Introduction to Cyber Security and Cyber Threats
Domain focus
Introduction to Cyber Security and Cyber Threats tests whether you can separate assets, threats, vulnerabilities and risks, and recognise attack patterns rather than merely name malware. Expect definitions, the CIA triad, threat-actor motives and basic controls.
Core rules and concepts
- Confidentiality, integrity and availability are separate goals; one control can help one and harm another.
- A threat is a potential cause of harm; a vulnerability is a weakness; risk combines likelihood and impact when a threat exploits a vulnerability.
- Malware differs by behaviour: a virus needs a host and usually user action, a worm self-propagates, a Trojan disguises itself, ransomware denies access, spyware collects data.
- Phishing, smishing, vishing and pharming target trust or traffic direction; spear-phishing is tailored to a person.
- Denial-of-service attacks target availability; man-in-the-middle attacks target confidentiality and integrity; insider threats misuse authorised access.
Worked example
An accounts clerk receives an email that appears to come from a supplier, clicks an invoice link and enters credentials on a lookalike page. The asset is the email account; the threat is a phishing actor; the vulnerability is lack of phishing-resistant MFA and user uncertainty; the risk is fraudulent payment and data exposure. A suitable control is MFA plus payment call-back verification. Reasoning: naming the asset and weakness explains why the control fits; saying only email is not a risk statement.
Traps that cost marks
Do not call a vulnerability a threat. Do not say antivirus stops phishing. Do not treat risk as identical to impact. Do not claim a worm needs a host file. Do not confuse phishing with pharming: one usually uses a deceptive message, the other redirects name resolution.