Cybersecurity Interview Questions And Answers

What Is The Difference Between A Threat A Vulnerability And A Risk

Answering this question calls for a deep understanding of cybersecurity and anyone working in the field should be able to give a strong response. You should expect a follow-up question asking which of the three to focus more on. A simple way to put it: a threat is from someone targeting a vulnerability in the organization that was not mitigated or taken care of since it was not properly identified as a risk.

You Receive An Email From Your Bank Telling You There Is A Problem With Your Account The Email Provides Instructions And A Link So You Can Log Into Your Account And Fix The Problem

What should you do?

Delete the email. Better yet, use the web client and report it as spam or phishing, then delete it.

Any unsolicited email or phone call asking you to enter your account information, disclose your password, financial account information, social security number, or other personal or private information is suspicious even if it appears to be from a company you are familiar with. Always contact the sender using a method you know is legitimate to verify that the message is from them.

Common Interview Questions For Cybersecurity Professionals

Becoming a Cybersecurity professional is a great career choice for individuals who pay attention to the most delicate details and have a deep curiosity for cyber systems.

In addition to fueling your attentive traits, the revenue is growing in the Cybersecurity market, leading to high pay and employment opportunities.

However, before you can access the perks of becoming a Cybersecurity professional, you must first get trained successfully and then navigate the interview process to secure a job.

The interview process can be quite rigorous, as the industry is competitive, and companies only seek to hire the best.

Nonetheless, with some preparation, it can be reasonably easy to do well in the technical questionnaire part of the interview.

That said, below, we look at the most common Cybersecurity Interview Questions starting with the most common theoretical-type questions.

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Discuss The Role Of Teamwork When Analysing And Preventing Cyber Security Threats

Cyber security teams work as part of a wider IT team and, as such, communication and teamwork are essential to maintaining secure, reliable IT systems. Interviewers may ask you about teamwork to establish how well you work with others and assess your interpersonal and communication skills. In answering, you might provide examples to show how you’ve worked well in a team and used your communication skills.

Example answer:’Teamwork is an essential part of cyber security work. The wide range of threats require cyber security teams to have a variety of specialists who all communicate with each other to make sure the system remains secure. Cyber security teams also work closely with network administrators and other IT professionals, so open communication and teamwork is necessary for ensuring the system remains reliable and functions effectively for those using it.’

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Explain The Brute Force Attack How To Prevent It

It is a trial-and-error method to find out the right password or PIN. Hackers repetitively try all the combinations of credentials. In many cases, brute force attacks are automated where the software automatically works to login with credentials. There are ways to prevent Brute Force attacks. They are:

• Setting password length.
• Set limit on login failures.

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What Do You Know About Cybersecurity Frameworks

An information security framework is a series of documented, agreed, and understood policies, procedures, and processes that define how information is managed in a business to lower risk and vulnerability and increase confidence.

Some of the most common frameworks are:

• International Standards Organisation 27K

• Australian Signal Directorate Essential 8 -> ASD agency is responsible for cyber welfareand information security. The ASDâs cyber division is known as the Australian Cyber SecurityCentre . The ACSC provides information, advice, and assistance to prevent andcombat cybersecurity threats in public and private sectors.

• US National Institute of Standards and Technology -> US agency for industry standardisation and measurements.

• Industry-Specific Standards

How Can You Implement Two

Applicants should know that implementing two-factor authentication involves selecting an additional method of verifying a users identity. One example of such a method is smartphone verification.

Your applicant may also mention that authenticator apps are on the rise and help organizations minimize the use of verification codes.

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Hierarchy Of Cybersecurity Jobs And Ranks

In the world of cybersecurity, you’ll find various positions that mean the same thing and others that may seem different but really aren’t.

Here’s a quick overview of the hierarchy of positions in the industry. This may differ from one country to another.

For entry-level jobs, you can find titles such as entry-level cyber security engineer, information security intern, cyber intern, cybersecurity apprentice, and junior cybersecurity associate.

If you’re an individual contributor, your title might be IT analyst, cybersecurity analyst, SOC analyst, penetration tester, security engineer, cryptographer, AWS cloud architect, data security analyst, cybersecurity technician, or a white-hat hacker.

After that, you may become an IT Manager. Positions in this stage include distribution manager, production manager, and quality assurance manager .

The next main role would be IT Director, which included cybersecurity leader or cybersecurity team leader, cybersecurity director, or Director of Information Security.

Going higher up in the chain of command, you’d become the Vice President of Cybersecurity. Under this title, we have a cybersecurity executive or security executive.

The top position in this chain is the Chief Information Security Officer , who doubles as a chief security officer, head of cybersecurity, and president of cybersecurity.

Cyber Security Interview Questions With Sample Answers

The Indeed Editorial Team comprises a diverse and talented team of writers, researchers and subject matter experts equipped with Indeed’s data and insights to deliver useful tips to help guide your career journey.

Cyber security roles offer strong career prospects for anyone with a background in IT and information security. Jobs in cyber security involve researching and analysing potential threats to computer systems and networks, identifying weaknesses, designing security systems and monitoring and responding to security threats and breaches. If you’re applying for cyber security roles, you can prepare for interviews by reviewing questions interviewers may ask and prepare some answers in advance. In this article, we list some typical questions for cyber security interviews and provide five sample answers for you to review.

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Cyber Security Interview Questions

The Indeed Editorial Team comprises a diverse and talented team of writers, researchers and subject matter experts equipped with Indeed’s data and insights to deliver useful tips to help guide your career journey.

Cyber security professionals develop and implement security policies and procedures to protect an organization’s information systems and network so that it can operate safely and effectively. To get a position in this field, it might be necessary to attend and succeed in a job interview where a hiring manager can evaluate your proficiency and technical knowledge. Learning about cyber security positions and the questions you may face during a job interview for these roles can help you prepare compelling and thoughtful answers to feel confident going into your meeting with the hiring manager.

In this article, we list general cyber security interview questions, share questions focused on experience and background, outline in-depth questions, and give examples of answers to other questions to help draft your responses.

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Ask A Question Or Two At The End

To really show that youve been engaged throughout the interview, try to ask a couple at the end. Make sure to ask questions that give you further insight into the work youll be doing. For example, Whats the most important thing you would need me to achieve in my first 90 days? You might also ask, What are some of the first projects Ill be taking on when I start?

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What Are The Benefits Of Cybersecurity

The benefits of cybersecurity include the protection of the data from unauthorised access, loss, or deletion. It is safe from economic fraud and corruption. Cybersecurity also keeps your system secure from intellectual property theft. Cyber espionage is also prevented. This way, you can be assured that all your business data remains within the network premises and will not be misused to cause financial, reputational, or social harm to your employees.

Have A List Of Skills To Check During The Interview

You may have a list of skills that the role requires and have included them in the job description. Make sure you have that list of skills with you during the interview.

You can compare your requirements and your candidates responses and ensure that you select candidates whose cybersecurity knowledge and skills best align with your needs.

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Cybersecurity Interview Questions And How To Answer Them

Q1) Why do you want a career in cybersecurity?

Don’t start off by telling an interviewer that you heard the field pays well and you want to work in a growth field. While that’s one of the reasons many of us pick security, there are better ways to phrase it. Show the interviewer that you’ve done some homework and that you know about the cybersecurity skills shortage and the workforce gap. If you are just starting out, say you’re interested in an entry-level job, but show you have done some homework. Explain that you have been doing some research on which certifications to obtain but haven’t decided yet. Tell the interviewer you are aware of the CompTIA Security+ exam and possibly other certifications, like Certified Ethical Hacker orCISSP.

Q2) What aspect of cybersecurity interests you?

Your answer will tell the interviewer if you are serious. While it’s fine for newbies to say they are still exploring their options, more experienced people need to specify if they’re more interested in a hands-on penetration tester path, want to work on a red team or want to work on an incident response team. Job candidates that ultimately want to become CISOs must show the interviewer how they’ve developed business skills along the way. People with accounting backgrounds can gravitate to compliance or risk jobs on security teams, especially in the financial sector, but if you can, talk about the field in a more in-depth, knowledgeable way that will show the interviewer you are a cut above.

What Are Some Common Hashing Functions/algorithms

Following is the list of some common and most used hashing functions/algorithms:

Message-Digest Algorithm

Message-Digest Algorithm or MD5 is the latest and advanced form of MD4. It was introduced after finding severe security issues in MD4. MD5 is used to generate 128-bit outputs for a variable length of inputs.

MD5 is the advanced version and the successor to MD4. It covers a lot of security threats but fails to provide full data security services. It is one of the most widely used algorithms, but the main issue with using MD5 is its vulnerability and collisions.

Secure Hashing Algorithm

Secure Hashing Algorithm, or SHA, was developed by the National Security Agency. Later it was updated repeatedly to improve the security flaws in the old genre. Its latest and advanced version is SHA-2 that many firms are using for cryptographic purposes.

Tiger Cipher Algorithm

Tiger cypher algorithm is a faster and more efficient algorithm compared to Message Digest and Secure Hashing Algorithm. It is mostly used in new generation computers and has a 192-bit hashing system. Its latest and advanced version is the Tiger2 algorithm which is more powerful than the Tiger algorithm.

RIPMEND Algorithm

Hans Dobbertin designed RIPMEND cryptographic hashing algorithm. It is created using the EU project RIPE framework and has a 164-bit digest.

WHIRLPOOL Algorithm

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What Is Weak Information Security Policy

An information security policy must be strong in terms of distribution, review, comprehension, compliance, and uniformity. Information security considered weak if:

• The policy has not made readily available for review by all employees.

• An organisation is unable to prove that employees reviewed and understood the content of the policy.

Cybersecurity Interview Questions For Your Candidates

Cybersecurity is critical for reinforcing your organizations preparedness to react to threats and protect its sensitive data efficiently. Its vital for dealing with data breaches, should one happen, and mitigate risk.

Its vital to entrust these responsibilities to the right professional. But how can you be confident youre making the right choice when hiring your next cybersecurity expert?

The ideal way to choose the best person for the job is by administering skills tests and inviting the best candidates to an interview in which you ask a comprehensive set of cybersecurity interview questions.

Do you need some inspiration for your list?

Youll find an extensive list of questions to assess candidates cybersecurity skills in this article.

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What Is Deception Technology

Not all attacks can be prevented proactively and that is why an organization additionally need to equip the reactive approach to keep themselves safe against any unforeseen breaches. is a reactive approach where IT security professionals use their skills and tools, to lure hackers into a path that they did not intend to take.

For example, let us assume a hacker is trying to take down a system in the targeted location with its IP address.

37. What is PKI?

Public Key Infrastructure is a framework that is compiled of policies, hardware, software, standards, configurations, to facilitate the trust among the entities that are using the data encryption.

Public key encryption is imperative for communication over emails, any sensitive information communicated over an email can be public-key encrypted, thus leaving the receiver with the information that is very much valid and ensuring it has not reached an incorrect inbox. This is because public key encryption work with a digital certificate, even duplication of the key cannot be successful in this case. Public key encryption is for better security and private key encryption are for storage purposes.

What Do You Understand By Brute Force Attack How Can You Prevent It

Brute Force Attack is a method of finding the right credentials by repetitively trying all the permutations and combinations of possible credentials. Brute Force Attacks are automated in most cases where the tool/software automatically tries to log in with a list of possible credentials.

Following is a list of some ways to prevent Brute Force Attacks:

• Password Length: The length of a password is an important aspect to make it hard to crack. You can specify to set at least a minimum length for the password. The lengthier the password, the harder it is to find.
• Password Complexity: You can include different characters formats in the password to make brute force attacks harder. Using the combination of alpha-numeric keywords along with special characters and upper and lower case characters can increase the password complexity making it difficult to be cracked.
• Limiting Login Attempts: You can make the password hard for brute force attacks by setting a limit on login failures. For example, you can set the limit on login failures as 5. So, when there are five consecutive login failures, the system will restrict the user from logging in for some time or send an Email or OTP to log in the next time. Because brute force is an automated process, limiting login attempts will break the brute force process.

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Q: How Would You Prevent Identity Theft Mention The Steps You’d Use

The purpose of this question is to see how you assess a security risk.

A:To prevent identity theft, I’d start with ensuring that all company passwords are strong, unique, and hard to break. After that, I’d use specialized security solutions such as encrypting data files including sensitive information like customer data, credit card information, and social security numbers, and updating system networks.

Difference Between Threat Vulnerability And Risk

Your organization is exposed to a threat when a malicious actor is trying to leverage a vulnerability existing in a network that was not fixed as there is not a proper identification system to define this as a risk. Another way to explain these three would be, IT security professionals should not risk their network allowing device and applications vulnerabilities to exist as this could cause potential cyber threats.

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What Is Cyber Security And Why Is It Important

Cybersecurity is a set of technologies, practices, and processes that ensure that internet-connected devices and systems, including mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops, as well as servers, networks, and data, are safe from hackers.

Part of cybersecurity is data protection. It ensures that any attempt by unauthorized people, such as hackers, or technology to access, change or damage your data will be blocked.

Companies, especially those that conduct online financial transactions or that have large amounts of customer data, need to ensure that this data is safe. To do so, they often hire a cybersecurity analyst or a project manager.

Smaller companies hire network security engineers or use antivirus and other cybersecurity software to prevent attackers from accessing information.

As for its importance, cybersecurity is a multi-billion-dollar industry. There are tons of private information, corporate and government secrets, and data that would be problematic if uncovered by hackers.

Cybersecurity is sometimes referred to as IT security and electronic information security. With almost everything being conducted online or at least connected via servers and networks, there’s a strong need for cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity analysts, project managers, chief information officers , and chief information security officers are all hard at work to ensure this data remains safe and secure.

And that’s why cybersecurity interviews differ from other job interviews.