CCSP Practice Test 10 — 10 Questions

Question 1

A company is deploying a new application that processes sensitive personal data. The cloud provider operates in a specific region that adheres to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The company requires that data never leave the region. Which combination of cloud architecture controls should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

Use data sovereignty policies, restrict geographic deployment to the region, and disable cross-region replication.. Option B is correct because data sovereignty policies explicitly enforce that data remains within a specific jurisdiction, restricting geographic deployment to the region ensures all cloud resources are provisioned only in that region, and disabling cross-region replication prevents any automated or manual data transfer to other regions. This combination directly addresses the GDPR requirement that data never leave the designated region, as it controls both resource placement and data movement at the infrastructure level.

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Use a virtual private cloud (VPC) with a route table that only allows egress to the internet through a NAT gateway.

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Use encryption at rest and in transit with keys stored in a cloud HSM.

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Use a cloud provider's CDN service to cache content within the region.

Question 2

A multinational corporation uses a cloud access security broker (CASB) to enforce data protection policies across multiple SaaS applications. They discover that sensitive data tagged with 'Confidential' is being shared externally via a file-sharing application. The CASB currently only logs activities. Which action should the security team take to prevent such data loss in the future?

Accepted Answer

Implement a DLP policy that automatically blocks sharing of documents with the 'Confidential' label.. Option D is correct because a CASB with Data Loss Prevention (DLP) capabilities can enforce real-time policies to block sharing of documents tagged with a specific sensitivity label (e.g., 'Confidential'). Since the CASB currently only logs activities, implementing a DLP policy that automatically blocks the sharing action addresses the root cause—preventing the data loss at the point of egress—rather than merely detecting it after the fact.

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Encrypt all files stored in the file-sharing application.

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Revoke user access to the file-sharing application for all employees.

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Train employees on data handling policies.

Question 3

A company is deploying a containerized application on Kubernetes. The security team requires that containers run with the least privilege, and that any attempt to escalate privileges within a container is blocked. Which Kubernetes security context setting should be applied to the pod specification?

Accepted Answer

allowPrivilegeEscalation: false. Option D is correct because setting `allowPrivilegeEscalation: false` in the pod's security context directly blocks any attempt by a container process to gain more privileges than its parent process, such as through setuid binaries or syscalls like `setuid()`. This satisfies the requirement to prevent privilege escalation within the container, aligning with the least privilege principle.

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runAsNonRoot: true

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capabilities: drop: ['ALL']

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readOnlyRootFilesystem: true

Question 4

An organization uses infrastructure as code (IaC) to deploy cloud resources. The security team wants to prevent misconfigurations such as open security groups from being deployed. Which two practices should be integrated into the IaC pipeline? (Select TWO)

Accepted Answer

Implement policy-as-code to enforce security rules. Policy-as-code (D) allows security rules to be defined in a machine-readable format (e.g., using Open Policy Agent or HashiCorp Sentinel) and automatically evaluated during the IaC pipeline, preventing non-compliant configurations from being deployed. Automated security scanning tools (E) analyze IaC templates (e.g., Terraform, CloudFormation) for known misconfigurations, such as overly permissive security group rules, before they reach production. Together, these practices enforce security guardrails early in the development lifecycle.

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Limit access to the cloud management console

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Perform manual code reviews for every change

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Segment the network using security groups

Question 5

Refer to the exhibit. A developer reports that users are being denied access to a cloud application. The error log shows the above. What is the most likely cause of the denial?

Accepted Answer

The token's expiration time has passed. The error log indicates that the token's expiration time has passed, which is a standard validation check in OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect (OIDC) flows. When a token's `exp` claim is less than the current server time, the authorization server or resource server rejects the request with an 'access denied' or similar error. This is the most direct cause of the denial shown in the exhibit.

Answer

The token was issued by an untrusted issuer

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The token lacks required permissions

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The token's signature is invalid

Question 6

A company is adopting a serverless architecture using AWS Lambda. The security team is concerned about potential injection attacks via event payloads. Which practice is most effective at mitigating such attacks?

Accepted Answer

Validate and sanitize all input data from event sources. Option C is correct because serverless functions like AWS Lambda are directly invoked by event payloads, and without input validation and sanitization, an attacker can inject malicious code (e.g., SQL, NoSQL, OS commands) that the function executes. This is the most effective mitigation as it addresses the root cause at the application layer, regardless of any perimeter controls.

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Use a web application firewall (WAF) in front of the API Gateway

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Assign the least privilege IAM role to each Lambda function

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Encrypt environment variables containing sensitive configuration

Question 7

A cloud security engineer needs to ensure that a containerized application running in a Kubernetes cluster securely stores and rotates database credentials. Which is the most appropriate solution?

Accepted Answer

Use a secrets management system integrated with Kubernetes, such as HashiCorp Vault with CSI driver. Option C is correct because HashiCorp Vault integrated with the Kubernetes CSI (Container Storage Interface) driver allows dynamic, short-lived database credentials to be injected into pods as volumes, enabling automatic rotation without application changes. This approach ensures secrets are never stored in the cluster's etcd or exposed in environment variables, aligning with the principle of least privilege and compliance requirements for credential rotation.

Answer

Store credentials as environment variables in the pod manifest

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Embed credentials in the container image during build

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Use Kubernetes Secrets without encryption at rest

Question 8

A cloud application uses AWS Lambda functions in a serverless architecture. The security team wants to enforce least privilege access for these functions. Which THREE practices should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

Use AWS Parameter Store or Secrets Manager for sensitive data. AWS Parameter Store or Secrets Manager are correct because they provide secure, auditable storage for sensitive data like database credentials and API keys. Lambda functions can retrieve these values at runtime via the AWS SDK, avoiding hard-coded secrets in code or environment variables. This aligns with the principle of least privilege by granting the Lambda IAM role only the specific permissions needed to access the secret, not the secret value itself in plaintext.

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Store secrets in Lambda environment variables encrypted with KMS

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Use a single IAM role for all Lambda functions for simplicity

Question 9

A company wants to ensure that their cloud deployment has the highest level of isolation between tenants. Which deployment model is most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

Private cloud. Private cloud (Option C) is correct because it is a single-tenant environment where the cloud infrastructure is dedicated exclusively to one organization, providing the highest level of isolation between tenants. In a private cloud, network segmentation is achieved through technologies such as VLANs (IEEE 802.1Q), VXLANs (RFC 7348), and dedicated hypervisor-level resource pools, ensuring that no other tenant's workloads share the same physical or virtual resources. This eliminates the multi-tenancy risks inherent in public and community clouds, where isolation relies on shared infrastructure and logical separation mechanisms like hypervisor-enforced memory isolation and network overlays.

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Public cloud

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Hybrid cloud

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Community cloud

Question 10

An auditor is reviewing a cloud provider's SOC 2 Type II report. Which aspect of the report is most relevant for assessing the effectiveness of controls over a period?

Accepted Answer

Description of tests and results. The SOC 2 Type II report evaluates the operational effectiveness of controls over a specified period (typically 6–12 months). The 'Description of tests and results' section provides the auditor's detailed testing procedures and outcomes, directly showing whether controls operated effectively throughout that period. This makes it the most relevant aspect for assessing control effectiveness over time.

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System description

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Opinion letter

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Management's assertion