What does the CIA triad stand for in information security?

Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability

Certificates, Identification, Authentication

An email claiming to be from your bank says your account will be blocked today unless you verify it through a link. What should you do?

Do not click; open the bank's app or type its address yourself, and report the email as phishing

Click the link quickly so the account is not blocked

Reply with your details and ask them to confirm

Forward it to colleagues to warn them, link included

Which of these is true multi-factor authentication?

A password plus a code from an authenticator app

A password plus a security question

What is the key difference between hashing and encryption?

Hashing is one-way; encryption can be reversed with the right key

Encryption is one-way; hashing can be reversed

Both can be reversed with a password

Neither changes the original data

Which statement about symmetric and asymmetric encryption is correct?

Asymmetric encryption uses a public and private key pair; symmetric uses one shared secret key

Asymmetric encryption uses one shared key; symmetric uses a key pair

Symmetric encryption is always slower than asymmetric

HTTPS uses only symmetric encryption, with no key exchange

What does the principle of least privilege mean?

Give users and services only the access they need to do their job, and nothing more

Give everyone admin rights to avoid support tickets

Only managers should have accounts

An attacker posts a forum comment containing a script that runs in other visitors' browsers. What type of attack is this?

Stored cross-site scripting (XSS)

Cross-site request forgery (CSRF)

A logged-in user visits a malicious site that silently submits a "change email" request to their bank's website. What is this attack and a common defence?

CSRF; defended by anti-CSRF tokens and SameSite cookies

XSS; defended by hashing passwords

SQL injection; defended by prepared statements

Phishing; defended by antivirus

What does a firewall do?

Allows or blocks network traffic based on rules such as IP address, port and protocol

Removes viruses from infected files

Encrypts every file on the disk

What does the 3-2-1 backup rule recommend?

Three copies of your data, on two different types of storage, with one copy kept off-site

Back up three times a day, keep two days, delete one

Three passwords, two devices, one cloud account

Back up every 3 months to 2 USB drives and 1 laptop in the same room

An office PC shows a ransomware note and files will not open. What is the best first step?

Disconnect the PC from the network and report the incident to IT or security

Restart repeatedly until the files open

Copy the encrypted files to a USB drive and try them on another PC

A vendor releases a security update for a flaw that attackers are actively exploiting. What should you do?

Apply it promptly, prioritising internet-facing systems, after a quick test where possible

Wait a year to see if problems are reported

Ignore it if antivirus is installed

Only update when the device starts running slowly

Free Cybersecurity Quiz With Answers

This free cybersecurity quiz covers the basics every IT learner and office user should know: the CIA triad, phishing and social engineering, multi-factor authentication, hashing versus encryption, symmetric and asymmetric keys, least privilege, web attacks such as XSS and CSRF, firewalls, 3-2-1 backups, ransomware and patching. Answer all 12 questions, check your score, then read the explanations and revisit the cybersecurity basics guide for any topic you missed.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a technical background for this quiz?

No. Most questions cover everyday security habits. A few, such as XSS and CSRF, are aimed at people learning web development or IT.

What is the single most useful step to protect my accounts?

Turn on multi-factor authentication, ideally with an authenticator app or passkey, and use a password manager so every password is unique.

What should I study after the basics?

Learn networking fundamentals, Linux and how firewalls and VPNs work, then move on to network security and the OWASP Top 10 for web applications.

Cybersecurity Quiz: 12 Basics Questions

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a technical background for this quiz?

What is the single most useful step to protect my accounts?

What should I study after the basics?

Want to Learn This Properly?

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a technical background for this quiz?

What is the single most useful step to protect my accounts?

What should I study after the basics?

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