Assignment 615 Points Due Friday At 12 Pm Noon Answer The FO

Assignment 615 Points due Friday At 12pm Noonanswer The Fo

Answer the following questions thoroughly in your own words.

1. One of a security specialist's key duties is to look for opportunities that people might take advantage of to breach a system. How do you develop an eye for such opportunities?

2. Why is it important for IT security to assign privileged user ID’s instead of an administrator ID’s?

3. In general terms, what is a "process control"? Why is it important?

4. Why is software more likely to be licensed than purchased outright?

5. Name three sanitizing software products. Why is one better than the other?

Paper For Above instruction

Developing an eye for security vulnerabilities is a critical skill for any security specialist. It involves a combination of technical expertise, ongoing education, and practical experience. One effective method is adopting a mindset of continuous curiosity and skepticism, constantly questioning how systems could be compromised and examining the system architecture from an attacker's perspective. This strategy is rooted in threat modeling, where the specialist identifies potential entry points and vulnerabilities in the network, applications, or hardware. Regularly updating knowledge through security news, vulnerability databases such as CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), and participating in penetration testing exercises enhances this awareness. Additionally, understanding the common attack vectors, such as SQL injection, phishing, or social engineering, helps in recognizing opportunities where breaches could occur. Combining these approaches fosters a proactive mindset that is essential for developing an eye for vulnerabilities (Andress & Winterfeld, 2013).

Assigning privileged user IDs instead of generic administrator IDs is a fundamental security best practice. Privileged accounts are granted only to specific users who need elevated permissions to perform their job functions, thereby minimizing the risk surface. This segregation helps in several ways: it limits the potential damage caused by a compromised account, facilitates accountability by tracking actions to individual users, and simplifies auditing processes. Using distinct privileged IDs also allows organizations to enforce the principle of least privilege, where users are given only the permissions necessary for their tasks. Conversely, sharing a common administrator ID makes it difficult to attribute actions to specific individuals, which complicates incident investigation and may enable malicious insiders or attackers to exploit the account more freely. Therefore, implementing individual privileged IDs enhances overall security posture and operational accountability (Rath, 2020).

A "process control" refers to mechanisms that monitor and regulate the execution of processes within a system, ensuring they operate correctly and securely. This involves managing the lifecycle of processes—from initiation to termination—and enforcing policies related to resource access, execution permissions, and process behavior. Process controls are vital because they prevent unauthorized or malicious processes from gaining control over system resources, thereby reducing vulnerabilities. For example, process control mechanisms can detect and terminate suspicious activity, prevent privilege escalation, and ensure that only validated processes run on critical systems. In manufacturing or industrial contexts, process control also pertains to systems overseeing physical operations, emphasizing the importance of safety, efficiency, and system integrity. Thus, process control is a cornerstone in both cybersecurity and industrial automation, ensuring system stability and security (Kumar & Singh, 2017).

Software is more likely to be licensed than purchased outright primarily due to cost and flexibility considerations. Licensing allows organizations to acquire software on a subscription basis or per-user model, reducing upfront expenses and providing access to the latest updates and features. This model also offers scalability, enabling businesses to expand or reduce their software usage as needed, thus avoiding the risks associated with outdated or unsupported versions. Conversely, outright purchase involves a significant initial investment, and once acquired, the software may become obsolete or require costly upgrades. Licensing also facilitates compliance with software regulations, as licenses are typically managed with activation keys and usage tracking. Moreover, many software vendors promote licensing because it creates a recurring revenue stream, ensuring continuous support, updates, and security patches that are critical for maintaining system integrity (Loshin & McFadden, 2022).

Reasons to use sanitizing software include ensuring data privacy, preventing data breaches, and complying with security policies. Three well-known sanitizing software products are CCleaner, BleachBit, and Eraser. CCleaner is popular for its ease of use and effectiveness in cleaning temporary files and invalid registry entries, thus improving system performance. BleachBit provides advanced options for wiping free disk space and securely deleting files, making recovered data unrecoverable, which is crucial for privacy. Eraser offers a high level of customization for securely deleting specific files or directories, employing multiple overwriting algorithms. Among these, BleachBit is often preferred for its open-source nature and comprehensive wiping capabilities, including free disk space sanitization—an essential feature for ensuring that deleted data cannot be recovered. This makes BleachBit more suitable for sensitive environments requiring thorough data sanitization compared to simpler cleaning tools (Fisher, 2020).

References

• Andress, J., & Winterfeld, S. (2013). Cyber Warfare: Techniques, Tactics and Tools. Elsevier.
• Kumar, P., & Singh, R. (2017). Process Control Systems: Security and Safety. IEEE Security & Privacy, 15(2), 70-73.
• Loshin, G., & McFadden, P. (2022). Mastering Data: Understanding Licensing Models. Data Management Journal, 33(4), 45-52.
• Rath, A. (2020). Privileged Access Management: Securing Critical Systems. Cybersecurity Review, 1(1), 34-40.
• Fisher, T. (2020). Data Sanitization Tools and Techniques. Journal of Digital Security, 9(3), 120-127.