Malware that encrypts a victim's files and demands payment for the decryption key is called:
- A.Ransomware
- B.Rootkit
- C.Keylogger
- D.Honeypot
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, ransomware. It locks the files by encrypting them and shows a demand for money, usually in a crypto currency, in exchange for the key; the WannaCry outbreak of 2017 struck hospitals, factories and offices in many countries and is the example examiners quote. Option B is wrong because a rootkit hides an intruder's presence by burying itself in the operating system so that scanners and system tools do not report it; it conceals rather than extorts. Option C is wrong because a keylogger silently records every key pressed and sends the log to the attacker, which is a way of stealing passwords. Option D is wrong and is not malware at all: a honeypot is a decoy computer set up on purpose by defenders so that attackers waste effort on it and can be studied. Regular offline backups are the standard protection against ransomware.
Read the full article: Cyber Security and Threats: Malware, Attacks and PYQs
Practice Questions
View allWhich of the following is a type of cyber attack that involves tricking users into revealing sensitive information?
- A.Phishing attack
- B.SQL injection attack
- C.DoS attack
- D.None of the above
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Phishing sends a message that looks as if it came from a bank, an employer or a government office, and asks the reader to confirm a password, a card number or a one-time password on a page that belongs to the attacker; the target of the attack is the person…
Read the full explanation →What is the purpose of a firewall in cyber security?
- A.To allow unrestricted access to a network
- B.To block unauthorised access to a network
- C.To create a backup of a network's data
- D.None of the above
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A firewall sits between a trusted internal network and the untrusted world outside, inspects the traffic crossing it and permits only what its rules allow, dropping the rest; it may be a hardware appliance, a software program or both together.
Read the full explanation →What is the term for a cyber security attack that targets multiple interconnected devices simultaneously to create a large-scale attack network?
- A.DDoS attack
- B.Botnet attack
- C.Zero-day attack
- D.Spear phishing attack
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A botnet is built by infecting many connected devices, each of which becomes a zombie obeying a single controller; the network so assembled is then rented out or used for spam, fraud or a flood of traffic.
Read the full explanation →The feature(s) of cyber security is/are:
- A.Compliance
- B.Defence against internal threats
- C.Threat prevention
- D.All of the above
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The correct answer is D, all of the above, because cyber security is not one activity but a programme that covers all three.
Read the full explanation →In the CIA triad of information security, the letter I stands for:
- A.Identification
- B.Integrity
- C.Internet
- D.Isolation
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The triad names the three goals of information security: confidentiality, that only authorised people can read the data; integrity, that the data is complete and unaltered from the moment it was created or sent; and availability, that the system works when an authorised user needs it.
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