Computer Security Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Correct answer: Both i and ii

Both statements are true, and for the same reason: a macro virus is written in the macro language of an application, not in machine code. So it infects documents rather than executables, and it runs wherever the application runs, whatever the operating system underneath.

Answer: D

Correct answer: All of the above

Word supports all three kinds: command macros that replace a built-in command and run when it is invoked, auto macros that run on events such as opening or closing a document, and the AutoExec macro that runs when Word itself starts. Each gives a macro virus a way to execute without the user choosing to run anything.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Propagation phase

Propagation is the phase in which the virus writes copies of itself into other programs or into system areas of the disk. The dormant phase is idleness, the triggering phase is the event that wakes it, and the execution phase is the payload.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Zombie

A zombie is a compromised machine that an attacker controls remotely and uses as a platform for attacks on others, which conceals the attacker's own address. A trap door is a hidden entry point into a program, not a captured machine.

Answer: B

Correct answer: The Information Technology Act, 2000

The Information Technology Act, 2000 is India's principal statute on electronic records, digital signatures and cybercrime; it was substantially amended in 2008. The other two titles are invented.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Spam

Hackers, identity theft and viruses each threaten security or privacy directly. Spam is unsolicited advertising - a nuisance and often the vehicle for the other three, but not in itself a security or privacy risk, which is why it is the exception.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Pieces of malicious code that make copies of themselves and spread without a host program

A worm is self-replicating and self-propagating: unlike a virus it needs no host file and no user action, which is why it can spread across a network on its own. An unsolicited email message is spam.

Answer: A

Correct answer: No

Antivirus software that shipped with the machine is out of date the moment the machine is sold, since new threats appear daily and its definitions were fixed at the factory. It has to be updated - along with the operating system's patches - before the machine can safely be exposed to the internet.

Answer: D

Correct answer: All of the above

All three are real motives, and the list runs from the petty to the criminal: spite, direct theft or fraud, and the use of the machine itself as a resource for distributing illegal material or attacking others. The last is the commonest and the one victims least expect, since it does no visible harm to them.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Report it as phishing/spam through your email provider

No legitimate service asks for a password by email, so such a message is phishing. Reporting it both protects the account and helps the provider block the sender for everyone else; merely deleting it does the first but not the second, and replying hands over exactly what the attacker asked for.