Accounting Information Systems, 12e (Romney/Steinbart)
Chapter 8 Information Systems Controls for System Reliability Part 1: Information Security
1) The Trust Services Framework reliability principle that states that users must be able to enter, update,
and retrieve data during agreed-upon times is known as
A) availability.
B) security.
C) maintainability.
D) integrity.
2) Which of the following is not a useful control procedure to control access to system outputs?
A) Allowing visitors to move through the building without supervision
B) Coding reports to reflect their importance
C) Requiring employees to log out of applications when leaving their desk
D) Restricting access to rooms with printers
3) According to the Trust Services Framework, the reliability principle of integrity is achieved when the
system produces data that
A) is available for operation and use at times set forth by agreement.
B) is protected against unauthorized physical and logical access.
C) can be maintained as required without affecting system availability, security, and integrity.
D) is complete, accurate, and valid.
4) Which of the following is not one of the three fundamental information security concepts?
A) Information security is a technology issue based on prevention.
B) Security is a management issue, not a technology issue.
C) The idea of defense-in-depth employs multiple layers of controls.
D) The time-based model of security focuses on the relationship between preventive, detective and
corrective controls.
5) Which of the following is not one of the essential criteria for successfully implementing each of the
principles that contribute to systems reliability, as discussed in the Trust Services Framework?
A) Developing and documenting policies
B) Effectively communicating policies to all outsiders
C) Designing and employing appropriate control procedures to implement policies
D) Monitoring the system and taking corrective action to maintain compliance with policies
6) If the time an attacker takes to break through the organization’s preventive controls is greater than the
sum of the time required to detect the attack and the time required to respond to the attack, then security
is
A) effective.
B) ineffective.
C) overdone.
D) undermanaged.
7) Verifying the identity of the person or device attempting to access the system is
A) authentication.
B) authorization.
C) identification.
D) threat monitoring.
8) Restricting access of users to specific portions of the system as well as specific tasks, is
A) authentication.
B) authorization.
C) identification.
D) threat monitoring.
9) Which of the following is an example of a preventive control?
A) Encryption
B) Log analysis
C) Intrusion detection
D) Emergency response teams
10) Which of the following is an example of a detective control?
A) Physical access controls
B) Encryption
C) Log analysis
D) Emergency response teams
11) Which of the following is an example of a corrective control?
A) Physical access controls
B) Encryption
C) Intrusion detection
D) Incident response teams
12) Which of the following is not a requirement of effective passwords?
A) Passwords should be changed at regular intervals.
B) Passwords should be no more than 8 characters in length.
C) Passwords should contain a mixture of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and characters.
D) Passwords should not be words found in dictionaries.
13) Multi-factor authentication
A) involves the use of two or more basic authentication methods.
B) is a table specifying which portions of the systems users are permitted to access.
C) provides weaker authentication than the use of effective passwords.
D) requires the use of more than one effective password.
14) An access control matrix
A) does not have to be updated.
B) is a table specifying which portions of the system users are permitted to access.
C) is used to implement authentication controls.
D) matches the user’s authentication credentials to his authorization.
15) Perimeter defense is an example of which of the following preventive controls that are necessary to
provide adequate security?
A) Training
B) Controlling physical access
C) Controlling remote access
D) Host and application hardening
16) Which of the following preventive controls are necessary to provide adequate security for social
engineering threats?
A) Controlling remote access
B) Encryption
C) Host and application hardening
D) Awareness training
17) A special purpose hardware device or software running on a general purpose computer, which filters
information that is allowed to enter and leave the organization’s information system, is known as a(n)
A) demilitarized zone.
B) intrusion detection system.
C) intrusion prevention system.
D) firewall.
18) This protocol specifies the procedures for dividing files and documents into packets to be sent over
the Internet.
A) Access control list
B) Internet protocol
C) Packet switching protocol
D) Transmission control protocol
19) This protocol specifies the structure of packets sent over the internet and the route to get them to the
proper destination.
A) Access control list
B) Internet protocol
C) Packet switching protocol
D) Transmission control protocol
20) This network access control determines which IP packets are allowed entry to a network and which
are dropped.
A) Access control list
B) Deep packet inspection
C) Stateful packet filtering
D) Static packet filtering
21) Compatibility tests utilize a(n) ________, which is a list of authorized users, programs, and data
files the users are authorized to access or manipulate.
A) validity test
B) biometric matrix
C) logical control matrix
D) access control matrix
22) The process that screens individual IP packets based solely on the contents of the source and/or
destination fields in the packet header is known as
A) access control list.
B) deep packet inspection.
C) stateful packet filtering.
D) static packet filtering.
23) The process that maintains a table that lists all established connections between the organization’s
computers and the Internet, to determine whether an incoming packet is part of an ongoing
communication initiated by an internal computer is known as
A) access control list.
B) deep packet inspection.
C) stateful packet filtering.
D) static packet filtering.
24) The process that allows a firewall to be more effective by examining the data in the body of an IP
packet, instead of just the header, is known as
A) deep packet inspection.
B) stateful packet filtering.
C) static packet filtering.
D) an intrusion prevention system.
25) The security technology that evaluates IP packet traffic patterns in order to identify attacks against a
system is known as
A) an intrusion prevention system.
B) stateful packet filtering.
C) static packet filtering.
D) deep packet inspection.
26) This is used to identify rogue modems (or by hackers to identify targets).
A) War chalking
B) War dialing
C) War driving
D) none of the above
27) The process of turning off unnecessary features in the system is known as
A) deep packet inspection.
B) hardening.
C) intrusion detection.
D) war dialing.
28) The most common input-related vulnerability is
A) buffer overflow attack.
B) hardening.
C) war dialing.
D) encryption.
29) This creates logs of network traffic that was permitted to pass the firewall.
A) Intrusion detection system
B) Log analysis
C) Penetration test
D) Vulnerability scan
30) The process that uses automated tools to identify whether a system possesses any well-known
security problems is known as a(n)
A) intrusion detection system.
B) log analysis.
C) penetration test.
D) vulnerability scan.
31) This is an authorized attempt by an internal audit team or an external security consultant to attempt
to break into the organization’s information system.
A) Intrusion detection system
B) Log analysis
C) Penetration test
D) Vulnerability scan
32) A well-known hacker started his own computer security consulting business shortly after being
released from prison. Many companies pay him to attempt to gain unauthorized access to their network.
If he is successful, he offers advice as to how to design and implement better controls. What is the name
of the testing for which the hacker is being paid?
A) Penetration test
B) Vulnerability scan
C) Deep packet inspection
D) Buffer overflow test
33) The ________ disseminates information about fraud, errors, breaches and other improper system
uses and their consequences.
A) chief information officer
B) chief operations officer
C) chief security officer
D) computer emergency response team
34) In 2007, a major U.S. financial institution hired a security firm to attempt to compromise its
computer network. A week later, the firm reported that it had successfully entered the system without
apparent detection and presented an analysis of the vulnerabilities that had been found. This is an
example of a
A) preventive control.
B) detective control.
C) corrective control.
D) standard control.
35) It was 9:08 A.M. when Jiao Jan, the Network Administrator for Folding Squid Technologies, was
informed that the intrusion detection system had identified an ongoing attempt to breach network
security. By the time that Jiao had identified and blocked the attack, the hacker had accessed and
downloaded several files from the company’s server. Using the notation for the time-based model of
security, in this case
A) P > D
B) D > P
C) C > P
D) P > C
36) Which of the following is commonly true of the default settings for most commercially available
wireless access points?
A) The security level is set at the factory and cannot be changed.
B) Wireless access points present little danger of vulnerability so security is not a concern.
C) Security is set to the lowest level that the device is capable of.
D) Security is set to the highest level that the device is capable of.
37) In recent years, many of the attacks carried out by hackers have relied on this type of vulnerability in
computer software.
A) Code mastication
B) Boot sector corruption
C) Weak authentication
D) Buffer overflow
38) Meaningful Discussions is a social networking site that boasts over a million registered users and a
quarterly membership growth rate in the double digits. As a consequence, the size of the information
technology department has been growing very rapidly, with many new hires. Each employee is provided
with a name badge with a photo and embedded computer chip that is used to gain entry to the facility.
This is an example of a(an)
A) authentication control.
B) biometric device.
C) remote access control.
D) authorization control.
39) When new employees are hired by Folding Squid Technologies, they are assigned user names and
appropriate permissions are entered into the information system’s access control matrix. This is an
example of a(an)
A) authentication control.
B) biometric device.
C) remote access control.
D) authorization control.
40) When new employees are hired by Folding Squid Technologies, they are assigned user names and
passwords and provided with laptop computers that have an integrated fingerprint reader. In order to log
in, the user’s fingerprint must be recognized by the reader. This is an example of a(an)
A) authorization control.
B) biometric device.
C) remote access control.
D) defense in depth.
41) Information technology managers are often in a bind when a new exploit is discovered in the wild.
They can respond by updating the affected software or hardware with new code provided by the
manufacturer, which runs the risk that a flaw in the update will break the system. Or they can wait until
the new code has been extensively tested, but that runs the risk that they will be compromised by the
exploit during the testing period. Dealing with these issues is referred to as
A) change management.
B) hardening.
C) patch management.
D) defense in depth.
42) Murray Snitzel called a meeting of the top management at Snitzel Capital Management. Number one
on the agenda was computer system security. “The risk of security breach incidents has become
unacceptable,” he said, and turned to the Chief Information Officer. “This is your responsibility! What
do you intend to do?” Which of the following is the best answer?
A) Evaluate and modify the system using the Trust Services framework
B) Evaluate and modify the system using the COSO Internal Control Framework.
C) Evaluate and modify the system using the CTC checklist.
D) Evaluate and modify the system using COBOL.
43) Which of the following is the most effective method of protecting against social engineering attacks
on a computer system?
A) stateful packet filtering
B) employee awareness training
C) a firewall
D) a demilitarized zone
44) The most effective way to protect network resources, like email servers, that are outside of the
network and are exposed to the Internet is
A) stateful packet filtering.
B) employee training.
C) a firewall.
D) a demilitarized zone.
45) All employees of E.C. Hoxy are required to pass through a gate and present their photo
identification cards to the guard before they are admitted. Entry to secure areas, such as the Information
Technology Department offices, requires further procedures. This is an example of a(an)
A) authentication control.
B) authorization control.
C) physical access control.
D) hardening procedure.
46) On February 14, 2008, students enrolled in an economics course at Swingline College received an
email stating that class would be cancelled. The email claimed to be from the professor, but it wasn’t.
Computer forensic experts determined that the email was sent from a computer in one of the campus
labs at 9:14 A.M. They were then able to uniquely identify the computer that was used by means of its
network interface card’s ________ address. Security cameras revealed the identity of the student
responsible for spoofing the class.
A) TCP/IP
B) MAC
C) DMZ
D) IDS
47) There are “white hat” hackers and “black hat” hackers. Cowboy451 was one of the “black hat”
hackers. He had researched an exploit and determined that he could penetrate the target system,
download a file containing valuable data, and cover his tracks in eight minutes. Six minutes into the
attack he was locked out of the system. Using the notation of the time-based model of security, which of
the following must be true?
A) P < 6
B) D = 6
C) P = 6
D) P > 6
48) Identify three ways users can be authenticated and give an example of each.
49) Describe four requirements of effective passwords .
50) Explain social engineering.
51) Explain the value of penetration testing.
52) Describe the function of a computer incident response team (CIRT) and the steps that a CIRT should
perform following a security incident.
53) Identify six physical access controls.