Complete CISSP ISC Materials

 Data validation is a method used to prevent Structured Query Language (SQL) injection attacks, which are a type of web application attack that exploit the input fields of a web form to inject malicious SQL commands into the underlying database. Data validation involves checking the input data for any illegal or unexpected characters, such as quotes, semicolons, or keywords, and rejecting or sanitizing them before passing them to the database34. References: 3: CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, Eighth Edition, Chapter 6, page 6604: CISSP For Dummies, 7th Edition, Chapter 6, page 199.

The Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) provides integrity and confidentiality for network communications. ESP is a protocol that is part of the IPsec suite, which is a set of protocols and standards that provide security for Internet Protocol (IP) communications. ESP encrypts the payload of an IP packet, which is the data portion of the packet, to provide confidentiality. ESP also adds a trailer and an authentication data field to the packet, to provide integrity. ESP does not provide authorization or availability for network communications. Authorization is the process of granting or denying access to resources based on the identity or role of the requester. Availability is the property of ensuring that resources are accessible and usable by authorized parties when needed. ESP does not perform authorization or availability functions, but it may support or complement them. 

A heterogeneous end-point network is a network that consists of different types of devices, such as computers, tablets, smartphones, printers, etc., that connect to the network and communicate with each other. Each device, or host, may have different operating systems, applications, configurations, and security requirements. When implementing controls in a heterogeneous end-point network, it is critical that common software security components be implemented across all hosts. Common software security components are software programs or features that provide security functions, such as antivirus, firewall, encryption, authentication, etc. Implementing common software security components across all hosts ensures that the hosts have a consistent and minimum level of security protection, and that the hosts can interoperate securely with each other and with the network. Implementing common software security components across all hosts does not mean that the hosts have to be identical or have the same security settings. The hosts can still have different hardware, software, and security configurations, as long as they meet the security requirements and standards of the organization and the network. Implementing common software security components across all hosts is not the same as ensuring that hosts are able to establish network communications, allowing users to make modifications to their security software configurations, or making firewalls running on each host fully customizable by the user. These are other aspects of security management that may or may not be relevant or desirable for a heterogeneous end-point network, depending on the organization’s policies and objectives.

A system’s criticality classification is important in large organizations because it provides for proper prioritization and scheduling of security and maintenance tasks. A system’s criticality classification is the level of importance or impact that a system has on the organization’s mission, objectives, operations, or functions. A system’s criticality classification may depend on factors such as the system’s availability, integrity, confidentiality, functionality, performance, or reliability. A system’s criticality classification helps the organization to allocate resources, implement controls, perform audits, apply patches, conduct backups, and respond to incidents according to the system’s priority and risk. A system’s criticality classification does not necessarily reduce critical system support workload or the time required to apply patches, as these may depend on other factors such as the system’s complexity, configuration, or vulnerability. A system’s criticality classification may allow for clear systems status communications to executive management, but this is not the primary reason for its importance. A system’s criticality classification may provide for easier determination of ownership, but this is not the main benefit of its importance.