Week 1

The position of your computer and monitor:

• Should be outward facing so other users can share your screen

• Your computer position does not matter for security

• Have little to do with security

• Is important in order to reduce your attack surface

Your server room:

• Should be left open during normal work hours for easy access

• Should have keys/access codes given to everyone in the organization

• Only be accessed by critical staff

• Always be left unlocked for emergencies

Dumpster diving is:

• An old outdated attack method

• A legitimate threat if proper disposal procedures are not followed

• Not possible if you do not have a dumpster

• Only applies to paper goods (checks, balance sheets, etc.)

Firewalls

• Are hardware-based appliances that will block malicious traffic

• Can be hardware or software intrusion detection systems that run by a set of rules

• Can be a hardware or software system that will filter traffic based on a set of rules

• Are not part of most operating systems (Windows, Linux, OSX)

Application software

• Is as important to keep up to date as your OS is

• Is not necessary to remove unused programs as they will not impact the machine’s security

• Is not necessary to keep up to date

• Cannot be exploited

Patching an operating system is

• Not necessary for OSX since there are no real vulnerabilities for it

• Not necessary for Linux

• Must be manually installed

• Always necessary for all OS

USB attacks

• Can be carried out by plugging a phone into a USB port

• Can only be carried out with a USB drive

• A USB cable cannot perform an attack over USB

• Cannot be stopped with computer policies locking the USB ports or limiting the devices recognized

Scareware

• Is a form of ransomware and you should pay the demand when asked

• Is designed to scare a user into paying a fee. An example is a fake FBI warning that a user must pay a fee

• Is just a scare tactic and never really contains a malicious payload

• Is a form of tailgating

Tor is

• A secure browser based on Firefox and can help anonymize your traffic online

• Easy to track your surfing habits and track its users

• A browser that you should add additional plugins/apps to

• Not very good for getting around censorship or overall privacy

Browser plugins

• Are completely safe to download from any site

• Provide no real benefits for online security

• Can contain useful software to help sure the internet safely

• Never need to be updated once you install it