CISSP Exam Note (Domain 2: Telecommunications and Networking Security) – Availability Concepts / Fault Tolerance
Availability means that the information, the computing systems used to process the information, and the security controls used to protect the information are all available and functioning correctly when the information is needed. The opposite of availability is the lack thereof, one example of this is a common attack known as a denial of service (DoS) attack.
For example: In 2000 Amazon, CNN, eBay, and Yahoo! were victims of a DoS attack.
| “ | Yahoo Attacked. No one knows what happened except that it was inaccesable for more than 3 hours. It was also known that the attack was co-ordinated and hence the standard firewall algorithms failed to figure out what was happening. |
Fault Tolerance is the ability of a system to respond gracefully to an unexpected hardware or software failure. There are many levels of fault tolerance, the lowest being the ability to continue operation in the event of a power failure. Many fault-tolerant computer systems mirror all operations — that is, every operation is performed on two or more duplicate systems, so if one fails the other can take over. Source: http://www.webopedia.com/term/f/fault_tolerance.html Read more
CISSP Exam Note (Domain 2: Telecommunications and Networking Security) – Remote Access Security Management
Key Concepts:
- Confidentiality – no disclosure of data
- Integrity – no alteration of data
- Availability – no destruction of data
Common Remote Connections
- xDSL – Digital Subscriber Line
- Cable Modem
- Wireless
- ISDN – Integrated Services Digital Network
Common Tools in Securing External Remote Connections
- VPN – Virtual Private Network
- SSL – Secure Socket Layer
- SSH – Secure Shell Read more
CISSP Note (Domain 1: Access Control): C.I.A. – Quick Definitions
Information Security has three key focus ensuring the Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability of information, commonly known as C.I.A. Below are their definitions.
Confidentiality – ensure that information is not disclosed to unauthorized person
Integrity
- Prevention of modification by unauthorized users
- Prevention of unauthorized changes by otherwise authorized users
- Internal and external consistency
- Internal consistency within the system (i.e. within a database the sum of subtotals is equal to the sum of all units)
- External consistency – database with the real world (i.e. database total is equal to the actual inventory in the warehouse)
Availability – ability of authorized personnel to access information on time and as necessary Read more

