Computer Science/IT MCQs
Topic Notes: Computer Science/IT
MCQs and preparation resources for competitive exams, covering important concepts, past papers, and detailed explanations.
Plato
- Biography: Ancient Greek philosopher (427–347 BCE), student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle, founder of the Academy in Athens.
- Important Ideas:
- Theory of Forms
- Philosopher-King
- Ideal State
51
What is a "watering hole" attack?
Answer:
An attack where an attacker observes which websites a group of users often visits and infects one of those sites with malware.
In a watering hole attack, instead of going after the targets directly, the attacker infects a third-party website that the targets are known to frequent. The goal is to infect the targets when they visit the compromised, but seemingly legitimate, website.
52
What does "hardening" an operating system mean?
Answer:
The process of securing a system by reducing its surface of vulnerability.
Hardening involves disabling unnecessary services, removing unneeded software, applying secure configurations, and patching vulnerabilities. The goal is to reduce the number of potential entry points for an attacker.
53
What is a primary defense against a brute-force attack, which tries to guess your password?
Answer:
Implementing account lockout policies after a certain number of failed login attempts.
An account lockout policy will temporarily or permanently lock an account after a specified number of incorrect password attempts, which effectively stops an automated brute-force attack from being able to try thousands of passwords per second.
54
Why is using an administrator account for everyday computer use considered a security risk?
Answer:
If malware infects an administrator account, it has full privileges to do anything on the system, including disabling security software and infecting core system files.
Running as a standard user limits the potential damage malware can do. A standard user account has restricted permissions and cannot make system-wide changes, which can contain an infection and prevent it from taking full control of the computer.
55
Which mechanism is used by the computer virus ‘worm’ to duplicate itself?
Answer:
Spawn
A computer worm is a type of malware that replicates itself to spread to other computers. In computer science, the process of a parent process creating a new child process is often referred to as 'spawning'. This term aptly describes how a worm creates new, independent copies of itself to infect other systems.
56
You notice that your computer's cooling fan is constantly running at high speed, even when you are not doing anything intensive. This could be a symptom of:
Answer:
Malware, such as a cryptojacker, using up your CPU resources.
Malware like cryptojackers or spyware can run hidden processes that use a lot of your computer's processing power (CPU). This high utilization generates heat, causing the cooling fan to spin continuously to compensate.
57
The Conficker worm (2008) was notoriously difficult to remove because it:
Answer:
Used advanced techniques to disable security software and block access to antivirus websites.
Conficker was a sophisticated threat for its time. It employed multiple mechanisms for defense, including disabling security services, blocking Windows updates, and preventing users from navigating to the websites of major antivirus vendors.
58
A user inserts an unknown USB drive they found in the parking lot into their work computer. This action could lead to an infection via:
Answer:
Social engineering and baiting.
This is a classic example of "baiting," a social engineering tactic. Attackers intentionally leave infected USB drives in public places, relying on human curiosity to get someone to plug the drive into a computer, which then automatically installs malware.
59
Disabling autorun and autoplay features in your operating system can help prevent:
Answer:
Malware from spreading automatically from infected USB drives or CDs.
The autorun/autoplay feature automatically executes a program when a removable media device is inserted. Malware has historically abused this feature to spread rapidly. Disabling it forces you to manually explore the drive, giving you a chance to inspect it before running any files.
60
Which software collects personal information and internet usage habits without consent?
Answer:
Spyware
Spyware is malicious software designed to secretly gather information about a person or organization and transmit it to another entity.