You're reading from CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 Certification Guide - Third Edition

Product typeBook

Published inJan 2024

PublisherPackt

ISBN-139781835461532

Edition3rd Edition

Concepts

Cybersecurity

Author (1)

Ian Neil

Introduction

This chapter covers the sixth objective of Domain 5.0, Security Program Management and Oversight, of the CompTIA Security+ exam.

In this chapter, we are going to look at implementing security awareness practices, beginning with anomalous behavior recognition, and then moving on to phishing attack prevention through regular monitoring and reporting of these findings. This will further include a consideration of user guidance and training methodologies, with particular attention to their development and execution.

This chapter will give you an overview of why companies rely on these processes to keep their environments safe, ensuring that you are prepared to successfully answer all exam questions related to these concepts for your certification.

Note

A full breakdown of Exam Objective 5.6 will be provided at the end of the chapter.

Phishing

Phishing attempts often involve fraudulent emails, wherein malicious actors pose as legitimate organizations or charities so that the attacker can steal your financial information. In these deceptive emails, recipients are urged to click on links and provide personal information or make payments.

Phishing attacks may take one of several forms, as defined in Table 28.1:

Anomalous Behavior Recognition

Anomalous Behavior Recognition (ABR) refers to the identification of unusual patterns or behaviors within a system or on the network. There are three types of anomalous behavior recognition, which are defined as follows:

Risky: Risky behavior represents actions that, while not necessarily malicious, carry a heightened level of risk or potential harm to a system or organization. This can include actions such as granting excessive permissions, sharing login credentials, downloading suspicious files, or ignoring security warnings. The top three risky behaviors at the time of writing are described in the following article: https://www.netsurion.com/articles/top-three-high-risk-behaviors-that-compromise-it-security.
Unexpected: Unexpected behavior is characterized by actions or activities that deviate from established norms or historical patterns. It encompasses actions that may not align with a user’s typical behavior or system operation...

User Guidance and Training

For effective security awareness training, there are several elements to consider. These elements include policy/handbooks, situational awareness, insider threats, password management, removable media and cables, social engineering, operational security, and working in a hybrid/remote working role. They can be defined as follows:

Policy/handbooks: Clear and comprehensive policies and handbooks are an essential part of user awareness training. These might include standard operating procedures, acceptable use policies, security protocols, or the consequences of non-compliance. Effective policies should be regularly reviewed, updated, and communicated to all staff to ensure ongoing adherence to the policy.
Situational awareness: Situational awareness is about identifying potential threats and vulnerabilities, understanding the consequences of actions, and making informed decisions to minimize risks. Consistent training can improve users’ capacity...

Reporting and Monitoring

Monitoring and reporting on the completion and effectiveness of security training is important, ensuring that employees are aware of the security needs of a company and are actively engaged in any required actions. Before you can do this, however, there needs to be a plan in place that will help you create and assess the training program itself, ensuring that it meets its intended goals. I have developed a framework that should be adopted to get the greatest benefits when delivering the training.

As shown in Figure 28.1, it starts with goals and needs, moves on to the development of the training, and then the delivery and feedback, and finally, data from the monitoring phase can be fed back into the goals and needs to refine the training.

Figure 28.1: A security awareness practices framework

As you can see in Figure 28.1, this framework consists of the following stages:

Goals/Needs: For a new training course...

Summary

This chapter covered the different types of security awareness practices to encourage vigilance against common threat types, such as phishing attacks and anomalous or unexpected behaviors. We considered several delivery methods for this training, including user guidance, internal campaigns, and policies/handbooks, and explored approaches to measuring the efficacy of these methods—both initial and recurring—through the continuous reporting and monitoring of these practices. The knowledge gained in this chapter will prepare you to answer any questions relating to Exam Objective 5.6 in your certification exam.

Congratulations! You are now at the end of the book! You will have now mastered all five domains of the CompTIA 701 exam. You have learned about the general security principles needed for an effective security posture in your enterprise, and how to recommend and implement the right security solutions. You have also learned about the monitoring of secure...

Exam Objectives 5.6

Given a scenario, implement security awareness practices.

Types of anomalous behavior:
- Risky: Carrying out risky practices
- Unexpected: A user attempting unauthorized access
- Unintentional: Damage caused by human error
User guidance and training methods:
- Policy/handbooks: Training material
- Situational awareness: A training aid for a job role
- Insider threat: A disgruntled employee causing damage
- Password management: Best practice for passwords
- Removable media and cables: Attack vectors
- Social engineering: Catching users unaware
- Operational security: Looking at social engineering attacks
- Hybrid/remote work environments: Working in remote locations
Reporting and monitoring:
- Initial: Evaluating training effectiveness
- Recurring: Retraining if staff’s guard is lowered
- Development: Creating training materials
- Execution: Delivery of training

Chapter Review Questions

The following questions are designed to check that you have understood the information in the chapter. For a realistic practice exam, please check the practice resources in our exclusive online study tools (refer to Chapter 29, Accessing the online practice resources for instructions to unlock them). The answers and explanations to these questions can be found via this link.

The cybersecurity team has observed multiple instances of hacked passwords among employees. In response, they are planning to implement a password management policy. Which of the following practices should they adopt to enhance password security?
1. A policy that encourages employees to share their passwords with colleagues.
2. A policy that requires employees to use the same password for all their accounts.
3. Promoting the use of strong, unique passwords that include a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
4. Advising employees to use passwords consisting of only...

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Author (1)

Ian Neil

Ian Neil is one of the world's top trainers of Security+. He is able to break down information into manageable chunks so that people with no background knowledge can gain the skills required to become certified. He has recently worked for the US Army in Europe and designed a Security+ course that catered to people from all backgrounds (not just IT professionals), with an extremely successful pass rate. He is an MCT, MCSE, A+, Network+, Security+, CASP, and RESILIA practitioner that has worked with high-end training providers over the past 23 years and was one of the first technical trainers to train Microsoft internal staff when they opened their Bucharest Office in 2006.
Read more about Ian Neil

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Phishing attack	Outcome
Phishing	This is an untargeted attack in which an email is sent randomly to any individual with the intent to trick them into providing their financial information.
Spear Phishing	A targeted form of email phishing, which targets a group of users.
Whaling	An email attack where the target is the CEO or a high-level executive.
...