Attack surfaces and vectors in Cybersecurity - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Understanding Attack Surfaces and Vectors

📖 Scenario: You are a cybersecurity analyst helping a small company understand how attackers might try to break into their systems. You will create a simple list of possible entry points and categorize them to better protect the company.

🎯 Goal: Build a categorized list of attack surfaces and their corresponding attack vectors to understand where and how attackers can try to gain access.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a dictionary called attack_surfaces with three keys: 'Network', 'Software', and 'Physical'.

Each key should map to a list of exactly three specific attack vectors as strings.

Create a variable called minimum_vectors and set it to the number 2.

Use a dictionary comprehension to create a new dictionary called filtered_surfaces that only includes attack surfaces with at least minimum_vectors attack vectors.

Add a final key-value pair to attack_surfaces with key 'Human' and a list of three attack vectors.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Understanding attack surfaces and vectors helps organizations identify where they are vulnerable to cyber attacks and prioritize their security efforts.

💼 Career

Cybersecurity professionals use this knowledge to design defenses, conduct risk assessments, and educate employees about potential threats.

1

Create the initial attack surfaces dictionary

Create a dictionary called attack_surfaces with these exact keys and values:
'Network' maps to ["Open ports", "Unsecured Wi-Fi", "Phishing emails"],
'Software' maps to ["Outdated software", "Malware", "Weak passwords"],
and 'Physical' maps to ["Unlocked doors", "Lost devices", "Tailgating"].

Cybersecurity

# Create the attack_surfaces dictionary with Network, Software, and Physical keys
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use curly braces {} to create a dictionary. Each key is a string and maps to a list of three strings.

2

Add a minimum vectors threshold

Create a variable called minimum_vectors and set it to the number 2.

Cybersecurity

attack_surfaces = {
    'Network': ["Open ports", "Unsecured Wi-Fi", "Phishing emails"],
    'Software': ["Outdated software", "Malware", "Weak passwords"],
    'Physical': ["Unlocked doors", "Lost devices", "Tailgating"]
}
# Create minimum_vectors variable and set it to 2
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Just assign the number 2 to the variable minimum_vectors.

3

Filter attack surfaces by minimum vectors

Use a dictionary comprehension to create a new dictionary called filtered_surfaces that includes only the keys and values from attack_surfaces where the list of attack vectors has length greater than or equal to minimum_vectors.

Cybersecurity

attack_surfaces = {
    'Network': ["Open ports", "Unsecured Wi-Fi", "Phishing emails"],
    'Software': ["Outdated software", "Malware", "Weak passwords"],
    'Physical': ["Unlocked doors", "Lost devices", "Tailgating"]
}
minimum_vectors = 2
filtered_surfaces = {key: value for key, value in attack_surfaces.items() if len(value) >= minimum_vectors}
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use {key: value for key, value in attack_surfaces.items() if len(value) >= minimum_vectors} to filter the dictionary.

4

Add Human attack surface

Add a new key 'Human' to the attack_surfaces dictionary with the list ["Social engineering", "Insider threats", "Phishing"].

Cybersecurity

attack_surfaces = {
    'Network': ["Open ports", "Unsecured Wi-Fi", "Phishing emails"],
    'Software': ["Outdated software", "Malware", "Weak passwords"],
    'Physical': ["Unlocked doors", "Lost devices", "Tailgating"]
}
minimum_vectors = 2
filtered_surfaces = {key: value for key, value in attack_surfaces.items() if len(value) >= minimum_vectors}
# Add 'Human' key with its attack vectors to attack_surfaces
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Add the new key and list inside the attack_surfaces dictionary with a comma separating it from the previous entry.