Crack the ISO 27001 Interview: Top Questions and Expert Answers for Success

ISO 27001 is the security standard that develops the standard for Information Security Management Systems. Any management system’s success is based on auditing. It comes out with lots of responsibility, obstacles and issues. Before we go for an interview, especially when you are looking for a career change, you need to know how essential that job role really is across industries and you must practice for ISO interview questions. This is the only way to know how much you can benefit from that in the future.

The worth of an ISO 27001 Lead Auditor varies with experience. In the U.S., entry-level auditors working for less than one year earn an average of $55,000. Early career (1-4 years) earns $51,780, mid-career (5-9 years) earns $63,790, experienced (10-19 years) earns $79,705, and late-career (20+ years) earns an impressive $83,055. Quite substantial, right? Let'’'s focus on ISO 27001 interview questions.

Now, how tough is the preparation? As we all know, preparing for success in ISO 27001 interviews is one of the crucial tasks for candidates, but not with us anymore. Here you will get interview questions on ISO 27001. The ISO 27001 is all about the specification of the ISMS framework. It’s the set of procedures that accelerates the risk management system of any business.

So when businesses are looking forward to hiring a candidate to work with ISO 27001, they will make sure that the person can deal well with cybercrime, data vandalism, errors related to integration with unprotected partnerships and warehouses, Internal data theft, loss of data due to misuse, misuse of information, network breaches through third-party connectivity, personal data breaches, terrorist attacks, theft, and viral attacks. For this, the interview questions for auditor is completely going to depend on your skills and knowledge.

Let's focus on ISO Lead Auditor Interview Questions

1. In which ways Trace route help you to find out where a breakdown in communication is?

Traceroute allows you to see what routers you touch as you move along the chain of connections to your final destination. Although, if you end up with the issue where you couldn’t connect or ping your final destination, it can help you in locating where the chain of connections stops. With these details you will successfully contact your own firewall, your ISP your destinations ISP or somewhere in the middle. 

Running traceroute is helpful for finding out the routing hops data has to go through, and response delays as it travels across the nodes, which are what send the data toward its destination. It also helps to locate points of failure.

2. What is the need to use SSH from a Windows PC?

SSH is known as Secure Shell. It’s a network communication protocol. This secure connection used on many different systems and dedicated appliances. Routers, Switches, SFTP servers and insecure programs being tunnelled with the help of this port all can be used to help in hardening a connection against eavesdropping.

With the help of using Secure Shell from a Windows PC is essential for different reasons such as interacting with remote servers and network devices. It also beneficial for remote server access, secure file transfer, Git repository access, command line operations, etc.

3. What is the difference between Symmetric Encryption and Asymmetric Encryption?

Encryption is the procedure to change the form of any message to protect it from reading through anyone. The symmetric key encryption the message is encrypted with the help of key and the same key is used to decrypt the message that makes it easy to use but less secure. Here, the size of cipher test is same or larger as compare to original plain text.

Asymmetric key encryption is depends on public and private key encryption methods. It makes use of different key to encrypt and decrypt the message. Its more secure as compared to symmetric key encryption technique but it’s much slower. Here, the size of cipher text is the same or smaller as compared to original plain text.

4. What is SSL and why it’s not enough when it comes to encryption?

SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer which facilitate the data encryption channel between the user’s browser and the website’s server. It also protect the data while it’s in transit. It identifies verification, not hard data encryption.

It’s designed to be able to prove the other end’s people identify who you are having a conversation with. Along with SSL, TLS is used by almost everyone but here the main issue is the visibility which is maximum then it’s the massive target and it’s mainly attacked via its implementation. As the result, SSL can be stripped for data-in-transit and data-at-rest are required to be prepared.

5. What is the Post Code and its meaning?

POST is the great tool which is used when a system will not boot. Basically, with the help of display LED’s in more modern systems and traditionally via audio tones, these specific codes can showcase what the system doesn’t like about their current setup.

Due to the rare nature of this, unless you are on the tech bench day in and day out, reference materials like the Motherboard manual and your search engine of choice can be wonderful assets. There are few pointers to remember about this such as access to lessen required components to boot and assess to all of your connections on the correct pins.

6. How Black Hat is different from White Hat?

In cybersecurity, two opposed methodologies are black hat and white hat. Those who participate in hostile cyber activity are known as black hat hackers. For their benefit, they take advantage of weaknesses in computer systems, frequently by gaining illegal access, stealing data, or writing harmful software. Black hat hackers may target companies, governments, or even private citizens in their attempt to breach networks for monetary, ideological, or political gain. Their acts are prohibited and extremely risk security.

Cybersecurity professionals prioritising system and network security are known as white hat hackers. They employ their expertise to do penetration tests, find and fix vulnerabilities, and improve security in general. Organizations frequently use white hat hackers as a proactive defence strategy against cyber threats. They safeguard digital assets, abiding by ethical standards and regulatory frameworks rather than utilising them for personal gain. The testing is not the only category of ethical hacking.

7. A password-protected BIOS setting has to be reset. How do you proceed?

A deliberate approach is necessary to restore access to a password-protected BIOS option without resulting in unexpected repercussions. Please turn off the computer entirely and unplug it from all power sources before starting. It would help if you opened the computer case to reach the BIOS battery motherboards.

Find the little coin-cell battery (usually a CR2032) on the motherboard and take it out cautiously. To give the volatile memory (CMOS) time to clear, let the computer run without a battery for at least fifteen to thirty minutes. All BIOS settings, including the password, will be restored to their original settings during this period.

Following the waiting period shut off the computer case and reinstall the BIOS battery, ensuring it is placed correctly. Restart the computer, then access the BIOS or UEFI settings during the boot process. Now that the password security has been removed, access to the BIOS settings should be possible.

It's essential to remember that this procedure may differ significantly according to the make and model of the computer and that removing the battery may occasionally be replaced by a motherboard jumper or switch. To guarantee a seamless and precise password reset procedure, users should also proceed with caution and consult the instructions that come with their device.

8. What is XSS?

Cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks represent a form of injection where harmful scripts are inserted into websites that are otherwise considered safe and trustworthy. These attacks transpire when an assailant utilizes a web application to dispatch malicious code, typically presented as a browser-side script, to an unsuspecting end user.

The vulnerabilities enabling the success of XSS attacks are prevalent and manifest whenever a web application incorporates user input into its generated output without the necessary validation or encoding procedures.

9. From Mac box or Linux, how you should login to Active Directory?

Active Directory use the development of the SMB protocol, it can be accessed from the Linux or Mac system through the Samba Program. Based on the version, it allows to share access, printing and even Active Directory membership.

10. What does salted hashes?

Salted secured hash algorithm helps to protect the password hashes against dictionary attacks through introducing additional randomness. Password hash salting is when random data- a salt- used as the extra input to the hash function that hashes the password.

Salt stands for random data. When the secured password system receives the new password then it creates the hashed value for that password, generate the new random salt value and then store that combined value in its database. It supports you defend against dictionary attacks and known hash attacks.

11. What are the three methods to authenticate the individual?

• Something they know (password)
• Something they have (token)
• Something they are (biometrics)

12.How do you judge if the remote server is running IIS or Apache?

Most of the time, error messages give away what the server is running. If the website administrator has not set up custom error pages for every site, it too can give it. Next, it uses talent, which can be enough to see how it responds. Never underestimate the correct answer, but ask the right questions.

13.What does it mean to Data Protection in transit vs data protection at rest?

When data is protected in the database or on its hard drive, then it can be considered at rest. When data goes from server to client, then it is in transit.

14.If you see that the user is logging in as Root to perform essential functions, then it is a problem?

The Linux admin account which is known as Root has many powers that are not allowed for standard users. It’s not always necessary to log all the way off and log back in as Root to do these tasks.

If you have ever used the “run as admin” command in Windows, then you will understand the basic concept behind “sudo” or “superuser do” for whatever it is you want it to do. It's a straightforward and elegant approach for reducing the amount of time you need to be logged in as a privileged user.

The more time users spend with enhanced permissions, the more likely it is that something is going to go wrong, whether accidentally or intentionally.  

15. By which method you save your home wireless access point?

There are three methods to protect the home wireless access point:

• Using WPA2
• Not broadcasting the SSID
• Using MAC address filtering

16.When it comes to Windows Network, why does it break into a local account rather than an AD account?

Windows local accounts have a great deal of baggage tied to them, running back a long way to keep compatibility for user accounts. If you have a password of more than 13 characters, you may have seen the message referring to this fact.

Although Active Directory accounts have a great deal of security tied onto them, not the least of which is that the system actually doing the authenticating is different from the one you are normally sitting at when you are the regular user. Therefore, it's challenging to break into them.

17.What is the CIA triangle?

CIA triangle stands for Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability. The CIA triad is a standard model that forms the basis for the evolution of security approaches. They are used to find vulnerabilities and create strategies for solutions.

18.What are Vulnerabilities and Exploits?

Vulnerability is the weakness in the system network or application, whereas Exploit is the tool or piece of software that is used to take advantage of the vulnerability. A typical example of this type of behaviour is gaining control of a computer system, allowing privilege escalation, or launching a denial-of-service attack.

Vulnerabilities can be exploited for different purposes; they can remain open and exploitable, as well as allow the attacker to manipulate the system. On the other hand, Exploit takes the form of software or codes that help us to control computers and steal network data; they are mostly patched through software vendors once they are made public.

19.What is worse in Firewall Detection? A false negative or false positive? Why?

Both false positives and false negatives have essential and unique ramifications when it comes to firewall detection. However, each level of severity varies according to the security system's priorities and particular objectives.

When a firewall misses a legitimate security concern, malicious activity might go unnoticed, leading to false negatives. This is highly undesirable since it leaves the system vulnerable to possible hacks, data leaks, and integrity and confidentiality violations. In high-security contexts, where any mistake in threat detection might have dire repercussions, false negatives can be very damaging.

On the other hand, a false positive happens when the firewall incorrectly identifies benign or legitimate traffic as a security threat, leading to the blocking or restriction of harmless activities. While false positives can be disruptive and may result in legitimate users being denied access, they are generally considered less critical than false negatives. An excessive number of false positives may frustrate users, decrease efficiency, and result in unnecessary troubleshooting, but they do not directly compromise security.

20.What is the difference between a White Box Test and a Black Box Test?

The black box test is the test that only considers the external behaviour of the system where the internal workings of the software are not taken into account.

The white box test is the method used to test the software, taking into consideration its internal functioning.

Conclusion

The above lead auditor interview questions will help you to understand the types of questions and how you should answer them. Apart from the above questions, there are different situations-based questions and personal experience questions as well, like what is the schedule of your day? How does your daily new check look? Etc.

When these questions are asked to you, then make sure to answer smartly without getting nervous. The above-listed ISO 27001 audit questions and answers are most communal, so make sure you study them appropriately. Besides this, you can also explore ISO 27001 Lead Auditor Training and Certification Courses and get acknowledged globally.

Topic Related Post