MULUNGUSHI UNIVERSITY

IN ASSOCIATION WITH
EVELYN HONE COLLEGE OF APPLIED ARTS AND COMMERCE
ACADEMIC YEAR 2020

DIPLOMA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

COURSE TITLE: COMPUTER SECURITY
COURSE CODE – DIT 400
TIME: 3 HOURS TOTAL MARKS: 100
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Do not turn over the page until you are told to do so.
2. There are seven (7) questions in this paper. Attempt any five (5) questions.
3. Credit will be given for legible writing, proper punctuation and correct use of English.
4. No cell phones and/or calculators are allowed.

WARNING: Textbooks, laptops, exercise books, phones and other devices are not allowed in
the examination room. If found a candidate will be disqualified.

DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO

Question 1

a) Explain what is meant by the term “Phishing” (2 marks)

b) What are the typical objectives of “Phishing” attacks? (6 marks)
c) Describe the difference between Phishing and Pharming (6 marks)
d) Explain three (3) ways of preventing phishing attacks (6 marks)
[Total: 20 marks]

Question 2

Denial of Service (DoS) attack is executed to determine a specific category of information

warfare where a malicious user blocks legitimate users from accessing network services by
exhausting the resources of the victim system.
a) Describe, using a diagram, the SYNC Flood attack (8 marks)
b) What is the best solution to remedy a DoS attack while keeping the organization’s
systems 100% available? (8 marks)
c) What is the difference between a denial of service attack (DoS) and a distributed
denial of service attack (DDoS)? (4 marks)

[Total: 20 marks]

Question 3

a) What is the purpose of a Firewall in network security? (4 marks)

b) List any two (2) commonly used Firewall types? (2 marks)
c) Explain the operation of the packet-filter firewall. (6 marks)
d) What is NAT? How it improves network security? (4 marks)
e) Describe two (2) limitations of firewalls? (4 marks)

[Total: 20 marks]
Question 4

a) Define computer security (2 marks)

b) List three (3) assets of information systems that need to be protected (3 marks)
c) List three (3) common transport mechanisms that malware uses. (3 marks)
d) Describe three (3) attack vectors that malware uses (6 marks)
e) In computer security, describe three (3) threats to information systems (6 marks)

[Total: 20 marks]

Question 5

a) What are the differences between symmetric and asymmetric key systems? (6 marks)
b) What is the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)? Why is it so important in information
security? (6 marks)
c) Most of the encryption standards that are being used such as RSA and DES have not
been formally proven to be safe. Why then do we take them to be secure?
(8 marks)
[Total: 20 marks]

Question 6

a) What is intrusion detection? (2 marks)

b) Describe two (2) primary detection methods in an IDS/IPS solution (4 marks)
c) List and describe the typical components of an IDS/ IPS (6 marks)
d) Describe the two (2) types of IDS/IPS (Network based and Host based) stating one (1)
advantage of each type. (8 marks)

[Total: 20 marks]

Question 7

a) Why do organizations need an information systems security policy? (6 marks)

b) What determines a good information systems security policy? (6 marks)
c) List the typical components of an information systems security policy? (8 marks)

[Total: 20 marks]

END OF EXAMINATION!!!