FINAL EXAM: Computer Security 101

If you have been following along and reading and studying the Computer Security 101 lessons and taking each of the 10 associated quizzes- then you should be ready for the BIG TIME!

I have posted a 50-question Final Exam based on all 10 lessons / quizzes. Click below to take the Final Exam and see how much you really know.

Computer Security 101: Final Exam


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The link will take you to the final exam quiz on my About.com Internet / Network Security site. For those who aren't familiar, About.com likes to use pop-up / pop-under advertising. Make sure you have these things blocked (you can get free tools here: Free Pop-Up and Messenger Spam Blocking Tools) or at least just be prepared.

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Question #11

"In order to communicate using TCP/IP each Host must have a unique IP address."

It must also have a unique MAC address. There are 2 possible answers to this question.

An IP Address is the Internet equivalent of:

a) Your birth date b) Your mailing address
c) Your social security number d) Your phone number

Another bad question....it is really tough to compare an IP address to only a mailing address. I know where you are going with this because of the whole routing perspective, but phone numbers could also be an analogy to an IP address.

On *Nix systems, ______ is used to change the owner of a file or directory

a) Owner b) CHOWN
c) Modify d) CHMOD

none of these is right....try 'chown' instead (Unix is case sensitive)

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Another bad question....it is really tough to compare an IP address to only a mailing address. I know where you are going with this because of the whole routing perspective, but phone numbers could also be an analogy to an IP address.

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Hmmm...I would think of a phone more like a multicast...one number multiple phones? Maybe something along those lines is what they were thinking...IMHO, the two are too close (I hate chose the BETTER answer tests).

/nebulus

I agree with you somewhat.

On the MAC Address thing though- while it is possible, at least in Windows, to fake a MAC Address- they are hard coded on the devices so it isn't generally something you would have to think about.

As for the mailing address / phone number part- I can see your point, but you also need to keep in mind that these questions go with the Computer Security 101 lessons and the answers should reflect the explanations I gave in the lessons. IMO, the IP address and the way it breaks down from host to network is more equivalent to the way an address breaks down from specific street address to state or zip code.

Just my own $.02

I'll grant the chown one though. I knew that *Nix is case sensitive (although its not my OS du jour), but I researched that info from somewhere that listed the commands like that. I'll make the change.

I have a couple other tweaks I've been told about as well so I'll fix it up later today.

Thanks for taking the time to let me know the issues and errors you find.

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Originally posted here by nebulus200


Hmmm...I would think of a phone more like a multicast...one number multiple phones? Maybe something along those lines is what they were thinking...IMHO, the two are too close (I hate chose the BETTER answer tests).

/nebulus

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I see where you are going with this, but regardless, a multicast address is still an IP address....

Funny, I thought the same thing on that question. Its not a real scientific one, but more of a what does the question writer WANT me to say thing.

-Maestr0

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Originally posted here by tonybradley
I agree with you somewhat.

On the MAC Address thing though- while it is possible, at least in Windows, to fake a MAC Address- they are hard coded on the devices so it isn't generally something you would have to think about.

As for the mailing address / phone number part- I can see your point, but you also need to keep in mind that these questions go with the Computer Security 101 lessons and the answers should reflect the explanations I gave in the lessons. IMO, the IP address and the way it breaks down from host to network is more equivalent to the way an address breaks down from specific street address to state or zip code.

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I think there is a disconnect because I did not read the lesson :)

You are right that you can spoof a MAC address, but it is even easier to spoof an IP address. Also, my take on the address thing and how it breaks down to street, state, etc....A phone number works the exact same way. You have a country code, and area code, and a 3-digit prefix which is how phone calls are routed.

Overall though...nice contributions to the security community with all your work

I thought it was a good read but is there some way you could add a list at the end telling you how many you got right and how many you have wrong I think it would benfit the people who take the test and strive to get 100% correct on it.

I think that now with the wide spread use of NAT the phone analogy is more correct then the address analogy (lots of computers on one IP at one physical location)

Interesting little exam. Thanks for the link.


--PuRe