CDPSE Practice Test 24 — 15 Questions

Question 1

An organization's privacy governance policy states that privacy impact assessments (PIAs) must be conducted for all new projects involving personal data. A project manager is launching a new customer loyalty program that will collect and process personal data. Which of the following should the project manager do FIRST to comply with the policy?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Conduct a privacy impact assessment (PIA) before proceeding with the project. The privacy governance policy mandates a PIA for all new projects involving personal data. The project manager should conduct the PIA first to identify and address privacy risks early in the project lifecycle. This proactive approach ensures compliance with the policy and helps avoid costly redesigns or regulatory issues later.

Answer

Implement the program and then conduct a PIA if customer complaints arise

Answer

Ask the IT department to perform a security assessment instead of a PIA

Answer

Consult with the legal department to determine if the program requires a PIA

Question 2

A multinational retailer is implementing a data minimization program for its customer loyalty database. The database contains fields such as full name, email, phone number, date of birth, and purchase history. The privacy team wants to reduce the amount of personal data stored while still enabling targeted marketing campaigns. Which of the following techniques BEST achieves data minimization while preserving analytical utility?

Accepted Answer

Aggregate purchase history into cohorts and delete individual-level identifiers after a short period.. Data minimization requires limiting personal data collection and retention to what is necessary for the stated purpose. Aggregating purchase history into cohorts and deleting individual identifiers reduces the volume of personal data while still enabling targeted marketing through cohort-level insights. This approach directly satisfies the minimization principle and supports storage limitation by removing identifiers when they are no longer needed for the business purpose.

Answer

Tokenize all PII fields and store the tokens in a separate vault.

Answer

Apply format-preserving encryption to all PII fields to reduce their sensitivity.

Answer

Implement role-based access controls so only marketing staff can view PII fields.

Question 3

When configuring 'Dynamic Data Masking' in SQL Server, which permission is required for a user to see the unmasked data?

Accepted Answer

UNMASK permission. In SQL Server Dynamic Data Masking (DDM), users who need to see the actual unmasked values must be granted the UNMASK permission, either at the database level (GRANT UNMASK TO user) or via a role that includes it. By default, users with SELECT permission see masked values for columns defined with a masking function; UNMASK is the explicit override that reveals the underlying data. This is the specific permission the question is asking about.

Answer

db_datareader

Answer

SELECT permission

Answer

sysadmin role

Question 4

Which THREE of the following are essential elements of a privacy governance framework?

Accepted Answer

Continuous monitoring and auditing of privacy controls.. Option A (Continuous monitoring and auditing of privacy controls) is essential because a privacy governance framework must verify that controls remain effective over time, using ongoing assessments, audits, and metrics to detect gaps and drive remediation. Option B (Clear privacy roles and responsibilities) is essential because governance requires defined accountability — such as a Data Protection Officer, privacy stewards, and data owners — so that decisions, escalations, and compliance tasks have named owners. Option D (Comprehensive privacy policies) is essential because written policies codify the organization's privacy principles, legal obligations, and acceptable data-handling practices, providing the baseline against which controls and roles operate. Options C (a collection of all company invoices) and E (a list of employee salaries) are not governance elements; invoices and salary data are business or HR records that may contain personal data but do not themselves establish privacy governance structures, accountability, or oversight.

Answer

A collection of all company invoices.

Answer

A list of employee salaries.

Question 5

An organization uses a 'Privacy-preserving Synthetic Data' generator. What is the primary purpose of this tool in a development environment?

Accepted Answer

To enable testing without using actual production PII. Privacy-preserving synthetic data generators produce artificial datasets that statistically mirror the structure and distributions of real production data without containing any actual PII. This lets developers and QA teams build, test, and train models against realistic data shapes while eliminating the regulatory and security risks of exposing live personal data in non-production environments. The primary purpose is therefore enabling testing without using actual production PII.

Answer

To replace the need for database backups

Answer

To verify the identity of developers

Answer

To increase the accuracy of machine learning models

Question 6

Which TWO activities are involved in the 'data mapping' life cycle phase?

Accepted Answer

Documenting data flows. In the data mapping life cycle phase, the goal is to establish a complete picture of what data exists and how it moves through the organization, so option C (Documenting data flows) is correct because it captures the movement of data between systems, applications, and third parties, which is the core output of data mapping. Option D (Identifying data sources) is also correct because mapping must begin by locating where data originates and resides, such as databases, applications, and repositories, before flows can be traced. The unmarked options do not belong: purchasing new storage (A) is a procurement/infrastructure activity, hiring data privacy staff (B) is a resourcing/HR activity, and performing penetration tests (E) is a security testing activity, none of which constitute the data mapping phase itself.

Answer

Purchasing new storage

Answer

Hiring data privacy staff

Answer

Performing penetration tests

Question 7

A privacy team is implementing data minimization for a cloud-based CRM system that stores customer PII. The team must ensure that only necessary data is collected and that data is not retained beyond its purpose. Which TWO of the following are technical controls that directly support data minimization? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Automated data purging based on retention schedules configured in the CRM.. The two controls that directly support data minimization are automated data purging based on retention schedules and collection of only required fields with validation rules. Purging ensures data is not retained longer than necessary, while field validation ensures only necessary data is collected. Together, they reduce the volume and lifespan of PII, embodying minimization.

Answer

Data masking applied to PII fields when displayed in the CRM user interface.

Answer

Role-based access control (RBAC) restricting access to PII to authorized personnel.

Answer

Field-level encryption of all PII attributes in the CRM database.

Question 8

When implementing Secure Multi-Party Computation (SMPC), what is the primary benefit?

Accepted Answer

Computation on private inputs. Secure Multi-Party Computation (SMPC) allows two or more parties to jointly compute a function over their private inputs without revealing those inputs to each other or to any third party. The primary benefit is therefore computation on private inputs — each party learns only the agreed-upon output, not the other parties' raw data. This enables collaborative analytics, fraud detection, or benchmarking across organizations that cannot legally or commercially share raw data.

Answer

No data movement required

Answer

Full public data visibility

Answer

High speed performance

Question 9

A privacy analyst is reviewing the data life cycle for a new mobile app that collects location data. The analyst needs to ensure that location data is not retained longer than necessary for the app's core functionality. Which data life cycle stage directly addresses this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Data retention and disposal. The retention and disposal stage of the data life cycle is specifically designed to manage how long data is kept and to ensure its secure destruction when no longer needed. Collection, storage, and use stages address different aspects such as lawful acquisition, security, and processing purposes, but they do not enforce time limits on retention.

Answer

Data use

Answer

Data collection

Answer

Data storage

Question 10

A privacy engineer is configuring an Apache Kafka cluster that ingests customer transaction events for downstream analytics. The events include personally identifiable information (PII). The engineer must ensure that PII is irreversibly transformed before it is written to the topic while allowing downstream consumers to still join events by a stable customer identifier. Which approach BEST satisfies this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Implement a Kafka Streams transformation that applies a keyed cryptographic hash with a per-tenant salt to the PII fields before producing to the topic.. The requirement is to irreversibly transform PII before it is written to the Kafka topic while preserving a stable join key. A keyed cryptographic hash with a per-tenant salt achieves both: the hash is one-way, and the salt keeps the identifier stable within a tenant while preventing cross-tenant correlation. In-stream transformation ensures raw PII never reaches the topic.

Answer

Enable TLS encryption on the Kafka broker listeners and configure the topic with a replication factor of three.

Answer

Apply column-level encryption using a shared symmetric key held by the analytics team and store the ciphertext in the Kafka message value.

Answer

Configure Kafka log compaction on the topic so that only the latest record for each customer key is retained.

Question 11

During a data mapping exercise in BigID, you need to identify data that has exceeded its retention period. Which attribute should be used to filter the data inventory?

Accepted Answer

Retention Expiration Date. In BigID's data inventory, the Retention Expiration Date attribute records when a data asset's retention period ends, so filtering on it directly surfaces data that has exceeded its retention period. This is the purpose-built field for retention compliance workflows and is what privacy teams use to drive deletion or archival actions. Other attributes describe the data's identity, sensitivity, or storage, not its lifecycle timing.

Answer

Data Subject ID

Answer

Classification Level

Answer

Encryption Status

Answer

Data Source Type

Question 12

A privacy engineer is designing a data life cycle for a new IoT device that collects sensor data, including personal data, and transmits it to a cloud platform. The organization must ensure data integrity throughout the life cycle, from collection to disposal. The engineer is considering several technical controls. Which control best ensures data integrity during transmission and storage?

Accepted Answer

Use hash-based message authentication codes (HMAC) for data in transit and checksums for data at rest.. HMAC for data in transit and checksums for data at rest are integrity-specific controls. HMAC verifies that transmitted data has not been altered and originates from a trusted source, while checksums detect any changes to stored data. This combination ensures integrity throughout the life cycle, unlike encryption, auditing, or WORM storage, which address different aspects.

Answer

Store all sensor data in a write-once-read-many (WORM) storage system.

Answer

Enable database auditing and log all changes to sensor data.

Answer

Implement TLS 1.3 for data in transit and AES-256 encryption for data at rest.

Question 13

When establishing a Privacy Risk Assessment methodology, which TWO components are essential to ensure the assessment is repeatable and defensible?

Accepted Answer

Defined risk appetite and tolerance thresholds.. Option C is correct because a defined risk appetite and tolerance thresholds establish the objective criteria that determine which risks are acceptable, ensuring every assessor reaches consistent, defensible conclusions across repeated assessments. Option E is correct because a standardized risk scoring matrix provides a consistent, documented method for assigning likelihood and impact values, which is fundamental to producing repeatable and comparable risk ratings. Together, these two components remove subjective judgment and create an auditable, reproducible assessment process. Option A is incorrect because automated deletion of all PII is a data-minimization or remediation action, not a component of assessment methodology, and would destroy data needed for analysis. Option B is incorrect because public disclosure of internal audit findings is a transparency decision unrelated to making assessments repeatable or defensible, and could itself create risk. Option D is incorrect because relying exclusively on external consultants undermines repeatability and internal ownership rather than ensuring it.

Answer

Automated deletion of all PII.

Answer

Public disclosure of all internal audit findings.

Answer

Exclusive use of external consultants for all assessments.

Question 14

A privacy engineer is configuring an automated data disposal process for a cloud-based CRM. The organization must ensure that when a customer account is deleted, all associated personal data is irreversibly destroyed across all replicas and backups within 30 days, while maintaining an audit trail. Which approach best satisfies these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Implement a cryptographic erasure strategy by destroying the encryption keys associated with each customer's data, and log the key destruction event.. Cryptographic erasure is a recognized method for secure data disposal in cloud environments, as it eliminates the need to track every data copy. By destroying the encryption keys, all encrypted data becomes inaccessible, and the key destruction event provides an auditable record. This approach aligns with the requirement for irreversible destruction within 30 days across replicas and backups.

Answer

Archive the customer data to a cold storage tier and set a lifecycle policy to delete it after 30 days, while enabling versioning for audit.

Answer

Run a database DELETE command on all customer records and rely on the database's transaction log to purge backups automatically.

Answer

Overwrite the storage blocks containing the customer data with random patterns using a secure wipe tool, and document the overwrite in a spreadsheet.

Question 15

A privacy analyst is reviewing the data life cycle for a cloud-based HR system that processes employee personal data. The organization must ensure that data minimization is applied during the collection and storage phases. Which two practices should the analyst recommend to achieve data minimization in this scenario? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Collect only the employee data fields that are strictly necessary for payroll and benefits administration.. Data minimization involves collecting only necessary data and regularly purging data that is no longer needed. Collecting only required fields limits data at the source, while periodic reviews and purges ensure that stored data remains minimal. Other options like encryption, pseudonymization, or deletion after termination do not reduce the amount of data collected or stored during active use.

Answer

Implement field-level encryption for all employee data stored in the HR system.

Answer

Configure automatic deletion of employee records 30 days after termination.

Answer

Use pseudonymization to replace employee names with artificial identifiers in the HR system.