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Difficulty: Very hardCIA Triad & Core Security Concepts

During a network security audit, an administrator discovers two major vulnerabilities on an enterprise network: internal administrative session credentials are being intercepted in cleartext by unauthorized packet sniffing, and stored database audit logs have been silently modified after an intrusion. To remediate these vulnerabilities and satisfy security compliance, the network engineering team must implement technical controls that explicitly protect the affected pillars of the CIA Triad. Which combination of security controls correctly restores confidentiality for administrative sessions while ensuring data integrity for the stored audit logs?

  1. Enforcing SSH or TLS protocol encryption for all administrative sessions, and generating SHA-256 cryptographic hashes combined with digital signatures for audit log files.Answer
  2. B
    Configuring RADIUS authentication for all administrative access, and placing audit log storage on a RAID 1 fault-tolerant mirrored disk array.
  3. C
    Deploying SNMPv2c with read-write community strings for administrative session management, and creating NTFS Access Control Lists (ACLs) on log files.
  4. D
    Assigning administrative traffic to a dedicated management VLAN, and establishing an automated incremental backup schedule for log files.

Answer

Enforcing SSH or TLS protocol encryption for administrative sessions to protect confidentiality, paired with SHA-256 cryptographic hashing and digital signatures to ensure audit log integrity.
Confidentiality ensures that sensitive data, such as administrative credentials, remains inaccessible to unauthorized eavesdroppers. Protocols like SSH and TLS utilize symmetric and asymmetric encryption to protect transport payloads. Integrity ensures that data remains unaltered and authentic. Cryptographic hashing algorithms like SHA-256 generate unique fixed-length digests, while digital signatures provide non-repudiation and verification of file origin, perfectly addressing both vulnerabilities identified in the scenario.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the confidentiality vulnerability
Cleartext credential interception indicates a breach of confidentiality during network transmission.
Confidentiality guarantees that data in transit is hidden from unauthorized observers. Strong transport encryption like SSH or TLS prevents eavesdropping.
2
Analyze the integrity vulnerability
Unauthorized modification of database audit logs indicates a failure of data integrity.
Integrity guarantees that data has not been altered or tampered with. Cryptographic hashing (SHA-256) and digital signatures validate file authenticity and detect modifications.
3
Evaluate control pairs against CIA Triad definitions
SSH/TLS combined with SHA-256 hashing directly addresses confidentiality and integrity respectively.
Other controls such as RAID 1 or backup schedules target Availability, while RADIUS and SNMPv2c fail to provide complete payload confidentiality.

Key Concept

CIA Triad (Confidentiality vs. Integrity vs. Availability Controls)
Estimated Time:2m 0s
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Topics

CIA Triad & Core Security Concepts

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