Systems Security Certified Practitioner v7.0 (SSCP)

Answer : A

Explanation: Controlling access by a subject (an active entity such as individual or process) to an object (a passive entity such as a file) involves setting up access rules.
These rules can be classified into three access control models: Mandatory, Discretionary, and Non-Discretionary.
An access matrix is one of the means used to implement access control.
Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the
Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 33.

Answer : C

Explanation: Rule-based access control is a type of non-discretionary access control because this access is determined by rules and the subject does not decide what those rules will be, the rules are uniformly applied to ALL of the users or subjects.
In general, all access control policies other than DAC are grouped in the category of non- discretionary access control (NDAC). As the name implies, policies in this category have rules that are not established at the discretion of the user. Non-discretionary policies establish controls that cannot be changed by users, but only through administrative action.
Both Role Based Access Control (RBAC) and Rule Based Access Control (RuBAC) fall within Non Discretionary Access Control (NDAC). If it is not DAC or MAC then it is most likely NDAC.

IT IS NOT ALWAYS BLACK OR WHITE -
The different access control models are not totally exclusive of each others. MAC is making use of Rules to be implemented. However with MAC you have requirements above and beyond having simple access rules. The subject would get formal approval from management, the subject must have the proper security clearance, objects must have labels/sensitivity levels attached to them, subjects must have the proper security clearance.
If all of this is in place then you have MAC.
BELOW YOU HAVE A DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES:

MAC = Mandatory Access Control -
Under a mandatory access control environment, the system or security administrator will define what permissions subjects have on objects. The administrator does not dictate users access but simply configure the proper level of access as dictated by the Data
Owner.
The MAC system will look at the Security Clearance of the subject and compare it with the object sensitivity level or classification level. This is what is called the dominance relationship.
The subject must DOMINATE the object sensitivity level. Which means that the subject must have a security clearance equal or higher than the object he is attempting to access.
MAC also introduce the concept of labels. Every objects will have a label attached to them indicating the classification of the object as well as categories that are used to impose the need to know (NTK) principle. Even thou a user has a security clearance of Secret it does not mean he would be able to access any Secret documents within the system. He would be allowed to access only Secret document for which he has a Need To Know, formal approval, and object where the user belong to one of the categories attached to the object.
If there is no clearance and no labels then IT IS NOT Mandatory Access Control.
Many of the other models can mimic MAC but none of them have labels and a dominance relationship so they are NOT in the MAC category.
NISTR-7316 Says:
Usually a labeling mechanism and a set of interfaces are used to determine access based on the MAC policy; for example, a user who is running a process at the Secret classification should not be allowed to read a f

Answer : A

Explanation: An identity-based access control is a type of Discretionary Access Control
(DAC) that is based on an individual's identity.
DAC is good for low level security environment. The owner of the file decides who has access to the file.
If a user creates a file, he is the owner of that file. An identifier for this user is placed in the file header and/or in an access control matrix within the operating system.
Ownership might also be granted to a specific individual. For example, a manager for a certain department might be made the owner of the files and resources within her department. A system that uses discretionary access control (DAC) enables the owner of the resource to specify which subjects can access specific resources.
This model is called discretionary because the control of access is based on the discretion of the owner. Many times department managers, or business unit managers , are the owners of the data within their specific department. Being the owner, they can specify who should have access and who should not.
Reference(s) used for this question:
Harris, Shon (2012-10-18). CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (p. 220). McGraw-
Hill . Kindle Edition.

Answer : C

Explanation: Non Discretionary Access Control include Role Based Access Control
(RBAC) and Rule Based Access Control (RBAC or RuBAC). RABC being a subset of
NDAC, it was easy to eliminate RBAC as it was covered under NDAC already.
Some people think that RBAC is synonymous with NDAC but RuBAC would also fall into this category.
Discretionary Access control is for environment with very low level of security. There is no control on the dissemination of the information. A user who has access to a file can copy the file or further share it with other users.
Rule Based Access Control is when you have ONE set of rules applied uniformly to all users. A good example would be a firewall at the edge of your network. A single rule based is applied against any packets received from the internet.
Mandatory Access Control is a very rigid type of access control. The subject must dominate the object and the subject must have a Need To Know to access the information. Objects have labels that indicate the sensitivity (classification) and there is also categories to enforce the Need To Know (NTK).
Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the
Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 33.

Answer : C

Explanation: In a lattice model, there are pairs of elements that have the least upper bound of values and greatest lower bound of values.
Reference(s) used for this question:
KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten
Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 34.

Answer : B

Explanation: Soft Control is another way of referring to Administrative control.
Technical and Physical controls are NOT soft control, so any choice listing them was not the best answer.
Preventative/Technical is incorrect because although access control can be technical control, it is commonly not referred to as a "soft" control
Preventative/Administrative is correct because access controls are preventative in nature. it is always best to prevent a negative event, however there are times where controls might fail and you cannot prevent everything. Administrative controls are roles, responsibilities, policies, etc which are usually paper based. In the administrative category you would find audit, monitoring, and security awareness as well.
Preventative/Physical pairing is incorrect because Access controls with an emphasis on
"soft" mechanisms conflict with the basic concept of physical controls, physical controls are usually tangible objects such as fences, gates, door locks, sensors, etc...
Detective/Administrative Pairing is incorrect because access control is a preventative control used to control access, not to detect violations to access.
Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the
Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 34.

Answer : A

Explanation: The Answer: Preventive/Administrative Pairing: These mechanisms include organizational policies and procedures, pre-employment background checks, strict hiring practices, employment agreements, friendly and unfriendly employee termination procedures, vacation scheduling, labeling of sensitive materials, increased supervision, security awareness training, behavior awareness, and sign-up procedures to obtain access to information systems and networks.
Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the
Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 34.

Answer : B

Explanation: Preventive/Technical controls are also known as logical controls and can be built into the operating system, be software applications, or can be supplemental hardware/software units.
Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the
Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 34.

Answer : C

Explanation: Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide:
Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 35.

Answer : A

Explanation: Constrained user interfaces limit the functions that can be selected by a user.
Another method for controlling access is by restricting users to specific functions based on their role in the system. This is typically implemented by limiting available menus, data views, encryption, or by physically constraining the user interfaces.
This is common on devices such as an automated teller machine (ATM). The advantage of a constrained user interface is that it limits potential avenues of attack and system failure by restricting the processing options that are available to the user.
On an ATM machine, if a user does not have a checking account with the bank he or she will not be shown the Withdraw money from checking option. Likewise, an information system might have an Add/Remove Users menu option for administrators, but if a normal, non-administrative user logs in he or she will not even see that menu option. By not even identifying potential options for non-qualifying users, the system limits the potentially harmful execution of unauthorized system or application commands.
Many database management systems have the concept of views. A database view is an extract of the data stored in the database that is filtered based on predefined user or system criteria. This permits multiple users to access the same database while only having the ability to access data they need (or are allowed to have) and not data for another user.
The use of database views is another example of a constrained user interface.
The following were incorrect answers:
All of the other choices presented were bogus answers.
The following reference(s) were used for this question:
Hernandez CISSP, Steven (2012-12-21). Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third
Edition ((ISC)2 Press) (Kindle Locations 1989-2002). Auerbach Publications. Kindle
Edition.

Answer : B

Explanation: The Answer: Database views; Database views are mechanisms that restrict access to the information that a user can access in a database.Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L.
& VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer
Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 35.
Wikipedia has a detailed explantion as well:
In database theory, a view is a virtual or logical table composed of the result set of a query.
Unlike ordinary tables (base tables) in a relational database, a view is not part of the physical schema: it is a dynamic, virtual table computed or collated from data in the database. Changing the data in a table alters the data shown in the view.
Views can provide advantages over tables;
They can subset the data contained in a table
They can join and simplify multiple tables into a single virtual table
Views can act as aggregated tables, where aggregated data (sum, average etc.) are calculated and presented as part of the data
Views can hide the complexity of data, for example a view could appear as Sales2000 or
Sales2001, transparently partitioning the actual underlying table
Views do not incur any extra storage overhead
Depending on the SQL engine used, views can provide extra security.
Limit the exposure to which a table or tables are exposed to outer world
Just like functions (in programming) provide abstraction, views can be used to create abstraction. Also, just like functions, views can be nested, thus one view can aggregate data from other views. Without the use of views it would be much harder to normalise databases above second normal form. Views can make it easier to create lossless join decomposition.

Answer : B

Explanation: The detective/technical control measures are intended to reveal the violations of security policy using technical means.
Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the
Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 35.

Answer : C

Explanation: Detective/physical controls usually require a human to evaluate the input from sensors or cameras to determine if a real threat exists.
Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the
Ten Domains of Computer Security, 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Page 36.

Answer : C

Explanation: A central authority determines what subjects can have access to certain objects based on the organizational security policy.
The key focal point of this question is the 'central authority' that determines access rights.
Cecilia one of the quiz user has sent me feedback informing me that NIST defines MAC as:
"MAC Policy means that Access Control Policy Decisions are made by a CENTRAL
AUTHORITY. Which seems to indicate there could be two good answers to this question.
However if you read the NISTR document mentioned in the references below, it is also mentioned that: MAC is the most mentioned NDAC policy. So MAC is a form of NDAC policy.
Within the same document it is also mentioned: "In general, all access control policies other than DAC are grouped in the category of non- discretionary access control (NDAC).
As the name implies, policies in this category have rules that are not established at the discretion of the user. Non-discretionary policies establish controls that cannot be changed by users, but only through administrative action."
Under NDAC you have two choices:
Rule Based Access control and Role Base Access Control
MAC is implemented using RULES which makes it fall under RBAC which is a form of
NDAC. It is a subset of NDAC.
This question is representative of what you can expect on the real exam where you have more than once choice that seems to be right. However, you have to look closely if one of the choices would be higher level or if one of the choice falls under one of the other choice.
In this case NDAC is a better choice because MAC is falling under NDAC through the use of Rule Based Access Control.
The following are incorrect answers:

MANDATORY ACCESS CONTROL -
In Mandatory Access Control the labels of the object and the clearance of the subject determines access rights, not a central authority. Although a central authority (Better known as the Data Owner) assigns the label to the object, the system does the determination of access rights automatically by comparing the Object label with the Subject clearance. The subject clearance MUST dominate (be equal or higher) than the object being accessed.
The need for a MAC mechanism arises when the security policy of a system dictates that:
1. Protection decisions must not be decided by the object owner.
2. The system must enforce the protection decisions (i.e., the system enforces the security policy over the wishes or intentions of the object owner).
Usually a labeling mechanism and a set of interfaces are used to determine access based on the MAC policy; for example, a user who is running a process at the Secret classification should not be allowed to read a file with a label of Top Secret. This is known as the simple security rule, or no read up.
Conversely, a user who is running a process with a label of Secret should not be allowed to write to a file with a label of Confidential. This rule is called the *-property (pronounced star property) or no write down. The *-propert

Answer : B

Explanation: Identification is the act of a user professing an identity to a system, usually in the form of a log-on ID to the system.
Identification is nothing more than claiming you are somebody. You identify yourself when you speak to someone on the phone that you dont know, and they ask you who theyre speaking to. When you say, Im Jason., youve just identified yourself.
In the information security world, this is analogous to entering a username. Its not analogous to entering a password. Entering a password is a method for verifying that you are who you identified yourself as.
NOTE: The word "professing" used above means: "to say that you are, do, or feel something when other people doubt what you say". This is exactly what happen when you provide your identifier (identification), you claim to be someone but the system cannot take your word for it, you must further Authenticate to the system to prove who you claim to be.
The following are incorrect answers:
Authentication: is how one proves that they are who they say they are. When you claim to be Jane Smith by logging into a computer system as jsmith, its most likely going to ask you for a password. Youve claimed to be that person by entering the name into the username field (thats the identification part), but now you have to prove that you are really that person.
Many systems use a password for this, which is based on something you know, i.e. a secret between you and the system.
Another form of authentication is presenting something you have, such as a drivers license, an RSA token, or a smart card.
You can also authenticate via something you are. This is the foundation for biometrics.
When you do this, you first identify yourself and then submit a thumb print, a retina scan, or another form of bio-based authentication.
Once youve successfully authenticated, you have now done two things: youve claimed to be someone, and youve proven that you are that person. The only thing thats left is for the system to determine what youre allowed to do.
Authorization: is what takes place after a person has been both identified and authenticated; its the step determines what a person can then do on the system.
An example in people terms would be someone knocking on your door at night. You say,
Who is it?, and wait for a response. They say, Its John. in order to identify themselves.
You ask them to back up into the light so you can see them through the peephole. They do so, and you authenticate them based on what they look like (biometric). At that point you decide they can come inside the house.
If they had said they were someone you didnt want in your house (identification), and you then verified that it was that person (authentication), the authorization phase would not include access to the inside of the house.
Confidentiality: Is one part of the CIA triad. It prevents sensitive information from reaching the wrong people, while making sure that the right people can in fact get it. A good example is a c