Security Architect Interview questions

A security architect is the person who sets up the way hardware and software interact to protect a company network. You should understand security and how to protect internal assets. Architects are the ones who build networks, so they usually have quite a lot of experience on the topic. You should know several areas of security including firewalls, routers, applications and servers. When you go to your interview, here are some sample questions you might come across during your job hunt.

1. What are the most potent viruses in the wild?

A: Zero day viruses are viruses that are just released in the wild and have no definitions for them. This means that antivirus and firewall software won’t detect them. These are potent for businesses.

2. What are some types of sites that should be blocked?

A: Torrent sites are probably one of the biggest threats to internal networks. You should also block proxy servers to avoid allowing users to get around blocks. Warez sites are also filled with malware.

3. What type of tests can you use on your network to detect security faults?

A: Penetration testing is a must-have for most businesses. You can also use packet sniffers such as Wireshark to view malicious or suspicious traffic. You can write scripts to test for unauthorized access to automate it.

4. What type of access should you give remote employees to access the network?

A: VPN access lets users access internal network sources using a tunneling protocol. User information is secure from their house or hotel or any remote network.

5. What type of security flaw is there in VPN?

A: A man in the middle attack allows an attacker to spoof the network on a Wifi network. The attacker pretends to have a legit Wifi router and reads data sent between the user and the host network.

6. What is a firewall?

A: A firewall is software or hardware or both that protects traffic from outgoing and incoming connections. A firewall can detect malware sending traffic from a user’s computer and it can block unauthorized traffic from entering the internal network.

7. What is the difference between a firewall and a network gateway?

A: A network gateway connects two networks together. It’s usually the router connected to the hosts. A firewall protects, blocks, and filters network traffic across the router.

8. What is packet filtering?

A: Packet filtering allows you to block ports, IP addresses or protocols on the firewall. The firewall can read the packet header which has this information contained. You then either allow or block the traffic based on the packet header information.

9. What is a public encryption key?

A: The public key is a key that you publish for people to encrypt messages that are sent to you. You then use your private key to decrypt these messages to read them.

10. What is a DoS attack?

A: A DoS attack is a denial of service attack. The attacker floods the network with packets in an attempt to crash servers or routers.

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