ITPEC IP October 2025 Question 41
Topic: Security
Which of the following is the appropriate combination of damage by incidents (i) through (iii), and confidentiality, integrity, and availability in information security?
(i)A website is taken down by a DDoS attack.(ii)Inaccurate data is entered because of a typing mistake on a keyboard.(iii)Personal information is leaked because a PC is infected with malware.
Explanation
(i) Availability, (ii) Integrity, (iii) Confidentiality — match each incident to the property of information it damages.
- •(i) A DDoS attack floods the website until it goes down, so legitimate users cannot reach it when they need it: availability is lost.
- •(ii) A typing mistake stores data that is not correct: the data is no longer accurate and complete, so integrity is damaged. Integrity is harmed by accidents as well as by attacks.
- •(iii) Malware leaks personal information to people who are not authorized to see it: confidentiality is lost.
Answer (a)
Why not others:
- •(b) — swaps (ii) and (iii): wrong data is an accuracy problem, not a disclosure, and a leak discloses data without changing it
- •(c) — swaps (i) and (ii): a site that is down has lost availability, while its data may be intact; a typing mistake does not stop the data from being used
- •(d) — gets all three wrong: a site taken down is not a disclosure, and a leak does not stop the data from being available
Key rule: Ask what the incident took away: access when needed is availability, accuracy and completeness is integrity, and secrecy from unauthorized people is confidentiality.
Security · AI-written, may contain errors
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