Cyber Security, Auditing and Accountability

Posted: August 26th, 2021

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Cyber Security, Auditing and Accountability

Question 1: Benefits of Logging

Logging makes it possible for a developer to quickly track bugs and evaluate the healthiness of a system under development. Also, logging helps to provide the much-needed system security since it detects in real-time any form of intrusion by examination of the system records. Furthermore, in the context of an organizational system, logging makes it possible to connect all the corners of an organization; thus, streamlining communication processes among the employees.

Question 2: How Authorization Differs from Accountability

Authorization refers to the process through which individual user access to a computer network and its associated resources are either added or denied. That is, computer users are assigned varying authorization levels that can either limit or enlarge their level of access to the network and the resources. On the other hand, accountability refers to the process of keeping records of and tracking user activities on a computer network.

Question 3: Description of Nonrepudiation

To repudiate means to deny. Therefore, nonrepudiation refers to a system’s ability to ensure that a given party to communication cannot deny the sending of a message that it originated. For example, the use of digital signature in email communication. Since no security technology is foolproof, the capturing and use of the sender’s biometric data alongside his or her digital signature can make a system much more challenging to repudiate.

Question 6: Importance of Auditing an Installed Software

Firstly, auditing allows a user to deduce his or her licenses under compliance with the existing standards. Secondly, an audit allows a computer user to remove software that he or she no longer uses. Thirdly, a software audit can help a user to identify the programs that he or she might need to reinstall in the future.

Question 10: Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing

Occasional use of the internet exposes the system to critical risks that would catastrophically destroy the sensitive customer data stored on the servers. Therefore, it is essential to conduct both vulnerability assessment and penetration testing on the system. Through vulnerability assessment, the system administrator will be provided with the necessary knowledge, awareness, and risk background to comprehend and, in turn, circumvent the threats that internet usage exposes the system to. By conducting penetration testing, the system administrator will be able to know the existing system security vulnerabilities that might need to be patched up to prevent the corruption of customer data.