THIS PAPER IS NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE EXAMINATION HALLS
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
MSc Examination
For External Students
INFORMATION SECURITY
Secure Electronic Commerce and other Applications
Friday 16th May 2008
Time allowed: 2 hours
DO NOT TURN OVER UNTIL TOLD TO BEGIN
Candidates should answer THREE questions from the following FIVE questions.
PLEASE TURN OVER
© University of London 2008
UL08/
Question 1
a) Define the term digital identity and briefly specify three roles it
plays in application security. [4]
b) Explain the difference between an identity and an entity and
give an example of a human and a non -human entity commonly
found in applicat ions. [3]
c) Identify and briefly explain two potential problems when
conducting an identity audit if a digital identity has been deleted
rather than disabled. [4]
d) Define the term phishing attack and briefly explain what phase of
identity management might be most effective in the prevention
of such an attack. [4]
e) Explain the term attack tree and provide an example of an
attack tree that describes a phishing attack. In your example
specify whether the tiers of the attack tree are linked using AND
or OR logic. [5]
f) Explain how the concept of the attack surface relates to an
attack tree. [2]
g) Explain why the use of an attack tree is particularly helpful in the
analysis of complex attacks such as phishing. [3]
TURN OVER
Question 2
a) There are a number of threats that can be specifically applied to
applications.
i) Explain, using examples, why the threat categories of
tampering and information disclosure are relevant to web
applications. [2]
ii) Why are application data verification mechanisms helpful in
protecting an application against these threats? [2]
b) Briefly explain two threats that can exploit weaknesses in the
management of application administration information. [4]
c) Select two types of testing found in application development and,
using an example for each, explain how they might specifically help
identify the weaknesses in the management of application
administration information. [6]
d) In the context of application security, explain the role of risk assessment
in configuration and change management. [2]
e) “plan do check act” are the generic stages assigned to a continuous
management process loop. Explain, including brief examples, how
these four stages apply to the process of incident management. [4]
f) Explain the term feedback loop in the context of application security
management. Identify four feedback loops present in the incident
management process and the information that each outputs. [5]
Question 3
a) TETRA is a form of Private Mobile Radio. Briefly explain the term Private
Mobile Radio [2]
b) Explain why error extension is a problem for TETRA communications and
in what ways it affects the use of block and stream ciphers in TETRA. [4]
c) Give an example of a successful stream cipher synchronisation
mechanism deployed in TETRA and state the positive and negative
implications of using this mechanism. [4]
d) Why is TETRA’s implicit authentication regarded as continuous and
explicit authentication is not? [3]
e) Loss from information security incidents can be presented as a
probability of losing a certain amount of revenue.
i) Explain the term risk appetite. [1]
ii) Explain why calculating losses in terms of the probability of
losing a certain amount of revenue helps to quantify risk
appetite. [2]
f) Calculating loss from information security incidents requires the output
of a specific security management process.
i) What information security management process can be used
to calculate loss from an information security incident? [1]
ii) How can the probability of losing a certain amount of revenue
be calculated using the output of this security management
process? [6]
g) List two decision criteria, in addition to loss from information security
incidents, for justifying security control expenditure. [2]
TURN OVER
Question 4
a) Explain the advantages and disadvantages of using a smart card for
user authentication to an electronic healthcare record system. [6]
b) What smart card features help to protect against fraud? [4]
c) How could the anti-fraud protection measures found in a smart card be
used to guard against fraudulent prescriptions in an electronic
healthcare record system? [4]
d) In terms of an electronic payment system explain the terms on-line
payment system, off-line payment system and semi-online payment
syst em. How might you classify the payment system application EMV
and why? [6]
e) Describe the steps in the electronic payment model that corresponds
to the conventional bank transfer payments and name this model. In
what ways is this model different to the one that corresponds to
conventional debit advice payments? [5]
Question 5
a) Briefly explain what is meant by a trust relationship in a payment system
and explain the trust mechanisms in a cash based payment system. In
your explanation include a description of at least two techniques for
implementing trust in a cash based payment system. [5]
b) Describe three ways in which payment schemes engender trust. [3]
c) Explain the acronyms CVM and CAM and provide two examples of
each. [6]
d) In EMV why is the cost of the card increased when Dynamic Data
Authentication (DDA) is used? What are the weaknesses in Static Data
Authentication which might justify this cost and how does DDA address
them? [6]
e) Explain the message flow when EMV invokes on-line authentication. In
your answer briefly explain the purpose of each message. [5]
END OF PAPER
