Quick Tips Chapter 11: Application Security

Front 1

• If an application fails for any reason, it should go directly to a secure state.

Back 1

• A database management system (DBMS) is the software that controls the
access restrictions, data integrity, redundancy, and the different types of
manipulation available for a database.

Front 2

• In relational database terminology, a database row is called a tuple.

Back 2

• A database primary key is how a specific row is located from other parts of the
database.

Front 3

• A view is an access control mechanism used in databases to ensure that only
authorized subjects can access sensitive information.

Back 3

• A relational database uses two-dimensional tables with rows (tuples) and
columns (attributes).

Front 4

• A hierarchical database uses a tree-like structure to define relationships
between data elements, using a parent/child relationship.

Back 4

• Most databases have a data definition language (DDL), a data manipulation
language (DML), a query language (QL), and a report generator.

Front 5

• A data dictionary is a central repository that describes the data elements
within a database and their relationships. A data dictionary contains data
about a database, which is called metadata.

Back 5

• Database integrity is provided by concurrency mechanisms. One concurrency
control is locking, which prevents users from accessing and modifying data
being used by someone else.

Front 6

• Entity integrity makes sure that a row, or tuple, is uniquely identified by a
primary key, and referential integrity ensures that every foreign key refers to
an existing primary key.

Back 6

• A rollback cancels changes and returns the database to its previous state. This
takes place if there is a problem during a transaction.

Front 7

• A commit statement terminates a transaction and saves all changes to the
database.

Back 7

• A checkpoint is used if there is a system failure or problem during a
transaction. The user is then returned to the state of the last checkpoint.

Front 8

• Aggregation can happen if a user does not have access to a group of elements,
but has access to some of the individual elements within the group.
Aggregation happens if the user combines the information of these individual
elements and figures out the information of the group of data elements, which
is at a higher sensitivity level.

Back 8

• Inference is the capability to derive information that is not explicitly available.

Front 9

• Common attempts to prevent inference attacks are partitioning the database,
cell suppression, and adding noise to the database.

Back 9

• Polyinstantiation is the process of allowing a table to have multiple rows with
the same primary key. The different instances can be distinguished by their
security levels or classifications.

Front 10

• Polymorphism is when different objects are given the same input and react
differently.

Back 10

• The two largest security problems associated with database security are
inference and aggregation.

Front 11

• Data warehousing combines data from multiple databases and data sources.

Back 11

• Data mining is the process of massaging data held within a data warehouse to
provide more useful information to users.

Front 12

• Data-mining tools produce metadata, which can contain previously unseen
relationships and patterns.

Back 12

• Security should be addressed in each phase of system development. It should
not be addressed only at the end of development, because of the added cost,
time, and effort and the lack of functionality.

Front 13

• Systems and applications can use different development models that utilize
different life cycles, but all models contain project initiation, functional design
analysis and planning, system design specifications, software development,
installation, operations and maintenance, and disposal in some form or fashion.

Back 13

• Risk management and assessments should start at the beginning of a project
and continue throughout the lifetime of the product.

Front 14

• If proper design for a product is not put into place in the beginning, more
effort will have to take place in the implementation, testing, and maintenance
phases.

Back 14

• Separation of duties should be practiced in roles, environments, and
functionality pertaining to the development of a product.

Front 15

• A programmer should not have direct access to code in production. This is an
example of separation of duties.

Back 15

• Certification deals with testing and assessing the security mechanism in a
system, while accreditation pertains to management formally accepting the
system and its associated risk.

Front 16

• Change control needs to be put in place at the beginning of a project and
must be enforced through each phase.

Back 16

• Changes must be authorized, tested, and recorded. The changes must not affect
the security level of the system or its capability to enforce the security policy.

Front 17

• Iterative development is a software development method that follows a cyclic
approach to software development.

Back 17

• Waterfall development is a software development method that is a classical
method using discrete phases of development that require formal reviews and
documentation before moving into the next phase of the project.

Front 18

• Spiral development is a software development method that is a method that
builds upon the waterfall method with an emphasis on risk analysis, prototypes,
and simulations at different phases of the development cycle. This method
periodically revisits previous stages to update and verify design requirements.

Back 18

• Security testing is a comprehensive analysis technique that tests programs
under artificially created attack scenarios.

Front 19

• High-level programming languages are translated into machine languages for
the system and its processor to understand.

Back 19

• Source code is translated into machine code, or object code, by compilers,
assemblers, and interpreters.

Front 20

What may the life tenant do if changed conditions have made the property relatively worthless
(Ameliorative Waste)

Back 20

He may alter the property without incurring liability for waste.
KEY: CHANGE CONDITIONS have made the property RELATIVELY WORTHLESS.

Front 21

• Objects communicate with each other through messages.

Back 21

• A method is functionality that an object can carry out.

Front 22

• Data and operations internal to objects are hidden from other objects, which
is referred to as data hiding. Each object encapsulates its data and processes.

Back 22

• Objects can communicate properly because they use standard interfaces.

Front 23

• Object-oriented design represents a real-world problem and modularizes the
problem into cooperating objects that work together to solve the problem.

Back 23

• If an object does not require much interaction with other modules, it has low
coupling.

Front 24

• The best programming design enables objects to be as independent and
modular as possible; therefore, the higher the cohesion and the lower the
coupling, the better.

Back 24

• An object request broker (ORB) manages communications between objects
and enables them to interact in a heterogeneous and distributed environment.

Front 25

• Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) provides a standardized way for objects within different applications, platforms, and
environments to communicate. It accomplishes this by providing standards
for interfaces between objects.

Back 25

• Component Object Model (COM) provides an architecture for components to
interact on a local system. Distributed COM (DCOM) uses the same interfaces
as COM, but enables components to interact over a distributed, or networked,
environment.

Front 26

• Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) enables several different applications to
communicate with several different types of databases by calling the required
driver and passing data through that driver.

Back 26

• Object linking and embedding (OLE) enables a program to call another
program (linking) and permits a piece of data to be inserted inside another
program or document (embedding).

Front 27

• Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) enables applications to work in a client/server
model by providing the interprocess communication (IPC) mechanism

Back 27

• Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) provides much of the same
functionality as DCOM, which enables different objects to communicate
in a networked environment.

Front 28

.• DCE uses universal unique identifiers (UUIDs) to keep track of different
subjects, objects, and resources.

Back 28

• An expert system uses a knowledge base full of facts, rules of thumb, and
expert advice. It also has an inference machine that matches facts against
patterns and determines which rules are to be applied.

Front 29

• Expert systems are used to mimic human reasoning and replace human experts.

Back 29

• Expert systems use inference engine processing, automatic logical processing,
and general methods of searching for problem solutions.

Front 30

• Artificial neural networks (ANNs) attempt to mimic a brain by using units
that react like neurons.

Back 30

• ANNs can learn from experiences and can match patterns that regular
programs and systems cannot.

Front 31

• Java security employs a sandbox so the applet is restricted from accessing the
user’s hard drive or system resources. Programmers have figured out how to
write applets that escape the sandbox.

Back 31

• ActiveX uses a security scheme that includes digital signatures. The browser
security settings determine how ActiveX controls are dealt with.

Front 32

• SOAP allows programs created with different programming languages and
running on different operating systems to interact without compatibility issues.

Back 32

• A virus is an application that requires a host application for replication.

Front 33

• Macro viruses are common because the languages used to develop macros are
easy to use and they infect Office products, which are everywhere.

Back 33

• A boot sector virus overwrites data in the boot sector and can contain the rest
of the virus in a sector it marks as “bad.”

Front 34

• A stealth virus hides its tracks and its actions.

Back 34

• A polymorphic virus tries to escape detection by making copies of itself and
modifying the code and attributes of those copies.

Front 35

• Multipart viruses can have one part of the virus in the boot sector and another
part of the virus on the hard drive.

Back 35

• A self-garbling virus tries to escape detection by changing, or garbling, its
own code.

Front 36

• A worm does not require a host application to replicate.

Back 36

• A logic bomb executes a program when a predefined event takes place, or a
date and time are met.

Front 37

• A Trojan horse is a program that performs useful functionality and malicious
functionally without the user knowing it.

Back 37

• Smurf and Fraggle are two examples of DoS attacks that take advantage of
protocol flaws and use amplifying networks.