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Unit 1: Introduction to Ethical Hacking, System Fundamentals, Cryptography - Practice Quiz

INT244 — Securing Computing Systems 50 Questions
0 Correct 0 Wrong 50 Left
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1 What is the primary difference between a 'Black Hat' hacker and a 'White Hat' hacker?

A. The operating system used
B. The age of the hacker
C. Technical skill level
D. Authorization and intent

2 Which term refers to the pre-computer era practice of manipulating telephone networks?

A. Sniffing
B. Phishing
C. Spoofing
D. Phreaking

3 Which phase of the ethical hacking methodology involves gathering information about a target without directly interacting with it?

A. Active Scanning
B. Gaining Access
C. Enumeration
D. Passive Reconnaissance

4 In the context of hacking methodologies, what is the primary goal of 'Clearing Tracks'?

A. To crash the system
B. To install a backdoor
C. To steal data
D. To avoid detection and maintain access

5 Which type of penetration testing is performed with no prior knowledge of the target system?

A. White Box
B. Black Box
C. Crystal Box
D. Gray Box

6 What is the specific legal requirement that distinguishes an ethical hacker from a malicious hacker?

A. Written permission from the owner
B. A Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) certification
C. Only hacking during business hours
D. Using Linux exclusively

7 Which OSI model layer is primarily responsible for logical addressing and routing?

A. Layer 2 (Data Link)
B. Layer 4 (Transport)
C. Layer 3 (Network)
D. Layer 7 (Application)

8 Which protocol is connection-oriented and ensures reliable data delivery?

A. ICMP
B. TCP
C. IP
D. UDP

9 Which TCP/IP port is the default for unencrypted web traffic (HTTP)?

A. Port 22
B. Port 21
C. Port 443
D. Port 80

10 Which port would an administrator typically use for secure remote command-line access to a Linux server?

A. Port 23 (Telnet)
B. Port 25 (SMTP)
C. Port 22 (SSH)
D. Port 110 (POP3)

11 What is the primary function of the Domain Name System (DNS) running on Port 53?

A. Resolving domain names to IP addresses
B. Transferring files
C. Sending emails
D. Assigning IP addresses to devices

12 How does a network switch differ from a network hub?

A. A switch operates at Layer 3.
B. A switch broadcasts data to all ports.
C. A switch sends data only to the specific recipient MAC address.
D. A switch cannot connect multiple devices.

13 What is a 'broadcast domain'?

A. A group of devices that receive broadcast frames originating from any device in the group
B. The range of a WiFi signal
C. A specific IP address range for servers
D. A domain used for TV broadcasting

14 What is the primary role of a Proxy Server?

A. To physically connect cables
B. To act as an intermediary between a client and a server
C. To generate encryption keys
D. To route packets between different networks

15 Which type of firewall filters traffic based on source, destination, port, and protocol without tracking the state of connections?

A. Application Gateway
B. Packet Filtering Firewall
C. Next-Generation Firewall
D. Stateful Inspection Firewall

16 What is a DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) in network security?

A. An encrypted tunnel
B. A sub-network that exposes external-facing services to an untrusted network
C. A network segment with no security
D. A zone where military software is tested

17 Which file system is native to the Windows Operating System?

A. EXT4
B. APFS
C. NTFS
D. HFS+

18 The Android operating system is based on which kernel?

A. Hybrid Kernel
B. Linux Kernel
C. Darwin
D. Windows NT

19 In Linux, which user account has unrestricted access to all commands and files?

A. System
B. Admin
C. SuperUser
D. Root

20 Which component in Windows stores low-level settings for the OS and installed applications?

A. System32
B. Active Directory
C. Kernel
D. The Registry

21 The Caesar Cipher is an example of which type of cryptography?

A. Substitution Cipher
B. Transposition Cipher
C. Hashing
D. Asymmetric Encryption

22 Which machine was used by the Germans in WWII for encryption and famously broken by Alan Turing?

A. The Enigma
B. The Sigaba
C. The Colossus
D. The Lorenz

23 In Symmetric Cryptography, how many keys are used for the encryption and decryption process?

A. Two
B. Three
C. Four
D. One

24 Which of the following is a symmetric encryption algorithm?

A. RSA
B. AES
C. Diffie-Hellman
D. ECC

25 What is a major disadvantage of Symmetric Cryptography?

A. It increases file size.
B. It is slower than asymmetric cryptography.
C. Key distribution and sharing is difficult.
D. It cannot be implemented on mobile devices.

26 Asymmetric Cryptography is also known as:

A. One-way cryptography
B. Secret-key cryptography
C. Public-key cryptography
D. Block cipher

27 In an asymmetric encryption scenario, if Alice wants to send a confidential message to Bob, which key does she use to encrypt the message?

A. Alice's Private Key
B. Alice's Public Key
C. Bob's Private Key
D. Bob's Public Key

28 Which algorithm is a widely used Asymmetric cryptosystem?

A. AES
B. 3DES
C. RSA
D. DES

29 What is the primary purpose of a Hashing algorithm?

A. To verify data integrity
B. To compress data
C. To encrypt data for confidentiality
D. To create a communication tunnel

30 Which of the following is a characteristic of a secure hash function?

A. It is reversible (two-way).
B. It is a one-way function.
C. It produces variable length output.
D. It uses two keys.

31 What is a 'Collision' in the context of hashing?

A. When data is lost during hashing
B. When encryption and decryption happen simultaneously
C. When a hash function crashes
D. When two different inputs produce the same hash output

32 Which hashing algorithm is considered insecure today due to collision vulnerabilities?

A. SHA-256
B. Whirlpool
C. MD5
D. SHA-3

33 What is the 'Man-in-the-Middle' (MITM) attack in the context of cryptography?

A. An attacker deleting the database
B. An attacker physically stealing the server
C. An attacker intercepting and possibly altering communications between two parties
D. An attacker guessing the password

34 IPsec is primarily used to secure which type of connection?

A. File storage
B. Web browsing (HTTPS)
C. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
D. Email transmission

35 What are the two main modes of operation for IPsec?

A. Public and Private
B. Block and Stream
C. Open and Closed
D. Tunnel and Transport

36 What is PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) primarily used for?

A. Securing WiFi passwords
B. Securing email communications
C. Securing hard drives
D. Securing routing tables

37 Which protocol succeeded SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to provide secure web browsing?

A. HTTP
B. SSH
C. TLS (Transport Layer Security)
D. IPsec

38 What is the purpose of a Digital Signature?

A. To encrypt the message
B. To verify authenticity and non-repudiation
C. To hide the message
D. To compress the message

39 In the context of SSL/TLS, what role does a Certificate Authority (CA) play?

A. It acts as a trusted third party that issues digital certificates.
B. It hosts the website.
C. It encrypts the traffic.
D. It creates the HTML content.

40 Which cryptographic concept refers to hiding a secret message within an ordinary file, like an image?

A. Hashing
B. Steganography
C. Obfuscation
D. Cryptography

41 Which phase of hacking involves scanning the network for specific IP addresses and open ports?

A. Reconnaissance
B. Maintaining Access
C. Gaining Access
D. Scanning

42 What is a 'Gray Hat' hacker?

A. Someone who hacks without permission but often without malicious intent, and may disclose vulnerabilities to the owner
B. A hacker who only uses old hardware
C. A hacker who is retired
D. Someone who hacks for government agencies

43 In a TCP header, which flag is used to initiate a connection?

A. ACK
B. FIN
C. RST
D. SYN

44 Which network device operates at Layer 1 (Physical Layer) of the OSI model?

A. Switch
B. Firewall
C. Router
D. Hub

45 Which command is commonly used to test the reachability of a host on an IP network?

A. nslookup
B. ping
C. ipconfig
D. netstat

46 What is the macOS operating system derived from?

A. Unix (BSD)
B. Linux
C. MS-DOS
D. Solaris

47 Which of the following describes 'Salting' in cryptography?

A. Adding random data to a password before hashing it
B. Encrypting the data twice
C. Changing the algorithm frequently
D. Using a longer key

48 What is the main security risk of using WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) for WiFi?

A. It requires a wired connection.
B. It uses a static key that is easily cracked.
C. It is too slow.
D. It is not compatible with modern phones.

49 In the context of firewalls, what does 'Ingress Filtering' refer to?

A. Filtering based on time of day
B. Filtering traffic entering the network
C. Filtering traffic leaving the network
D. Filtering internal traffic

50 What is the standard port for HTTPS traffic?

A. 80
B. 443
C. 8080
D. 21
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Unit 2