Cyber Security and Emerging Technologies
Cyber Security and Emerging Technologies checks whether you can name a threat, explain the protection that counters it, and describe newer technologies in one or two accurate sentences. Expect definitions, scenario-based identification questions, and short notes on AI, IoT, cloud and blockchain.
Core rules
- The CIA triad: confidentiality (only authorised readers), integrity (data unchanged), availability (systems reachable).
- A virus needs a host file and user action; a worm self-replicates across networks; a trojan hides inside apparently useful software; ransomware encrypts files and demands payment.
- Phishing uses fake messages or sites to steal credentials; smishing is via SMS, vishing via voice call.
- A firewall filters traffic by rules; authentication proves identity, authorisation decides permissions.
- Symmetric encryption uses one shared key (fast, but key distribution is a problem); asymmetric uses a public/private pair. Hashing is one-way and checks integrity; a digital signature is a hash encrypted with the sender's private key.
- The IT Act 2000 is India's primary cyber law. Emerging areas: AI/ML, IoT, cloud (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS), blockchain (distributed ledger) and big data.
Worked example
A mail from [email protected] says your account is blocked and asks you to log in with your OTP.
- Indicator 1: the domain is not the bank's domain, although the display name says "Bank".
- Indicator 2: urgency plus a request for an OTP, which no bank asks for.
- Classification: phishing. Response: do not click, report and delete, and contact the bank through its official number.
Traps
- Treating a worm as a virus that needs a host file; worms spread by themselves over networks.
- Claiming encryption guarantees integrity; it does not.
- Confusing hashing with encryption; hashes cannot be decrypted.
- Assuming HTTPS proves a site is genuine.