual private network, a VPN essentially refers to a secure private network achieved through encryption over a large network. Essentially, having a VPN allows you to browse anonymously without being detected by unauthorized users.
8. What are the Most Common Types of Cyber-Attacks?
Another most commonly asked question about cybersecurity is the most common type of cyber-attacks. According to documented evidence, the following represent the most occurring threats in cybersecurity:
• Malware
• Phishing
• DOS
• Password attacks
• Man-in-the-middle attacks
• Trojan horse
• Ransomware
• SQL injection
• Drive-by downloads
Although the scale and intensity of these attacks differ, these are the most common attacks.
9. What is a Brute Force Attack? How Can You Prevent It?
Brute Force is a way of finding out the right credentials by repetitively trying all the permutations and combinations of possible credentials. In most cases, brute force attacks are automated where the tool/software automatically tries to login with a list of credentials. There are various ways to prevent Brute Force attacks. Some of them are:
• Password Length: You can set a minimum length for password. The lengthier the password, the harder it is to find.
• Password Complexity: Including different formats of characters in the password makes brute force attacks harder. Using alpha-numeric passwords along with special characters, and upper and lower case characters increase the password complexity making it difficult to be cracked.
• Limiting Login Attempts: Set a limit on login failures. For example, you can set the limit on login failures as 3. So, when there are 3 consecutive login failures, restrict the user from logging in for some time, or send an Email or OTP to use to log in the next time. Because brute force is an automated process, limiting login attempts will break the brute force process.
10. What is a Black Hat, White Hat, and Gray Hat Hacker?
• Black hat hackers are hackers or attackers who break into a computer system or network with malicious intent such as stealing sensitive information. A white hat hacker is an ethical hacker who uses computer and cybersecurity skills to identify security vulnerabilities in computer networks.
• A White hat hacker may try to hack into an organization’s computer system to ensure that no other hacker can access it. Usually, white hat hackers use skills like penetration testing to ensure that a company’s computer infrastructure cannot be accessed.
• A Gray hat hacker blends the techniques of both the white and black hat hackers. They try to access a company’s computer system without the owner’s permission. After identifying a vulnerability, they report to the owner, sometimes asking for a small fee to fix the problem.
