Practice for the GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC) exam with 16 exam-style practice questions, instant answer reveals, and concise explanations of every correct answer. Topics include: Why is it important to allow algorithms to be known and public?. Follow @CertPunch and visit certpunch.com for more certification practice exams and study content.
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What you will practice
- Why is it important to allow algorithms to be known and public?
- Which of the following is NOT a component or element of PKI?
- Which of the following files is a poor choice for a host file to encode a secret message using steganography…
- What is the name of the calculation that multiplies the assigned value of an asset by the estimated amount of…
- What is the definition of risk transfer?
- What is the cost benefit equation as related to risk management?
Answers and explanations
Tap a question to expand the answer and the exam reasoning. Try to commit to your own pick first.
Q1. Why is it important to allow algorithms to be known and public?
Answer: D. D) To discover flaws
Public algorithms allow the global cryptography community to thoroughly analyze and test the mathematical structure to discover any hidden flaws. Security relies entirely on the secrecy of the private key, not on keeping the algorithm itself hidden.
Q2. Which of the following is NOT a component or element of PKI?
Answer: C. C) Steganography
Steganography hides secret messages within ordinary files and is not a core component of a public key infrastructure. Public key infrastructure strictly combines asymmetric encryption, symmetric encryption, hashing, and digital certificates.
Q3. Which of the following files is a poor choice for a host file to encode a secret message using steganography techniques?
Answer: B. B) pagefile.sys
A pagefile is a poor steganography host because the operating system constantly modifies it. Steganography requires a static host file to prevent hidden data from being overwritten or corrupted, making images or executables much safer choices.
Q4. What is the name of the calculation that multiplies the assigned value of an asset by the estimated amount of loss if a single event of compromise takes place?
Answer: D. D) SLE
Single loss expectancy, or SLE, represents the expected financial loss from a single security incident. Remember the exam formula SLE equals asset value multiplied by exposure factor, which contrasts with annualized loss expectancy calculations.
Q5. What is the definition of risk transfer?
Answer: C. C) Assigning a risk to another entity
Risk transfer involves shifting the potential impact of a risk to a third party, typically through purchasing insurance. Do not confuse this with risk mitigation, which reduces the likelihood or severity of the threat using internal safeguards.
Q6. What is the cost benefit equation as related to risk management?
Answer: C. C) (ALE1 – ALE2) – CCM
The cost benefit equation is calculated by taking the annualized loss expectancy before a safeguard, subtracting the reduced annualized loss expectancy, and then subtracting the cost of the countermeasure. Remember that annualized loss expectancy alone only calculates total potential risk.
Q7. What would be the encrypted form of the message ATTACK if a 4-position substitution cipher was used?
Answer: D. D) EXXEGO
A four position substitution cipher, commonly known as a Caesar shift, encrypts ATTACK into EXXEGO by shifting each letter forward four positions in the alphabet. Recognizing standard alphabetical shifts helps quickly eliminate transposition or reversal distractors.
Q8. How is the ARO calculated?
Answer: B. B) It is derived from historical occurrences.
The annualized rate of occurrence is derived from historical occurrences to estimate how often a threat might materialize over a year. Remember that asset value determines exposure factor or loss, but frequency relies on past incident data.
Q9. Which form of risk assessment methodology is based on assigning numbers and using calculations to determine the priority of threats?
Answer: B. B) Quantitative
Quantitative risk assessment relies on mathematical formulas like annualized loss expectancy to calculate risk. A strong exam cue is to look for dollar amounts, while qualitative methods use subjective rankings like high, medium, and low.
Q10. How did the list of Critical Security Controls (CSCs) come into existence?
Answer: C. C) A request by the Office of the Secretary of Defense to the NSA to assist with prioritizing security controls based on defending against known attacks
The controls originated from a request by the Office of the Secretary of Defense to the National Security Agency to prioritize defenses against known attacks. Remember that these controls focus on mitigating actual, documented real-world threats.
Q11. Why is the FRAP risk assessment methodology significantly more cost effective than other options?
Answer: A. A) It focuses on using mostly pre-screened systems.
The Facilitated Risk Assessment Process saves time and money by focusing strictly on pre-screened systems and evaluating risk through a business impact assessment. OCTAVE is the methodology known for using three distinct phases of workshops.
Q12. Why should the risks of an organization be reported as defined by enterprise risk management (ERM)?
Answer: B. B) It helps with internal transparency, risk assessment, risk response, and risk monitoring.
Reporting risks as defined by enterprise risk management directly enables internal transparency, assessment, response, and monitoring. While strategic planning and compliance are essential security concepts, they are not the primary purpose of the risk reporting phase.
Q13. What four security services can be obtained using cryptographic solutions?
Answer: D. D) Confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation
Cryptographic solutions provide confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation. Be careful not to confuse these services with the CIA triad, as cryptography does not directly provide availability, or with access control concepts like AAA.
Q14. Which term describes the process of changing protected data back into normal data within a cryptographic system?
Answer: C. C) Decryption
Decryption is the process of converting ciphertext back into readable plaintext. For a quick cue, remember that encryption turns plaintext into ciphertext, while decryption reverses the process using the proper cryptographic key.
Q15. Which of the following is the most successful means of compromising encrypted storage and communications?
Answer: A. A) User impersonation
User impersonation is often the most successful way to compromise encryption because it bypasses strong algorithms by stealing access to the keys. Brute forcing modern cryptography takes millennia, making direct attacks highly impractical.
Q16. Why is the steganalysis process known as stego-only NOT likely to reveal the secret communication?
Answer: C. C) The steganography encoding technique is unknown.
The stego-only attack rarely reveals hidden data because the analyst lacks knowledge of the specific encoding technique used. Without the right tool or understanding how the payload was concealed, extracting the hidden message from the carrier file is nearly impossible.
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