Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Cloud Computing, Cryptography, and Social Engineering Syllabus

Cloud Computing, Cryptography, and Social Engineering syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Cloud Computing, Cryptography, and Social Engineering in Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Cloud Computing

   4 topics

   • Cloud Concepts and Service Models
     • IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and deployment models
     • Shared responsibility model
   • Container and Serverless Technologies
     • Docker and Kubernetes security
     • Serverless computing risks
   • Cloud Threats and Attacks
     • Misconfigured storage buckets
     • Account hijacking and SSRF in cloud
     • Side-channel and cloud cryptojacking
   • Cloud Security and Countermeasures
     • CASB, CSPM, and best practices
2. 2

   Cryptography

   4 topics

   • Cryptography Concepts
     • Symmetric vs asymmetric encryption
     • Hashing and message digests
   • Encryption Algorithms
     • DES, 3DES, AES, RC4/RC5/RC6
     • RSA, Diffie-Hellman, ECC
   • PKI and Digital Signatures
     • Certificates and certificate authorities
     • Digital signature workflow
   • Cryptanalysis and Attacks
     • Brute-force, birthday, and side-channel attacks
     • Disk and email encryption tools
3. 3

   Social Engineering

   4 topics

   • Social Engineering Concepts and Phases
     • Human-based, computer-based, mobile-based
   • Social Engineering Techniques
     • Phishing, spear phishing, whaling
     • Pretexting, baiting, quid pro quo, tailgating
     • Vishing and smishing
   • Insider Threats and Identity Theft
   • Countermeasures and Awareness
     • Security awareness training and policies

Cloud Computing, Cryptography, and Social Engineering flashcards for Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)

22 of 50 cards from the Cloud Computing, Cryptography, and Social Engineering deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What are the three standard cloud service models (NIST)?

   IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), and SaaS (Software as a Service).

2. In the cloud shared responsibility model, who secures the data, identity, and access management regardless of service model?

   The customer is always responsible for their data, accounts/identities, and access management; the provider's responsibility increases from IaaS to SaaS.

3. What are the four cloud deployment models defined by NIST?

   Public, Private, Community, and Hybrid cloud.

4. What are NIST's five essential characteristics of cloud computing?

   On-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service.

5. Which cloud service model gives the customer the most control and responsibility over the OS and applications?

   IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) - the provider manages only the underlying hardware/virtualization.

6. What is a container, and how does it differ from a virtual machine?

   A container packages an application with its dependencies and shares the host OS kernel, making it lightweight; a VM virtualizes hardware and runs a full guest OS, making it heavier.

7. What is the role of Docker and Kubernetes in container technology?

   Docker is a platform for building and running containers; Kubernetes is an orchestration system that automates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.

8. What is serverless computing (Function as a Service)?

   A model where the cloud provider runs and manages the server infrastructure, executing code in stateless functions triggered by events; the user is billed only for execution time (e.g., AWS Lambda).

9. What are the typical phases of the container/Kubernetes attack surface (the 4 C's of cloud-native security)?

   Cloud, Cluster, Container, and Code - security must be addressed at each layer.

10. What is a Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attack in a cloud context?

    An attack where a vulnerable server is tricked into making requests to internal cloud resources, often used to reach the metadata service (e.g., 169.254.169.254) and steal credentials/IAM tokens.

11. What is cloud hopper / a cloud cryptojacking attack?

    Cryptojacking is the unauthorized use of cloud compute resources to mine cryptocurrency; cloud hopping refers to moving laterally between tenants or from a provider to its customers.

12. What is a side-channel attack in a multi-tenant cloud?

    An attack where an adversary co-locates a VM on the same physical host as the victim and extracts information by observing shared resources like cache timing or power usage.

13. What is the main risk of misconfigured cloud storage buckets (e.g., S3)?

    Publicly exposed buckets allow anyone to read or write sensitive data, a leading cause of cloud data breaches.

14. What is a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)?

    A security policy enforcement point placed between cloud users and providers to enforce visibility, compliance, data security, and threat protection.

15. What cloud security technique isolates and encrypts data so that even the provider cannot read it?

    Client-side / customer-managed encryption with customer-held keys (e.g., BYOK - Bring Your Own Key).

16. What is the purpose of a Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tool?

    To continuously monitor cloud environments for misconfigurations, compliance violations, and security risks and remediate them automatically.

17. What does the principle of least privilege mean for cloud IAM?

    Granting users, roles, and services only the minimum permissions needed to perform their tasks, reducing the blast radius of compromised credentials.

18. What is the difference between symmetric and asymmetric encryption?

    Symmetric uses a single shared secret key for both encryption and decryption (fast); asymmetric uses a public/private key pair (slower) where one key encrypts and the other decrypts.

19. Define the three goals of cryptography commonly tested in CEH.

    Confidentiality (secrecy), Integrity (data not altered), and Authentication/Non-repudiation - often paired with Availability in the CIA triad.

20. What is the difference between a block cipher and a stream cipher?

    A block cipher encrypts fixed-size blocks of data (e.g., 128 bits in AES); a stream cipher encrypts data one bit or byte at a time (e.g., RC4).

21. What key sizes does AES support, and what is its block size?

    AES supports 128, 192, and 256-bit keys with a fixed 128-bit block size.

22. What is the key length of DES and why is it considered insecure?

    DES uses a 56-bit effective key, which is too short and can be brute-forced quickly with modern hardware.

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