SDSI Multiple Select — 40 Questions

Question 1

Which THREE of the following are key AI/ML design considerations when selecting a security automation platform?

Accepted Answer

Explainability and transparency (XAI). Data quality, model transparency, and integration capabilities are critical for effective AI security.

Answer

Number of employees on the vendor's team

Answer

Local hardware GPU acceleration

Question 2

Which TWO of the following are benefits of using 'Infrastructure as Code' (IaC) with Cisco Secure Firewall?

Accepted Answer

Improved auditability of changes. Consistency and auditability are the primary benefits of treating infrastructure as code.

Answer

Reduction of network bandwidth usage

Answer

Elimination of the need for firewall policies

Answer

Automatic hardware repair

Question 3

Which THREE of the following represent common challenges when implementing automated security in a legacy environment?

Accepted Answer

Cultural resistance to change. Lack of APIs, fragmented data, and organizational resistance are common barriers.

Answer

Too much documentation

Answer

Excessive API performance

Question 4

Which TWO of the following steps are required to integrate a security tool (like Cisco Secure Firewall) into a CI/CD pipeline?

Accepted Answer

Configure API authentication credentials. You need an authentication mechanism (API keys) and a deployment tool (Terraform/Ansible) to manage the infrastructure.

Answer

Replace the existing firewall hardware

Answer

Hardcode credentials in the pipeline build file

Answer

Disable all firewall rules for testing

Question 5

Which TWO of the following are true about 'Policy as Code' in Cisco security infrastructure?

Accepted Answer

Policies are stored in version control systems. It promotes version control and allows for automated testing of policies.

Answer

Policies are always written in assembly language

Answer

Policies are automatically applied without review

Answer

Policies are only for cloud-native apps

Question 6

Which TWO of the following capabilities does Cisco Secure Firewall (FMC) provide to support automated security workflows?

Accepted Answer

Integration with external Threat Intel feeds. The FMC REST API and the ability to integrate with external threat intelligence feeds are critical for automation.

Answer

Native container orchestration

Answer

Automated code refactoring

Answer

On-board AI training engine

Question 7

Which THREE of the following are key features of Cisco XDR (formerly SecureX) in an automated pipeline?

Accepted Answer

Workflow orchestration. Orchestration, threat intelligence, and incident management are core XDR features.

Answer

Automated server patching

Answer

Network packet capture hardware

Question 8

Which THREE of the following are best practices for securing a CI/CD pipeline itself?

Accepted Answer

Scan the pipeline code for vulnerabilities. Securing the runner, managing secrets, and scanning code are fundamental best practices.

Answer

Allow root access to all developers

Answer

Use unencrypted communication channels

Question 9

Which THREE of the following technologies should be combined to create a 'Security-as-Code' pipeline for Cisco infrastructure?

Accepted Answer

Git (Version Control). Version control, configuration management, and vulnerability scanning are essential to the workflow.

Answer

Physical console cables

Answer

Local SQL databases

Question 10

Which THREE of the following are considered 'Threat Response' automation actions in a Cisco XDR environment?

Accepted Answer

Blocking a malicious file hash. Isolating an endpoint, blocking a file hash, and blocking a URL are common automated responses.

Answer

Sending a company-wide email

Answer

Rebooting the server hardware

Question 11

You are designing an API security architecture for a hybrid cloud environment. Which TWO Cisco technologies would you implement to secure the API lifecycle?

Accepted Answer

Cisco Secure Application for AppDynamics. Cisco Secure API Gateway and Cisco Secure Application (AppDynamics) are standard for API protection.

Answer

Cisco Firepower

Answer

Cisco ISE

Answer

Cisco AnyConnect

Question 12

When designing microsegmentation within Cisco Secure Workload for a hybrid environment, which TWO components are essential for enforcing traffic policies between on-premises servers and cloud-native instances? (Choose TWO)

Accepted Answer

Cisco Secure Workload software agents. Secure Workload relies on agents (for VMs/bare metal) and VPC flow log ingestion/cloud integration (for cloud-native) to build the visibility and enforcement model.

Answer

Cisco Firepower Management Center (FMC)

Answer

Cisco Umbrella virtual appliance

Answer

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Question 13

Which THREE of the following are essential components of a robust DevSecOps security architecture for Cisco infrastructure?

Accepted Answer

Infrastructure as Code (IaC). Infrastructure as Code, Automated Testing, and Continuous Monitoring are core pillars of DevSecOps.

Answer

Manual Review Committees

Answer

Isolated air-gapped networks

Question 14

Which TWO factors must be considered when designing SaaS security using Cisco Cloudlock to ensure compliance with data protection regulations? (Choose TWO)

Accepted Answer

Establishing remediation workflows for policy violations. Compliance requires identifying sensitive data types and defining automated remediation actions to protect that data.

Answer

Configuring BGP peering with the SaaS provider

Answer

Enabling hardware-based encryption for the SaaS vendor

Answer

Installing agents on all end-user laptops

Question 15

You are performing a security assessment of a containerized application architecture. Which TWO of the following configurations are critical for ensuring secure communication between pods in a Cisco ACI-managed Kubernetes environment? (Choose TWO)

Accepted Answer

Defining Contracts between EPGs to permit specific traffic types.. In ACI-managed Kubernetes (CNA), security is enforced through Endpoint Groups (EPGs) and contracts that define communication policies between different service tiers.

Answer

Disabling the ACI CNI plugin to allow native Kubernetes network policies.

Answer

Configuring all pods to reside in a single flat, non-segmented network.

Answer

Using physical cabling to separate traffic by VLAN.

Question 16

Which TWO of the following are common components of an AI-driven security operations center (SOC)?

Accepted Answer

Automated incident response playbooks. Automated incident response and behavior analysis are central to AI-driven SOCs.

Answer

Manual daily log exporting

Answer

Word processing software

Answer

Physical surveillance cameras

Question 17

Which TWO of the following identify risks associated with using AI for security automation?

Accepted Answer

Adversarial machine learning / poisoning. Model drift and adversarial machine learning (data poisoning) are two major concerns.

Answer

Faster network throughput

Answer

Too many security updates

Answer

Increased hardware cost

Question 18

When designing a secure API environment, which THREE threat categories should be prioritized for detection by Cisco API Security? (Choose THREE)

Accepted Answer

Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA). API security focuses on common threats like BOLA, excessive data exposure, and broken authentication.

Answer

Local fiber optic cable breaks

Answer

Standard server hardware failures

Question 19

Which THREE actions are recommended when designing a secure API architecture using Cisco API Security to mitigate OWASP API Top 10 threats? (Choose THREE)

Accepted Answer

Implement strict schema validation on all incoming API requests. Mitigation requires visibility, schema validation, and behavioral analysis to stop common attacks like BOLA and excessive data exposure.

Answer

Allow all API traffic to bypass authentication for performance

Answer

Disable all logging of API request headers

Question 20

Which THREE criteria should be used to design microsegmentation policies in Cisco Secure Workload? (Choose THREE)

Accepted Answer

Workload attributes and labels (metadata). Effective microsegmentation policies rely on workload identity, application context, and observed communication patterns rather than just IP addresses.

Answer

Physical switch port IDs

Answer

Dynamic IP addresses of the servers