Cyber Security Interview Questions and Answers

Today, Cyber Security has become a major factor that is needed to be implemented on every application and software we run, out there. In this competitive world, the more you know about this ruling technology, the more chances of you getting recruited. As we know that knowledge of Cyber Security increases the weightage of your resume, here we are presenting the compilation of Important Cyber Security Interview Questions and answers that help the freshers to ace the Interview. Ready?

Cyber Security technology has made its place into almost every sector we see, be it military, Health, Business, everything that data deals in, security and with computers and other devices. The more the technologies are showing up, the more the volume of the threats of data theft and increasing is happening. As the exposure of data to the black and gray hat hackers will lead to negative consequences, various types of cyber securities are developed and being developed. Finding loopholes and clearing them before the attacks happen is the policy leaving no room for hacking.

So, we know that it is a bit tough to crack interviews, although you have a good knowledge of this particular skill. To boost up the confidence levels in you, we strongly suggest you go through our predicted and reliable compilation of Cyber Security Interview Questions and answers which helps in polishing the basic knowledge much stronger.

Q1. What is Cyber Security?

Cyber Security is a technology we use to protect or recover the software, hardware, and the data in the servers, network, other devices, e-systems, etc from malicious attacks.

Q2. List the types of Cyber Security.

Cyber Security is of 5 types, namely:

  • Critical infrastructure security
  • Application security
  • Network security
  • Cloud Security
  • Internet of things (IoT) security

Q3. List the elements of Cyber Security.

The most popular Cyber Security elements are:

  • Information security
  • Network security
  • Operational security
  • Application security
  • End-user education
  • Business continuity planning

Q4. Name some common types of Cyber Attacks
  • Malware attack
  • Phishing attack
  • Man-in-the-middle attack
  • Denial-of-service attack
  • SQL injection attack
  • Zero-day exploit attack
  • DNS Tunneling attack, etc.

Q5. List the advantages and benefits of Cyber Security.
  • In the business field, Cybersecurity protects the data or software, and hardware against
  • ransomware,
  • malware,
  • social engineering,
  • phishing.
  • End-to-end protection of users’ data.
  • Protects hardware, servers, network, data, and all the software.
  • After a breach, it increases the recovery time of the data.
  • Prevents data or device accession from unauthorized users.

Q6. Explain the word ‘Cryptography’ in your own words.

Cryptography is a technique that helps in protecting the data from the accession and understanding of third parties which are popularly termed as adversaries. The data can be read by the sender and receiver only.

Q7. Cryptography is the combination of?

Cryptography is all about the ‘Encryption’ and ‘Decryption’.

Q8. What is encryption?

Encryption is all about transforming the human understandable language into the coded language for security purposes.

Encryption: Text data —– key——> Cipher Text

Q9. Name some popular encryption algorithms
  • DES algorithm,
  • RSA algorithm,
  • Blowfish algorithm,
  • Twofish algorithm,
  • AES algorithm,
  • IDEA algorithm,
  • SHA 1 algorithm, etc.

Q10. What is decryption?

Decryption is the opposite process of encryption. It is all about transforming the ciphertext formed through encryption into the original readable text using the key. Generally, this process happens when the text reaches the sender to the receiver. These are the commonly asked Cyber Security Interview Questions and Answers for fresher candidates.

Q11. Name the algorithm which is said to be best for both encrypting and decrypting.

The Advanced Encryption Standard which is abbreviated as AES is the algorithm that is best suitable for the Encryption and Decryption process. It is highly used and trusted by the U.S. government and other popular organizations.

Q12. Give a real-time example where we find Cryptography.

If we see the Whatsapp chat carefully, we will find a label stating ‘End-to-End encryption’ whose actual meaning is that the message you send is encrypted immediately after you crush the send button. If anyone tries to read the message in between using the attacking mechanisms, they may fail as the data is encryption. Once the data you have sent reaches the other end (receiver), then the data gets decrypted and makes it into the original text making the recipient read it easily.

Q13. Define the term ‘Symmetric Encryption.

Symmetric Encryption is a process in which the same key, which is known as a secret key, is used for both encryption and decryption of the data.

Q14. Define the term ‘Asymmetric Encryption.

Asymmetric is a process of cryptography in which we use different keys for encryption and decryption. For encryption, we use the public key and for decryption, we use the private key.

Q15. Tell us the differences between Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption.
  • In the Symmetric Encryption technique, we use one key (secret key) for both encryption and decryption, whereas in the Asymmetric Encryption technique, we use a public key to encrypt and a private key to decrypt the data.
  • Encryption is faster in a Symmetric one than in an Asymmetric one.

Q16. Symmetric Encryption is often used to?

Symmetric Encryption is often used to transfer data in bulk amounts; so that it would be easy for computations as the encryption and decryption are also done through a single key known as the secret key.

Q17. List any two Symmetric Encryption Algorithms.
  • DES,
  • 3DES,
  • AES,
  • RC4, etc.

Q18. Asymmetric Encryption is often used for?

Asymmetric Encryption is often used for exchanging the secret data keys securely, as two different keys are handling the cryptography process here (Public one for Encryption and a private one for Decryption).

Q19. List any two Asymmetric Encryption Algorithms.
  • Diffie-Hellman,
  • RSA.

Q20. Define ‘Data Leakage’.

Data Leakage is a process of transferring data illegally or unauthorizedly, to the outside world through the mediums like email, laptops, optical media, USB, etc. This can be prevented using the ‘Data Leakage Prevention Tools’.

Q21. Data Leakage is mainly categorized into how many types?

Data Leakage is majorly categorized into three types, namely:

  • Accidental Breach
  • Intentional Breach
  • System Hack

Q22. Define Accidental Breach.

An accidental breach is a data leaking process in which the entity sends the information to an unauthorized system or account or person due to the fault, unintentionally or accidentally.

Q23. Define Intentional Breach

An intentional breach is a data leaking process in which one authorized entity sends the information to an unauthorized entity intentionally on purpose.

Q24. Define System Hack.

System Hacking is a data leaking process in which the data is hacked by hackers using hacking techniques.

Q25. Name some hacking techniques used in system hacking.
  • Bait and Switch,
  • Cookie Theft,
  • Denial of Service/Distributed Denial of Service,
  • Eavesdropping,
  • Keylogging,
  • Malware,
  • Phishing,
  • Watering Hole and WAP Attacks, etc.

Q26. What is an OSI model?

The OSI Model refers to the Open Systems Interconnection Model which is a framework that tells us how the information is passed from a software application of one device through the physical medium and functions of the networking system to the software application in the other device.

Q27. What are the layers we find in the OSI model?

The layers in the OSI model are seven in number. They are:

  • Physical Layer
  • Data Link Layer
  • Network Layer
  • Transport Layer
  • Session Layer
  • Presentation Layer
  • Application Layer

Q28. Define VPN

VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a network connection that ensures the creation of an encrypted and secured environment connection to protect the data from snooping, censorship, interference, etc.

Q29. Define hacking.

Hacking is nothing but the process of finding loopholes in PCs Private networks or other devices and misusing the loopholes or weaknesses found to gain access to confidential data.

Q30. Tell us one best example of hacking.

Cracking down the password of a system by finding some loophole to access the contents in the system. These are the Important Cyber Security Interview Questions and Answers that are put forth to freshers and experienced candidates in an interview.

Q31. Define hackers

Hackers are the ones who find the loopholes and weaknesses of the system (the system can be a network or phone or PC, etc) to misuse them to gain access to the data in the system.

Q32. Define black hat hackers.

Black hat hackers are hackers who hack a system or software by generating malware, using the knowledge they have on breaching network security. By doing this, they can steal, misuse, modify, or destroy the data for malicious reasons or financial gains.

Q33. Define white hat hackers

White hat hackers are the ones who do penetration testing. Their main aim is to protect the data system of a company or an organization. They find the loopholes of the system, through which the malicious hackers may attack, and fills them up before the breach happens.

Q34. Define grey hat hackers.

Grey hat hackers are the ones who hack the data of an organization without permission by violating ethical standards. The main difference between black and grey hat hackers is, unlike black hat hackers, grey hat hackers don’t hack with malicious intent.

Q35. List the ways to reset a password-protected BIOS configuration.
  • By removing the CMOS battery.
  • By using the software.
  • By using a motherboard jumper.
  • By using MS-DOS.

Q36. What does MITM stand for?

The acronym MITM stands for ‘Man-in-the-Middle’, in terms of Cyber Security.

Q37. Define the MITM attack.

MITM is an attack in which an attacker interrupts the conversation or communication happens between two or more people through a medium, intending to access or steal confidential information without getting caught.

Q38. MITM attacks can be avoided by following practices like?
  • Using VPN,
  • Using strong WEP/WPA encryption,
  • Use IDS (Intrusion Detection System),
  • Forcing HTTPS,
  • By choosing Public Key Pair Based Authentication, etc.

Q39. Define Botnet.

A botnet is a system of several hardware devices like mobiles, servers, IoTs, and PCs that are connected over the internet that are compelled, and controlled by malicious attacks.

Q40. Define ARP.

ARP refers to Address Resolution Protocol. It is a network layer protocol that is used to find the link-layer address (host address like MAC address) that is connected with an IPv4 address (internet address).

Q41. Define RARP

RARP refers to Reverse Address Resolution Protocol. It is a network layer protocol that is used to find the IP address based on the request raised by the client by providing the link-layer address like the MAC address. So, RARP works exactly opposite to the ARP protocol.

Q42. Explain the main difference between ARP and RARP.

RARP works exactly opposite to the ARP protocol. ARP protocol is used to find the physical address of the client network by providing the IP address as an input, whereas, RARP is used to find the logical or IP address by providing the physical address of the client’s network.

Q43. What do you mean by logical address?

The ‘IP address or the ‘internet-connected universal address’ is known as a logical Address.

Q44. What is meant by physical address?

The ‘local address’ or the ‘host address’ is known as a physical address.

Q45. CSRF stands for?

CSRF refers to ‘Cross-Site Request Forgery’.

Q46. Define CSRF.

Cross-Site Request Forgery is a process in which the attacker manipulates the victim user to perform some action upon the data, unintentionally by the user.

Q47. When do CSRF attacks happen?

The attacker can launch the CSRF action if and only if he knows the parameters and the values used in the form along with the respective parameter-value combinations.

Q48. How can we prevent CSRF attacks?

As CSRF attacks happen when the attacker comes to know about the parameter-value combinations; to prevent the attack, we can add the additional parameter to the form whose value should be unknown to the malicious attacker but is validated by the server.

Q49. What are the full forms of SSL and TLS?
  • SSL – Secure Sockets Layer
  • TLS – Transport Layer Security

Q50. Tell us the major difference between SSL and TLS.

SSL helps in verifying the sender’s identity and in tracking down the person you want to communicate with, whereas, TLS helps in providing the secure channel for the communication between the two clients. These are the frequently asked Cyber Security Interview Questions and Answers to fresher candidates.

Q51. Define 2FA.

TFA or 2FA refers to Two Factor Authentication, which is a security process that is used to know or identify who is using or accessing the online account.

Q52. In Cyber Security, IDS refers to?

In Cyber Security, IDS stands for Intrusion Detection System.

Q53. In Cyber Security, IPS refers to?.

In Cyber Security, IPS stands for Intrusion Prevention System.

Q54. Tell us one major difference between IDS and IPS.

IDS is used to detect intrusions or any suspicious activity, while IPS helps in finding the intrusion and in preventing it.

Q55. Define the CIA

CIA refers to Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability which is used in developing security policies to protect data.

Q56. What are the three policies we find in the CIA?

In the term CIA itself, we find the three policies. They are:

  • Confidentiality
  • Integrity
  • Availability

Q57. Define Firewall

Firewall – A security system is used to monitor and control the traffic within the set of boundaries or networks maintained.

Q58. When does a firewall is used?

A firewall is used to give security to the data or a network or a system from attacks like viruses, malware, worms, etc, and is also useful in preventing the filtration of the content and remote access.

Q59. Define network sniffing

Network sniffing is a software tool known as ‘Network sniffer’, which captures the data that is flowing in a particular network. Similarly, If one wants to access the raw packets of the data, one need to install the ‘packet sniffer tool.

Q60. Where does the ‘Network Sniffing’ is used?
  • To capture sensitive details like passwords to the accounts.
  • To get access to the chat messages
  • To monitor the packets flowing in a network.

These are the commonly asked Cyber Security Interview Questions and answers for freshers & experienced candidates in interviews.

Q61. Define the brute force attack. 

A brute force attack is a cyber-attack that goes by trial and error method to find the correct PIN or passwords with repeated trials of different combinations made of credentials.

Q62. How is the brute force attack done?

Brute force attack, most of the time is done with software that automatically forms various combinations of passwords using the credentials and attempts the login automatically. Poorly assigned passwords can be easily found using this approach.

Q63. How to prevent the brute force attack.

Brute force attack majorly gets their win over poorly constructed passwords. To prevent this attack, we need to:

  • Set a password of good length.
  • Make the password a bit more complex to a crackdown by involving the special characters and numbers in your password.
  • Set a limit for your login failures.

Q64. Define DNS attack

In Cyber Security, a DNS attack refers to a Domain Name System attack in which the attackers exploit the weaknesses of the domain name targeting the servers.

Q65. How DNS monitoring is useful?

As there are a lot of chances for the new and weak domains to get infected by malicious software, these DNS monitoring tools will be useful in identifying the presence of malicious programs or software.

Q66. List the response codes one can receive from a Web Application.
  • 1xx: Informational responses
  • 2xx: Success
  • 3xx: Redirection
  • 4xx: Client-side error
  • 5xx: Server-side error

Q67. Define port scanning.

Port scanning is a process in which the identification of the open ports and services that are available on a specific host is done.

Q68. Name some Port Scanning techniques
  • Ping Scan
  • TCP Half-Open
  • TCP Connect
  • UDP
  • Stealth Scanning

Q69. How do hackers use Port scanning techniques?

Hackers utilize these techniques to find the data for malicious purposes. These tools provide them with information about loopholes.

Q70. What does WAF stand for?

In Cyber Security, the anagram WAF stands for Web Application Firewall. These are the commonly asked Cyber Security Interview Questions and Answers for the freshers candidates in an interview.

Q71. Why is WAF used?

Web Application Firewall is often used to protect the data in the applications by managing the traffic, be it incoming or outgoing, between the internet and Web Apps.

Q72. Define Traceroute

Traceroute is a security tool that shows points in the path in which the packets that are carrying the data are passing.

Q73. Explain the use of traceroute.

As the traceroute tool helps in showing the path in which the packets have gone through, it is used mainly to find where the connection of the destination route has stopped or broke or failed in the case where the packet fails to reach the destination from its starting point. Simply, it helps in finding where the packet has lost, if it doesn’t reach its destination.

Q74. Define SSL

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a technology that is used to create an encrypted connection between the web browsers and the servers.

Q75. What is the use of SSL?

By encrypting the connection between the web browser and the web server through the internet, SSL maintains the privacy of the data by encrypting confidential information like e-transactions, e-payments, etc.

Q76. Define Salting

Salting is the technology that is used to improve the strength of the password by extending the character length using some special characters.

Q77. Explain the use of salting. 

The main use of salting is to protect the passwords from the attacks made by the hackers (Hackers try to crack the password by making combinations or by passing the known words across the system.) The hash we use on the password to protect it is known as ‘salt’.

Q78. Define SSH

Secure Socket Shell (SSH) is a tool that tells the administrators about the secured way of accessing the data present in the network.

Q79. Define VA

VA stands for Vulnerability Assessment that works on finding the flaws and loopholes present in the target system or software.

Q80.What is the use of VA?

In Cybersecurity, Vulnerability Assessment is used in helping the organization through the process of finding the flaws and loopholes present in a target, so that the organization can fix those flaws and loopholes.

Q81. Define PT.

Penetration Testing (PT) works upon finding the vulnerabilities present in the system where the organization pre-defined sets up all the security measures and uses this test to see other loopholes present in the system.

Q82. Define the three-way handshake method

The three-way handshake method is a three-step method that is used to create a connection between the client and the server so that they can exchange packets of information between them. This method is used in TCP/IP networks.

Q83. List the steps followed in a three-way handshake method.

Referring to the name itself, the three-way handshake method consists of three steps to follow. They are:

  • Firstly, to check whether the server has open ports or not, the client needs to send a Synchronize packet to it.
  • Secondly, the server sends the Synchronize Acknowledgement to the client (If the server has open ports.)
  • Thirdly, the client acknowledges the acknowledgment sent by the server and sends the acknowledgment packet back to the server.

Q84. What is the major difference between the terms Risk, Vulnerability & Threat in a network?

Risk is the power of the occurrence of loss or damage to the data caused by missing the vulnerabilities by threats, where vulnerabilities are the loopholes or weakness of the system and threat is someone who has the power to harm the data in the system.

Q85. Discuss the steps we need to follow to prevent identity theft.
  • Maintain a strong, unique password.
  • Avoid sharing confidential information with a third person strictly.
  • Never share the details or make transactions on unknown, untrusted websites for purposes like shopping, e-transactions, etc.
  • Keep on updating the browsers, systems, and software to their latest versions.
  • Install the trusted malware and spyware tools.
  • Protect the Social Security Number.
  • Against financial data, always use specialized software solutions.

 Q86. Define the DDOS attack

Distributed Denial of Service(DDOS) is a cyber-attack that makes the servers deny providing the service to the authorized clients.

Q87. A DDOS attack is classified into how many types?

A DDOS attack is majorly classified into two types, namely:

  • Flooding attacks
  • Crash attacks

Q88. Define Flooding attacks.

Flooding attacks are one of the types of DDOS attack in which the hackers use automated programs mainly to send a large number of packets of data, continuously, to the server, so that at a point the traffic at the server increases to the extent where it can’t be handled and breaks down causing the interruption of service supply to the genuine clients.

Q89. Define Crash attacks.

Crash attacks are one of the types of DDOS attacks in which the hackers go for the exploitation of a bug on the server, such that the bug makes the system crash down resulting in the stoppage of the service supply to the genuine clients.

Q90. How do you prevent DDOS attacks?
  • By using the Anti-DDOS services.
  • By configuring Firewalls and Routers
  • By using Front-End Hardware
  • By using the Load Balancing
  • By handling the spikes in Traffic

Q91. Define the XSS attack.

XSS refers to the Cross-Site Scripting cyberattack that helps the hackers to dump or input the malicious scripts of the client-side into the online web pages.These are the commonly asked Cyber Security Interview Questions and Answers for the Freshers and Experienced candidate during the Cloud Computing Interview.

Q92. Why is the XSS attack used?

An XSS attack is used in:

  • Hijacking the sessions,
  • Stealing the cookies,
  • Modifying the DOM,
  • Execution of remote code,
  • Crashing the server, etc.

Q93. How can we prevent XSS attacks?

By following the practices such as:

  • Validating the user inputs
  • Sanitizing the user inputs
  • Encoding the special characters
  • Using the Anti-XSS services/tools
  • Using XSS HTML Filter

Q94. What are the protocols used in the Application Layer of the TCP/IP protocol?.
  • NFS (Network File System),
  • NIS+ (Network Information System),
  • DNS (Domain Network System),
  • TELNET (TeleCommunication Network),
  • FTP (File Transfer Protocol),
  • SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), etc.

Q95. Name any two protocols used in Transport Layer.
  • TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)
  • UDP (User Datagram Protocol)

Q96. Name any two protocols used in the Internet Layer.
  • IP (Internet Protocol),
  • ARP (Address Resolution Protocol),
  • ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol).

Q97. Name any two protocols used in the Data Link Layer..
  • PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol),
  • IEEE 802.2

Q98. Name any two protocols used in Physical Layer.
  • Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) Token ring,
  • RS-232
Q99. Define Phishing

Phishing is one of the popular cyberattacks in which a hacker pretends as a trusted person of yours or in a business, to steal the confidential message through the fraudulent messages or emails. Here, the messages or emails look as if they are trusted and real, but they are not. These are the generally asked Cyber Interview Questions and Answers for the freshers and experienced candidate

Q100. How to prevent phishing attacks?

We can prevent phishing attacks by practicing methods like:

  • Avoiding to share the confidential information in the untrusted websites
  • Verifying the security of the site before using it
  • Using firewalls
  • Using the trusted AntiVirus Softwares
  • Using Anti-Phishing tools