CISSP Cheat Sheet
CISSP Cheat Sheet
Domain 1:
Security and Risk Management
TE
CO
AVAILABILITY
expire.
Organizations are subject to a wide variety of legal and Security controls may be preventive, detective, or
regulatory compliance obligations from: corrective.
• Criminal laws that may involve prison or fines.
• Civil laws that regulate non-criminal disputes. Business continuity planning conducts a business impact
• Administrative laws set by government agencies. assessment and then implements controls designed to
• Regulations from industry bodies. keep the business running during adverse circumstances.
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Domain 2:
Asset Security
Information should be classified based upon its Data should be retained no longer than necessary. Use
sensitivity to the organization. Assets should be sanitization technology to ensure that no traces of data
classified based upon the classification of information remain on media (data remnance) before discarding it.
that they store, process, and transmit.
• Erasing performs a delete operation on a file but the
Common classes of sensitive information include: data remains on disk.
• Clearing overwrites the data with random values to
Personally identifiable information (PII) which ensure that it is sanitized.
uniquely identifies individuals.
Data Role Responsibilities
Protected health information (PHI) which includes
Data Owner Senior-level executive who establishes rules and
individual health records. determines appropriate controls for information.
Data Controller Organization or person within an organization
Proprietary information which contains trade secrets. who determines the purpose and means of data
processing. Special significance under GDPR.
Data State Description Data Custodian Individuals who are responsible for managing data
and data security controls for an organization.
Data at Rest Data stored on a system or media device
This role is commonly found within IT teams.
Data in Motion Data in transit over a network Data Processor An organization that handles information on
behalf of another organization, typically a
Data in Use Data being actively processed in memory
business-to-business relationship.
Data User Individuals who interact with information during
the normal course of business.
TOP SECRET HIGHLY SENSITIVE
Data Subject Individuals who may be individually identified
by name or another identifier within the records
maintained by an organization.
INCREASING SENSITIVITY
PR
NT
SECRET SENSITIVE
IVA
ME
TE
SE
VE
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Domain 3:
Security Architecture and Engineering
n(n-1)
The two basic cryptographic operations are substitution 2
keys 2n keys
which modifies characters and transposition, which
moves them around.
Secure symmetric algorithms include 3DES, AES, IDEA,
Symmetric encryption uses the same shared secret and Blowfish. DES is not secure.
key for encryption and decryption.
Secure asymmetric algorithms include RSA, El Gamal,
In asymmetric encryption, users each have their own and elliptic curve (ECC).
public/private keypair. Keys are used as follows:
Quantum computing uses the principles of quantum
Confidentiality Digital Signature mechanics to perform computing tasks. Quantum
cryptography applies quantum computing to encryption
Sender Encrypts with… Recipient’s public key Sender’s private key
and decryption and may have the ability to defeat odern
Recipient Decrypts with… Recipient’s private key Sender’s public key encryption algorithms when fully implemented.
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Domain 3:
Security Architecture and Engineering
The Diffie-Hellman algorithm may be used for secure Dedicated System High Compartmented Multilevel
CPUs support two modes of operation: user mode Mantraps use a set of double doors to restrict physical
for standard applications and privileged mode for access to a facility.
processes that require direct access to core resources.
TCP is a connection-oriented protocol, while UDP is
Model Bell-LaPadula Biba a connectionless protocol that does not guarantee
delivery.
Goal Confidentiality Integrity
Simple Property No read up No read down TCP Three-Way Handshake
*-Property No write down No write up
SYN
SYN/ACK
Certification is the process of evaluating and assigning
a security rating to a product. Accreditation is the ACK
approval of a specific configuration for a specific use.
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Domain 4:
Communication and Network Security
Wi-Fi networks should be secured with WPA2 or WPA3 When deploying services in the cloud, organizations
encryption rather than WEP or WPA. WPA2 uses the may choose from three major cloud strategies:
CCMP protocol, while WPA3 uses the simultaneous
authentication of equals (SAE) in conjunction with AES • Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) deploys entire
cryptography. applications to the cloud. The customer is only
responsible for supplying data and manipulating the
Network switches generally work at layer 2 and application.
connect directly to endpoints or other switches. • Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) sells basic
Switches may also create virtual LANs (VLANs) to building blocks, such as servers and storage. The
further segment internal networks at layer 2. customer manages the operating system and
configures and installs software.
Routers generally work at layer 3 and connect networks • Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provides the customer
to each other. Firewalls are the primary network security with a managed environment to run their own
control used to separate networks of differing security levels. software without concern for the underlying hardware.
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Domain 4:
Communication and Network Security
Port(s) Service Most Virtual Private Networks (VPN) use either TLS
20, 21 FTP or IPsec. IPsec uses Authentication Headers (AH) to
22 SSH
provide authentication, integrity and nonrepudiation
and Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) to provide
23 Telnet
confidentiality.
25 SMTP
53 DNS Cloud services may be built and/or purchased in several
80 HTTP forms:
• Public cloud providers sell services to many
110 POP3
different customers and many customers may share
123 NTP
the same physical hardware.
135, 137-139, 445 Windows File Sharing • Private cloud environments dedicate hardware to a
143 IMAP single user.
161/162 SNMP • Hybrid cloud environments combine elements of
public and private cloud in a single organization.
443 HTTPS
• Community cloud environments use a model
1433/1434 SQL Server similar to the public cloud but with access restricted
1521 Oracle to a specific set of customers.
1720 H.323
1723 PPTP
3389 RDP
9100 HP JetDirect Printing
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Domain 5:
Identity and Access Management
The core activities of identity and access management are: Organizations often use centralized access control
• Identification where a user makes a claim of identity. systems to streamline authentication and authorization
• Authentication where the user proves the claim of and to provide users with a single sign on (SSO)
identity. experience. These solutions often leverage Kerberos
• Authorization where the system confirms that the which uses a multi step logon process:
user is permitted to perform the requested action.
1. User authenticates to a client on his or her device.
In access control systems, we seek to limit the access 2. Client sends the authentication credentials to the
that subjects (e.g. users, applications, processes) have Key Distribution Center (KDC).
to objects (e.g. information resources, systems) 3. KDC verifies the credentials and creates a ticket
granting ticket (TGT) and sends it to the user.
Access controls work in three different fashions: 4. Client makes a service access request to the KDC
• Technical (or logical) controls use hardware using the TGT.
and software mechanisms, such as firewalls and 5. KDC verifies the TGT, creates a service ticket (ST) for
intrusion prevention systems, to limit access. the user to use with the service, and sends the ST to
• Physical controls, such as locks and keys, limit the user.
physical access to controlled spaces. 6. User sends the ST to the service.
• Administrative controls, such as account reviews, 7. Service verifies the ST with the KDC and grants access.
provide management of personnel and business
practices.
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Domain 5:
Identity and Access Management
RADIUS is an authentication protocol commonly Risk-based access control systems vary their access control
used for backend services. TACACS+ serves a similar decisions based upon the current threat environment.
purpose and is the only protocol from the TACACS
family that is still commonly used. Rule-based access control systems make access control
decisions based upon a set of predefined rules. Firewalls
The Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) are a common example.
provides an open standard for different entities to
exchange authentication and authorization information Brute force attacks against password systems try to
when performing federation. guess all possible passwords. Dictionary attacks refine
this approach by testing combinations and permutations
OAuth is an authorization standard that allows users to of dictionary words. Rainbow table attacks precompute
log into applications using credentials provided by other hash values for use in comparison. Salting passwords
identity providers without providing the application with with a random value prior to hashing them reduces the
those credentials. OpenID Connect is a consumer- effectiveness of rainbow table attacks.
focused implementation of OAuth used by Google and
other cloud service providers. Man-in-the-middle attacks intercept a client’s initial
request for a connection to a server and proxy that
The implicit deny principle says that any action that is connection to the real service. The client is unaware
not explicitly authorized for a subject should be denied. that they are communicating through a proxy and the
attacker can eavesdrop on the communication and
Access control lists (ACLs) form the basis of many access inject commands.
management systems and provide a listing of subjects and
their permissions on objects and groups of objects.
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Domain 6:
Security Assessment and Testing
Security tests verify that a control is functioning • Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE)
properly. Security assessments are comprehensive • Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS)
reviews of the security of a system, application, or other • Common Configuration Enumeration (CCE)
tested environment. • Common Platform Enumeration (CPE)
• Extensible Configuration Checklist Description
Security audits use testing and assessment techniques Format (XCCDF)
but are performed by independent auditors. There are • Open Vulnerability and Assessment Language (OVAL)
three types of security audits:
Network discovery scanning uses tools like nmap to
• Internal audits are performed by an organization’s check for active systems and open ports. Common
internal audit staff, normally led by a Chief Audit scanning techniques include:
Executive who reports directly to the CEO.
• External audits are performed by an outside • TCP SYN scans send a single packet with the SYN flag set.
auditing firm. • TCP Connect scans attempt to complete the three
• Third-party audits are conducted by, or on behalf way handshake.
of, another organization, such as a regulator. • TCP ACK scans seek to impersonate an established
connection.
Organizations that provide services to other organizations • Xmas scans set the FIN, PSH, and URG flags.
may conduct service organization control (SOC) audits
under SSAE 18. These engagements produce two different Network vulnerability scanning first discovers active
types of reports: services on the network and then probes those services
for known vulnerabilities. Web application vulnerability
• Type I reports provide a description of the controls scans use tools that specialize in probing for web
in place, as described by the audited organization, application weaknesses.
and the auditor’s opinion whether the controls
described are sufficient. The auditor does not test The vulnerability management workflow includes three
the controls. basic steps: detection, remediation, and validation.
• Type II reports results when the auditor actually
tests the controls and provides an opinion on their Penetration testing goes beyond vulnerability scanning and
effectiveness. attempts to exploit vulnerabilities. It includes five steps:
COBIT, ISO 27001, and ISO 27002 are commonly used Planning
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Domain 6:
Security Assessment and Testing
There are three different types of penetration tests: Static testing evaluates software code without
• During white box penetration tests, testers have full executing it, while dynamic testing executes the code
access to information about the target systems. during the test. Fuzz testing supplies invalid input to
• During black box penetration tests, testers conduct applications in an attempt to trigger an error state.
their work without any knowledge of the target
environment. Interface testing evaluates the connections between
• Gray box tests reside in the middle, providing different system components.
testers with partial knowledge about the environment.
Misuse case testing evaluates known avenues of attack
Code review provides an important software assurance in an application.
tool that allows peer review by fellow developers for
security, performance, and reliability issues. Test coverage analysis metrics evaluate the
completeness of testing efforts using the formula:
Fagan inspections are a formal code review process
that follows a rigorous six-step process with formalized (use cases tested)
test coverage =
entry and exit parameters for each step: (all use cases)
Inspection
Rework
Follow UP
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Domain 7:
Security Operations
Security professionals are often called upon to participate Cybersecurity incident response efforts follow this process:
in a variety of investigations:
• Criminal investigations look into the violation of a
criminal law and use the beyond a reasonable doubt Detection
standard of proof.
• Civil investigations examine potential violations of
civil law and use the preponderance of the evidence Lessons
Response
standard. Learned
• Regulatory investigations examine the violation of
a private or public regulatory standard.
• Administrative investigations are internal to an Remediation Mitigation
organization, supporting administrative activities.
The disaster recovery process begins when operations Honeypot System that serves as a decoy to
attract attackers.
are disrupted at the primary site and shifted to an
alternate capability. The process only concludes when Honeynet Unused network designed to capture
probing traffic.
normal operations are restored.
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Domain 7:
Security Operations
Backups provide an important disaster recovery control. When managing the physical environment, you should
Remember that there are three major categories of backup: be familiar with common power issues:
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Domain 8:
Software Development Security
The waterfall model of software development is fairly rigid, While the agile approach eschews this rigidity for
allowing the process to return only to the previous step: a series of incremental deliverables created using a
process that values:
System
• Individuals and interactions instead of processes
Requirements and tools
• Working software instead of comprehensive
Software
Requirements
documentation
• Customer collaboration instead of contract
Preliminary negotiation
Design
• Responding to change instead of following a plan
Detailed
Design Software testing follows two primary approaches. In
static testing, testers analyze the source code without
Code and executing it. Dynamic testing executes the source code
Debug
against test datasets.
Testing
Software testers can have varying degrees of knowledge
about the software they are testing. In a white box test,
Operations
and they have full knowledge of the software. In a black box
Maintenance
test, they have no knowledge, while grey box tests reside
in the middle, providing testers with partial knowledge.
The spiral model uses a more iterative approach:
The top ten security vulnerabilities in web applications,
Cumulative cost
according to OWASP are:
1. Determine Progress 2. Identity and 1. Injection attacks
objectives resolve risks
2. Broken authentication
3. Sensitive data exposure
4. XML external entities
5. Broken access control
6. Security misconfiguration
7. Cross-site scripting
Requirements
Prototype 2
Operational
prototype
8. Insecure deserialization
9. Using components with known vulnerabilities.
plan Prototype 1
Concept of Concept of
Detailed
10. Insufficient logging and monitoring
operation Requirements
Requirements Draft
design
Development
Verification Code
In addition to maintaining current and patched platforms,
plan
& Validation
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