Security Architecture & Engineering Flashcards

A federal system must ensure that hardware components are from trusted suppliers. Which program directly addresses this supply chain concern?

Answer: NIST SP 800-161 Supply Chain Risk Management

NIST SP 800-161 provides guidance on supply chain risk management practices for federal information systems.

Which security engineering concept involves deliberately introducing a weakness into a system to detect attackers?

Answer: Honeypot deployment

Honeypots are decoy systems designed to attract and detect attackers while appearing to be legitimate targets.

When applying security engineering principles, 'economy of mechanism' primarily means:

Answer: Keeping security designs as simple as possible

Economy of mechanism means keeping security designs simple and small to reduce the attack surface and facilitate verification.

A system architect needs to protect data that remains sensitive even after the system is decommissioned. Which control addresses this long-term concern?

Answer: Media sanitization procedures

Media sanitization (e.g., per NIST SP 800-88) ensures data cannot be recovered after system decommissioning.

Which type of security control prevents a security incident from occurring in the first place?

Answer: Preventive control

Preventive controls stop security incidents before they occur, such as firewalls, encryption, and access controls.

An organization's security architect is designing a system with multiple layers of security controls. Which NIST document provides the security control catalog for this effort?

Answer: NIST SP 800-53

NIST SP 800-53 provides the comprehensive catalog of security and privacy controls for federal information systems.

Which formal verification approach mathematically proves that a security policy is correctly enforced by a system design?

Answer: Formal methods

Formal methods use mathematical proofs to verify that a system design correctly implements its security policy.