Cyber Security Interview Questions and Answers

1. What is Cyber Security?

Cyber Security means the protection of data on computer systems from unauthorized access and other attacks. It protects networks, programs and computers from any kind of unauthorized intrusion.

2. What is DDoS attacks?

DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service. It is a malicious attempt to disrupt normal traffic by flooding the bandwidth or resources of a targeted system. A DDoS is a cyber attack on a server, service, website, or network floods it with Internet traffic.

A DDoS attack is like a traffic jam clogging up with highway, preventing regular traffic from arriving its desired destination.

Video : Cyber Security Interview Questions and Answers - For Freshers and Experienced Candidates

3. What is MITM attack and how to prevent it?

MITM stands for Man in the Middle. It occurs when an outside attacker jumps in between when two systems are interacting with each other. Here, the attacker secretly relays or alters the communication between two parties who believe they are directly communicating with each other.

This can happen in any form of online communication, such as email, social media, web surfing, etc.

These attacks can be prevented by using public key encryption while sending the data or set the email as secured if it contains any confidential information like bank account and passwords. Using open networks makes vulnerable to such attacks, use SSL and TLS instead.

4. What is Phishing? How it can be prevented?

Phishing is a fraudulent attempt to obtain personal information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details using deceptive e-mails and websites.

It is far easier to trick someone by impersonating genuine website webpage like yahoo or face-book and asking the user to enter their password and account ID.

Following are the ways to avoid becoming a victim of a Phishing scam:

i.) Keep yourself informed about new Phishing Techniques

ii.) Avoid clicking on links that appear in random emails and instant messages.

iii.) Communicate personal information through secure websites only

iii.) Never download files or attachments in emails from unknown senders

iv.) Never e-mail financial information

v.) Beware of links in e-mails that ask for personal information

vi.) Ignore entering personal information in a pop-up screen

5. Can Identity theft be prevented?

Yes, we can prevent by using the unique username and password. While online shopping, we should use only trusted or secured websites. Using latest and secured web browsers ensures better security and always use the computer which is protected with anti-virus tools.

6. What is Pen testing? What are its different types?

Pen Testing also called as Penetration Testing is performed by ethical hackers to determine the current security status of their applications, systems and networks.

Here, the hackers identify and exploit the vulnerabilities in an organization’s resources and also tell them how they found them & how can they be fixed.

The different types of Pen tests include:

i.) Network penetration testing - Tests the internal and external infrastructure like Firewalls, routers, switches, cloud network etc.

ii.) Wireless Penetration testing - To test the wireless protocols and Wireless Local Are Network of an organization.

iii.) Web Application testing - Tests the products, services and applications served to the user over Internet. Tries to identify any loopholes on design, coding etc. that make the service or application vulnerable to attacks or exploitations.

iv.) Mobile Application testing - In this type of testing, mobile applications are tested on various mobile platforms to identify any authentication, data, authorization or session handling issues.

v.) Reviewing the Build and Configuration - To ascertain any kind of misconfiguration throughout web or application servers, firewalls etc.

7. In addition to their regular Pen testing schedules, under which situations would you recommend the organizations to conduct a Pen testing?

Usually the organizations carry out Pen testing as per their schedule to meet the regulatory compliance but if an organization has done any of the following, I would recommend them to carry out a Pen test:

i.) If you have made any significant changes or improvements to your infrastructure, some new vulnerabilities might have crept in. Consider carrying out a Pen test.

ii.) At times, even new security technologies may leave you more vulnerable to attacks rather than securing you. Carry out a Pen test if you have installed any new security technologies.

iii.) Before you launch a new product, service or application, test it completely to identify any loopholes that can be exploited to steal data, transaction details or anything else.
Here, a web testing is required to be done.

iv.) When you get into a merger or an acquisition, it is advisable to carry out a Pen testing before and after the process, to ascertain that no digital loopholes can be exploited due to this change.

8. What do you mean by Ethical Hacking? What are its advantages?

Ethical hacking is performed by security testers. These professionals are also referred to as White hat hackers. They are entrusted by the companies to identify and exploit the vulnerabilities in their network or applications just as a criminal hacker would do.

The advantages of ethical hacking include:

i) It allows you to comply with the law and policies that work to secure your users.

ii) It allows you to see the strength of your system or application to fight the latest hacking tools and techniques so that they can't be exploited by the cyber criminals.

iii) Ethical Hackers are usually independent consultants or a specialist company. So, a test by them provides you an assurance by an independent body.

iv) It also proves your safety commitment to your users, customers and investors

v) It allows you to streamline your budget and other investments as per the future requirements in this area.

vi) It also increases the awareness among your employees so that they do not fall a victim to the malicious intentions of cyber criminals, which may make the whole company vulnerable.

9. What isCSRF?

CSRF stands for Cross-site request forgery which refers to the vulnerability in the application to the extent that attackers can exploit it.

10. What is IPS and IDS?

IPS, Intrusion Prevention System, helps in detecting the intrusion and taking action to prevent it from the intrusion. IDS, Intrusion detection system helps in detection of an intrusion and let administrator of the system to take decision for assessment and evaluation.

Both IDS and IPS compare network packets to a cyber threat database containing known signatures of cyber attacks and flag any matching packets.

IDS is a monitoring system and doesn't alter the network packets in any way. IPS is a control system, it proactively deny network traffic if the packet represents a known security threat.

11. What is the difference between HTTPS, SSL and TLS?

HTTPS is hypertext transfer protocol which secures communications over a given network. HTTPS is basically HTTP connection which is delivering the data secured using SSL/TLS.

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It is a standard security technology which helps in creating an encrypted link between a server and a client.  The usage of SSL technology ensures that all data transmitted between the web server and browser remains encrypted.

TLS is an improved version of SSL. It is the successor protocol to SSL.

12. What is a traceroute?

A traceroute, which is sometimes also called a tracert, is a network diagnostic tool that traces route taken by a packet on an IP network from source to destination.

It helps in determining the response delays of packets across an Internet Protocol (IP) network. It also helps to locate any points of failure encountered while en route to a certain destination.

13. What is salting and its uses?

Salting is an excellent way to turn passwords stronger. It makes cracking password very hard even if the actual password is weak. Salting is a process of appending a password to a given username and then hashing the new string of characters.

14. What is Data Leakage and what are the ways to prevent it?

Data Leakage refers to the unauthorized transfer of classified information from a computer or data center to the outside world. This happens through various means like emails, unauthorized upload of data to public portals etc.

To prevent Data leakage, we should closely monitor traffic on all networks. There are monitoring tools that can notify administrators of red flags when an employee downloads copies or deletes information.

Encrypting any private, confidential or sensitive information is great way to provide significant protection from even the most advanced attacks.