CCSP Practice Exam 1 — 20 Questions

Question 1

A cloud architect is designing a data loss prevention (DLP) solution for a SaaS application. The DLP must inspect data in transit between end users and the cloud as well as data at rest. Which combination of controls is most appropriate?

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

Accepted Answer

Deploy a cloud DLP service for content inspection and enforce encryption at rest.. A cloud DLP service (e.g., AWS Macie, Microsoft Purview) can inspect data in transit by analyzing API calls or traffic patterns, and encryption at rest (e.g., AES-256) protects stored data. This combination directly addresses both inspection of data in transit and protection of data at rest, which is the core requirement of the question.

Answer

Use network segmentation and security groups.

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Use encryption at rest and backup retention policies.

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Implement a web application firewall (WAF) and a VPN.

Question 2

Under GDPR, what is the maximum time allowed for a data controller to notify the supervisory authority of a personal data breach?

Accepted Answer

72 hours. GDPR Article 33 requires notification within 72 hours of becoming aware of a breach, unless the breach is unlikely to result in a risk to rights and freedoms.

Answer

7 days

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24 hours

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48 hours

Question 3

A security team is investigating a potential data exfiltration incident where a large volume of data was downloaded from a cloud storage bucket. Which log source would provide the most granular details about the GET requests, including the requester identity and source IP?

Accepted Answer

Cloud storage access logs. Cloud storage access logs provide detailed records of requests made to a bucket, including requester, source IP, and objects accessed. Cloud audit logs (data events) can also log storage operations, but storage access logs are more granular for this purpose.

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VPC flow logs

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Cloud management events (e.g., CloudTrail equivalent)

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Log aggregation service for storage (e.g., CloudWatch equivalent)

Question 4

A company is moving its customer database to a public cloud provider. The database contains personally identifiable information (PII) of European Union citizens. Which legal framework imposes requirements on the cloud customer regarding data protection and privacy in this scenario?

Accepted Answer

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the correct legal framework because it specifically governs the processing of personally identifiable information (PII) of European Union citizens, regardless of where the data is stored or processed. As the cloud customer is moving a customer database containing EU PII to a public cloud provider, GDPR imposes strict requirements on the data controller (the customer) for data protection, consent, breach notification, and cross-border data transfer safeguards.

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Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)

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Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

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Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)

Question 5

A Kubernetes cluster is being hardened. Which THREE measures should be implemented to restrict container capabilities and reduce the risk of privilege escalation? (Select three.)

Accepted Answer

Running containers as a non-root user. Option C is correct because running containers as a non-root user (e.g., via securityContext.runAsNonRoot: true or a USER directive in the Dockerfile) prevents processes inside the container from having UID 0, which is the primary enabler of privilege-escalation exploits and container-escape techniques. Option D is correct because AppArmor or SELinux profiles enforce mandatory access control that confines container processes to a limited set of files, paths, and operations, blocking actions that even a compromised process could otherwise attempt. Option E is correct because dropping all Linux capabilities and adding back only those explicitly required (e.g., using cap-drop: ALL with a minimal cap-add list) removes dangerous privileges such as CAP_SYS_ADMIN, CAP_NET_RAW, and CAP_SYS_PTRACE that are commonly abused for privilege escalation. Option A is incorrect because privileged mode grants the container nearly all host capabilities and device access, dramatically increasing the attack surface rather than restricting it. Option B is incorrect because running containers as root gives the process full UID 0 privileges inside the container, which is exactly the risk the hardening measures are meant to eliminate.

Answer

Enabling privileged mode for containers that need host access

Answer

Running containers as root

Question 6

A security architect is designing network segmentation for a multi-tier application in the cloud. Which TWO configurations help enforce micro-segmentation? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Deploy a virtual firewall between tiers.. Deploying a virtual firewall between tiers (e.g., between web, application, and database tiers) enforces micro-segmentation by inspecting and controlling east-west traffic at the application layer. This allows granular, stateful filtering of traffic based on specific protocols, ports, and even application-level attributes, preventing lateral movement of threats within the cloud environment.

Answer

Allow all traffic from the internet.

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Use a bastion host for all administrative access.

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Use a single network ACL for all subnets.

Question 7

A medium-sized e-commerce company uses a cloud provider's container orchestration service (e.g., Amazon ECS or Google Kubernetes Engine). They have a security requirement to ensure that all containers run with the least privilege principle. The development team often requests containers to run as root for debugging purposes. The security team wants to enforce a policy that prevents containers from running as root in the production environment. However, the development team still needs the ability to troubleshoot occasionally. The cloud security architect must design a solution that restricts root privilege in production but allows controlled troubleshooting. Which of the following approaches is the most effective?

Accepted Answer

Use a security context constraint (or PodSecurityPolicy) to deny all containers running as root, and require developers to use a sidecar container for debugging.. It uses a security context constraint (SCC) or PodSecurityPolicy (PSP) to enforce a deny-all policy for root containers in production, which aligns with the least privilege principle. The sidecar container provides a controlled debugging mechanism without granting root access to the main application container, allowing developers to troubleshoot via a separate, privileged sidecar that can be audited and restricted.

Answer

Allow containers to run as root but configure host-based intrusion detection to alert on suspicious activities.

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Grant developers SSH access to the host nodes for troubleshooting.

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Create two separate clusters, one for production with root restriction, and one for debugging where root is allowed.

Question 8

A software company develops an API for third-party integrations. They want to ensure that only authorized partners can access the API. Which authentication mechanism is most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

OAuth 2.0 with client credentials. OAuth 2.0 with the client credentials grant is the most appropriate mechanism for machine-to-machine API access because it allows the API to authenticate the third-party application itself (the client) using a client ID and client secret, without involving end-user credentials. This grant type is specifically designed for server-to-server integrations where the client is acting on its own behalf, providing a secure, token-based approach that avoids sharing long-lived secrets directly with each API call.

Answer

Basic authentication with API keys

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SAML 2.0

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X.509 certificates

Question 9

A company uses a hybrid cloud model where sensitive data resides in a private cloud, while compute-intensive analytics run in a public cloud using anonymized data. What is the primary security consideration for this architecture?

Accepted Answer

Maintaining consistent security policies and secure connectivity between environments. In hybrid cloud, consistent security policies must apply across both environments, and secure connectivity (e.g., VPN or dedicated connection) is essential to protect data in transit and prevent leakage.

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Using the same hypervisor in both clouds

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Implementing network segmentation only in the public cloud

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Ensuring the public cloud provider has SOC 2 certification

Question 10

A security engineer reviews the S3 bucket policy shown in the exhibit. Which security concern should be addressed immediately?

Accepted Answer

The second statement allows unrestricted public read access to all objects. The second statement in the S3 bucket policy uses `"Effect": "Allow"` with `"Principal": "*"` and `"Action": "s3:GetObject"` without any condition restricting access (e.g., `IpAddress` or `Referer`). This effectively grants anonymous, unauthenticated read access to every object in the bucket, which is a critical data exposure risk. Such a policy violates the principle of least privilege and should be remediated immediately by removing the statement or adding a condition to restrict access.

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The principal "*" grants access to all AWS services

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The policy version is outdated and should be updated

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The resource ARN does not include the bucket itself, only objects

Question 11

A cloud security analyst is investigating a potential data breach. They discover that an employee's credentials were used to access a cloud storage bucket containing sensitive files. The access logs show the employee accessed the bucket from an IP address in a different country during the time of the incident. Which of the following is the MOST likely attack vector?

Accepted Answer

The employee's credentials were stolen via a phishing attack. The scenario describes a classic credential theft attack: an employee's credentials are used from an anomalous geographic location to access sensitive cloud storage. Phishing is the most common vector for stealing credentials, as it tricks users into revealing their passwords, which are then reused by attackers to authenticate to cloud services like AWS S3 or Azure Blob Storage. The access logs showing a foreign IP address strongly indicate the credentials were compromised and used by an unauthorized party, not the employee.

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The employee intentionally accessed the data from that country

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A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack overwhelmed access controls

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The cloud storage bucket was misconfigured as public

Question 12

A company's cloud security policy mandates strict control over encryption keys used for data at rest. Which THREE practices are recommended for secure key management in the cloud?

Accepted Answer

Rotate encryption keys on a regular schedule.. Regular key rotation limits the window of exposure if a key is compromised and aligns with cryptographic best practices (e.g., NIST SP 800-57). In cloud environments, automated rotation policies (e.g., AWS KMS automatic yearly rotation or manual rotation for customer-managed keys) ensure that even if an attacker obtains an old key, it cannot decrypt current data.

Answer

Use a single master key for all encryption operations.

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Store keys in the same cloud region as the data to reduce latency.

Question 13

Which TWO of the following are required elements of a valid Business Continuity Plan (BCP) in the cloud?

Accepted Answer

Communication plan for notifying stakeholders during a disruption.. A communication plan is a mandatory component of any BCP, as defined by ISO 22301 and NIST SP 800-34. In a cloud context, this plan must specify how to notify stakeholders—including the CSP, internal teams, and customers—during a disruption, ensuring coordinated response and compliance with SLAs.

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Strategy to avoid vendor lock-in with the CSP.

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A detailed risk assessment for all cloud services.

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Network topology diagrams of the cloud environment.

Question 14

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. 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 15

Which THREE of the following are key considerations when conducting a cloud risk assessment?

Accepted Answer

Reviewing legal and regulatory requirements applicable to the organization. Legal and regulatory requirements (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS) directly dictate data residency, privacy controls, and breach notification obligations. A cloud risk assessment must map these requirements to the specific cloud deployment to identify compliance gaps and potential liabilities.

Answer

Analyzing network latency between cloud regions

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Evaluating the CSP's physical security controls in detail

Question 16

Which THREE of the following are essential steps in a cloud data discovery process?

Accepted Answer

Map data flows between systems. Mapping data flows between systems is a foundational step in cloud data discovery. It enables organizations to understand how data moves across cloud services, APIs, and storage tiers, which is critical for identifying where sensitive data may be transmitted or stored. Without this mapping, discovery efforts may miss data in transit or in transient storage, leading to incomplete visibility.

Answer

Encrypt all discovered data

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Create backup copies of data

Question 17

A security team is deploying a Kubernetes cluster on a cloud platform and wants to harden the worker nodes against container breakout and privilege escalation. They are reviewing kubelet and container runtime configurations. Which TWO of the following measures are MOST effective at reducing the attack surface and preventing a compromised container from gaining node-level privileges? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Run containers with a read-only root filesystem and drop all Linux capabilities except those explicitly required.. Hardening worker nodes against container breakout requires preventive controls that limit what a compromised container can do. Running with a read-only root filesystem and dropping unnecessary Linux capabilities removes the tools and privileges needed for escalation. Enforcing the restricted Pod Security Standard via Pod Security Admission ensures workloads cannot run as root, cannot escalate privileges, and must meet seccomp and capability restrictions. Together these measures significantly reduce the attack surface and block common escape techniques.

Answer

Enable the kubelet read-only port and disable anonymous authentication to the kubelet API.

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Configure the container runtime to use the overlay2 storage driver with a dedicated volume for each container.

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Enable audit logging on the Kubernetes API server and ship logs to a central SIEM for alerting.

Question 18

A company uses a serverless architecture with AWS Lambda to process user-uploaded files. The Lambda function is triggered by an S3 bucket event. While reviewing security, the architect wants to ensure that the Lambda function cannot be invoked by unauthorized S3 buckets or accounts. What is the most secure configuration?

Accepted Answer

Configure the Lambda function's resource-based policy to grant permission only to the specific S3 bucket ARN and its owner account.. The most secure way to restrict Lambda invocation to a specific S3 bucket is to use a resource-based policy that explicitly grants the `lambda:InvokeFunction` permission only to the trusted bucket's ARN and the owning AWS account. This ensures that even if another S3 bucket or account attempts to trigger the function, the invocation is denied by the Lambda permission model, which evaluates both the resource-based policy and the caller's identity.

Answer

Use a condition in the policy that checks the source IP address.

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Place the Lambda function inside a VPC with a VPC endpoint for S3.

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Attach a resource-based policy that allows any S3 bucket to invoke the function.

Question 19

A cloud security engineer is reviewing the authentication mechanism for a web application. The application currently uses API keys transmitted in the URL query string. What is the primary security concern with this approach?

Accepted Answer

API keys in URLs are often logged in plaintext in server logs and browser history.. The primary security concern with transmitting API keys in URL query strings is that URLs are frequently logged in plaintext by web servers, proxies, and browsers. This means the API key can be inadvertently exposed in server access logs, browser history, and referrer headers, making it accessible to anyone with access to those logs. Even with HTTPS encrypting the data in transit, the URL itself is often logged before decryption or after encryption at the termination point, so the key remains visible in log files.

Answer

API keys in query strings are not encrypted, even with HTTPS.

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API keys provide weak authentication because they are not tied to a user session.

Answer

API keys are not valid for use in query strings; they require a certificate.

Question 20

A company uses a cloud provider's managed database service. The security team is concerned about the shared responsibility model for patching the operating system and database engine. According to the shared responsibility model, who is responsible for applying security patches to the database engine?

Accepted Answer

The cloud provider, because it is a managed service. In the cloud shared responsibility model, for a managed database service (such as Amazon RDS or Azure SQL Database), the cloud provider is responsible for patching the underlying operating system and the database engine. The customer is responsible for data, access management, and configuration within the database, but not for engine patching. Therefore the cloud provider applies security patches to the database engine (option C).

Answer

The customer, because they control the database configuration

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A third-party vendor contracted by the customer

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Both the customer and the cloud provider equally