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Cyber Security Interview Questions
* Two-factor authentication is also referred to as dual-factor authentication or two-step verification where the user provides two authentication factors for protecting both user credentials and resources while accessing.

* The two-factor authentication can be implemented on public websites such as Twitter, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and more for enabling another protection on your already protected account with a password.

* For enabling this double factor authentication, you can easily go to settings and then manage security settings.
The Domain Name System (DNS) is the phonebook of the Internet. Humans access information online through domain names, like nytimes.com or espn.com. Web browsers interact through Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. DNS translates domain names to IP addresses so browsers can load Internet resources.
 
Each device connected to the Internet has a unique IP address which other machines use to find the device. DNS servers eliminate the need for humans to memorize IP addresses such as 192.168.1.1 (in IPv4), or more complex newer alphanumeric IP addresses such as 2400:cb00:2048:1::c629:d7a2 (in IPv6).
 
The process of DNS resolution involves converting a hostname (such as www.example.com) into a computer-friendly IP address (such as 192.168.1.1). An IP address is given to each device on the Internet, and that address is necessary to find the appropriate Internet device - like a street address is used to find a particular home. When a user wants to load a webpage, a translation must occur between what a user types into their web browser (example.com) and the machine-friendly address necessary to locate the example.com webpage.
 
In order to understand the process behind the DNS resolution, it’s important to learn about the different hardware components a DNS query must pass between. For the web browser, the DNS lookup occurs "behind the scenes" and requires no interaction from the user’s computer apart from the initial request.
 
There are 4 DNS servers involved in loading a webpage :

DNS recursor : The recursor can be thought of as a librarian who is asked to go find a particular book somewhere in a library. The DNS recursor is a server designed to receive queries from client machines through applications such as web browsers. Typically the recursor is then responsible for making additional requests in order to satisfy the client’s DNS query.

Root nameserver : The root server is the first step in translating (resolving) human readable host names into IP addresses. It can be thought of like an index in a library that points to different racks of books - typically it serves as a reference to other more specific locations.

TLD nameserver : The top level domain server (TLD) can be thought of as a specific rack of books in a library. This nameserver is the next step in the search for a specific IP address, and it hosts the last portion of a hostname (In example.com, the TLD server is “com”).

Authoritative nameserver : This final nameserver can be thought of as a dictionary on a rack of books, in which a specific name can be translated into its definition. The authoritative nameserver is the last stop in the nameserver query. If the authoritative name server has access to the requested record, it will return the IP address for the requested hostname back to the DNS Recursor (the librarian) that made the initial request.
Both concepts refer to servers (groups of servers) that are integral to the DNS infrastructure, but each performs a different role and lives in different locations inside the pipeline of a DNS query. One way to think about the difference is the recursive resolver is at the beginning of the DNS query and the authoritative nameserver is at the end.
 
Recursive DNS resolver : The recursive resolver is the computer that responds to a recursive request from a client and takes the time to track down the DNS record. It does this by making a series of requests until it reaches the authoritative DNS nameserver for the requested record (or times out or returns an error if no record is found). Luckily, recursive DNS resolvers do not always need to make multiple requests in order to track down the records needed to respond to a client; caching is a data persistence process that helps short-circuit the necessary requests by serving the requested resource record earlier in the DNS lookup.

DNS Resolver
 
Authoritative DNS server : Put simply, an authoritative DNS server is a server that actually holds, and is responsible for, DNS resource records. This is the server at the bottom of the DNS lookup chain that will respond with the queried resource record, ultimately allowing the web browser making the request to reach the IP address needed to access a website or other web resources. An authoritative nameserver can satisfy queries from its own data without needing to query another source, as it is the final source of truth for certain DNS records.

DS Server 1


It’s worth mentioning that in instances where the query is for a subdomain such as foo.example.com or blog.cloudflare.com, an additional nameserver will be added to the sequence after the authoritative nameserver, which is responsible for storing the subdomain’s CNAME record.

DNS Server 2


There is a key difference between many DNS services and the one that Cloudflare provides. Different DNS recursive resolvers such as Google DNS, OpenDNS, and providers like Comcast all maintain data center installations of DNS recursive resolvers. These resolvers allow for quick and easy queries through optimized clusters of DNS-optimized computer systems, but they are fundamentally different than the nameservers hosted by Cloudflare.
 
Cloudflare maintains infrastructure-level nameservers that are integral to the functioning of the Internet. One key example is the f-root server network which Cloudflare is partially responsible for hosting. The F-root is one of the root level DNS nameserver infrastructure components responsible for the billions of Internet requests per day. Our Anycast network puts us in a unique position to handle large volumes of DNS traffic without service interruption.
For most situations, DNS is concerned with a domain name being translated into the appropriate IP address. To learn how this process works, it helps to follow the path of a DNS lookup as it travels from a web browser, through the DNS lookup process, and back again. Let's take a look at the steps.
 
Note: Often DNS lookup information will be cached either locally inside the querying computer or remotely in the DNS infrastructure. There are typically 8 steps in a DNS lookup. When DNS information is cached, steps are skipped from the DNS lookup process which makes it quicker. The example below outlines all 8 steps when nothing is cached.
 
The 8 steps in a DNS lookup :

1. A user types ‘example.com’ into a web browser and the query travels into the Internet and is received by a DNS recursive resolver.
2. The resolver then queries a DNS root nameserver (.).
3. The root server then responds to the resolver with the address of a Top Level Domain (TLD) DNS server (such as .com or .net), which stores the information for its domains. When searching for example.com, our request is pointed toward the .com TLD.
4. The resolver then makes a request to the .com TLD.
5. The TLD server then responds with the IP address of the domain’s nameserver, example.com.
6. Lastly, the recursive resolver sends a query to the domain’s nameserver.
7. The IP address for example.com is then returned to the resolver from the nameserver.
8. The DNS resolver then responds to the web browser with the IP address of the domain requested initially.

Once the 8 steps of the DNS lookup have returned the IP address for example.com, the browser is able to make the request for the web page :

9. The browser makes a HTTP request to the IP address.
10. The server at that IP returns the webpage to be rendered in the browser (step 10).

DNS Lookup
The DNS resolver is the first stop in the DNS lookup, and it is responsible for dealing with the client that made the initial request. The resolver starts the sequence of queries that ultimately leads to a URL being translated into the necessary IP address.
 
Note : A typical uncached DNS lookup will involve both recursive and iterative queries.
 
It's important to differentiate between a recursive DNS query and a recursive DNS resolver. The query refers to the request made to a DNS resolver requiring the resolution of the query. A DNS recursive resolver is the computer that accepts a recursive query and processes the response by making the necessary requests.

DS Resolver
HTTP response codes indicate a server’s response when a client makes a request to the server. It shows whether an HTTP request is completed or not. 
 
1xx : Informational : The request is received, and the process is continuing. Some example codes are:
 
* 100 (continue)
* 101 (switching protocol)
* 102 (processing)
* 103 (early hints)

2xx: Success  : The action is received, understood, and accepted successfully. A few example codes for this are:
 
* 200 (OK)
* 202 (accepted)
* 205 (reset content)
* 208 (already reported)

3xx: Redirection : To complete the request, further action is required to take place. Example codes:
 
* 300 (multiple choice)
* 302 (found)
* 308 (permanent redirect)

4xx: Client Error  : The request has incorrect syntax, or it is not fulfilled. Here are the example codes for this:
 
* 400 (bad request)
* 403 (forbidden)
404 (not found)

5xx: Server Error  : The server fails to complete a valid request. Example codes for this are:
 
* 500 (internal server error)
* 502 (bad gateway)
* 511 (network authentication required)
Here is a list of common cyberattacks aimed at inflicting damage to a system. 
 
Man in the Middle attack : The attacker puts himself in the communication between the sender and the receiver. This is done to eavesdrop and impersonate to steal data.
 
Phishing : Here, the attacker will act as a trusted entity to perform malicious activities such as getting usernames, passwords, and credit card numbers.

Rogue Software : It is a fraudulent attack where the attacker fakes a virus on the target device and offers an anti-virus tool to remove the malware. This is done to install malicious software into the system. 

Malware : Malware is software that is designed to attack the target system. The software can be a virus, worm, ransomware, spyware, and so on.

Drive-by Downloads : The hacker takes advantage of the lack of updates on the OS, app, or browser, which automatically downloads malicious code to the system.

DDoS : This is done to overwhelm the target network with massive traffic, making it impossible for the website or the service to be operable.

Malvertising : Malvertising refers to the injections of maleficent code to legitimate advertising networks, which redirect users to unintended websites.

Password Attacks : As the name suggests, here, the cyber hacker cracks credentials like passwords.
Vulnerability Assessment (VA) Penetration Testing (PT)
Identifies the vulnerabilities in a network Identifies vulnerabilities to exploit them to penetrate the system
Tells how susceptible the network is Tells whether the detected vulnerability is genuine
Conducted at regular intervals when there is a change in the system or network Conducted annually when there are significant changes introduced into the system
Secure Socket Layer is a security protocol that is used for the purpose of encryption. It ensures privacy, data integrity, and authentication in the network like online transactions.
SSL Encryption

The following are the steps for setting up an SSL encryption : 
 
* A browser connects to an SSL-secured web server.
* The browser requests the server’s public key in exchange for its own private key.
* If it is trustworthy, the browser requests to establish an encrypted connection with the web server.
* The web server sends the acknowledgment to start an SSL encrypted connection.
* SSL communication starts to take place between the browser and the web server.