CCSP Practice Test 4 — 10 Questions

Question 1

A global company uses a cloud provider that stores data in multiple jurisdictions. During an eDiscovery request from a US court, which three challenges are most likely to arise? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Jurisdictional conflicts over which court has authority. Option A is correct because when data resides in multiple jurisdictions, US court orders can conflict with local data-protection or blocking statutes (e.g., GDPR or foreign blocking laws), creating disputes over which court or legal regime has authority over the data. Option C is correct because eDiscovery requires a legal hold to preserve potentially relevant data in place, and in multi-jurisdiction cloud environments this is complicated by distributed storage, automated lifecycle deletion, and differing retention rules that can alter or destroy evidence. Option D is correct because cloud tenants typically lack physical access to the provider's hardware, so forensically sound collection must rely on provider APIs, snapshots, and chain-of-custody documentation rather than direct disk imaging, which can be challenged in court. Option B is not correct because major cloud providers offer extensive encryption options (at rest, in transit, and customer-managed keys), so lack of encryption is not an inherent eDiscovery challenge. Option E is not correct because while cloud storage costs exist, excessive cost is not a legal or forensic challenge specific to cross-jurisdiction eDiscovery and is not among the primary issues courts focus on.

Answer

Lack of encryption options

Answer

Excessive cost of cloud storage

Question 2

Which security testing approach is most effective at identifying vulnerabilities early in the cloud software development lifecycle (SDLC) by analyzing source code without executing the application?

Accepted Answer

Static Application Security Testing (SAST). Static Application Security Testing (SAST) is the correct approach because it analyzes source code, bytecode, or binary code without executing the application, making it ideal for identifying vulnerabilities early in the SDLC (shift-left). Unlike dynamic or runtime tools, SAST scans the codebase statically, catching issues like SQL injection, buffer overflows, and insecure cryptographic implementations before compilation or deployment.

Answer

Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST)

Answer

Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP)

Answer

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

Question 3

A financial services company stores customer transaction data in a cloud object storage bucket. The company requires that all data be encrypted at rest using keys that it generates and manages on-premises, with the cloud provider having no access to the keys. Which encryption approach should the company use?

Accepted Answer

Client-side encryption with customer-owned keys. Client-side encryption with customer-owned keys means the company encrypts data before uploading it to cloud storage, and the keys never leave the company's on-premises environment. The cloud provider stores only ciphertext and has no access to the plaintext or the keys, satisfying the requirement that the provider cannot access the keys.

Answer

Server-side encryption with AES-256

Answer

Server-side encryption with bring your own key (BYOK) to cloud KMS

Answer

Server-side encryption with customer-managed keys (CMK) in cloud KMS

Question 4

What is the primary purpose of a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) between a data controller and a cloud service provider?

Accepted Answer

To define roles and responsibilities for data processing. A Data Processing Agreement (DPA) is a legally binding contract required under regulations like GDPR. Its primary purpose is to define the roles and responsibilities of the data controller and the data processor (the cloud service provider), ensuring the processor acts only on the controller's documented instructions and meets compliance obligations. Without a DPA, the controller cannot legally transfer data to the processor, as the agreement establishes the lawful basis and accountability for processing activities.

Answer

To set data retention periods for processed data

Answer

To specify encryption algorithms to be used

Answer

To establish data backup and recovery procedures

Question 5

A company is migrating sensitive customer data to a public cloud storage service. They want to ensure that even the cloud provider cannot access the plaintext data. Which encryption strategy should they implement?

Accepted Answer

Client-side encryption before uploading data. Client-side encryption ensures that data is encrypted before it leaves the customer's environment, so the cloud provider only ever receives ciphertext. This means the cloud provider cannot access the plaintext data, even if the storage service is compromised or the provider is legally compelled to disclose data. The encryption keys are managed and stored by the customer, not the cloud provider.

Answer

Server-side encryption with cloud-provider-managed keys

Answer

Tokenization of sensitive fields at the application layer

Answer

Enforcing role-based access control (RBAC) on the storage bucket

Question 6

An organization wants to share a large file from a cloud storage bucket with an external partner for a limited time. They need to ensure that the partner can only access the specific file and that the access expires automatically. Which method should they use?

Accepted Answer

Use a pre-signed URL. A pre-signed URL provides temporary access to a specific object in a cloud storage bucket, with an expiration time. It grants the external partner permission to download the file without needing a cloud account, and access automatically expires. This meets the requirements of limited-time, specific-file access.

Answer

Make the bucket public

Answer

Create a new cloud provider user account for the partner and attach a custom policy to the bucket

Answer

Use cross-region replication

Question 7

A financial institution is required to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) for its cloud-hosted financial applications. The cloud provider is responsible for the underlying infrastructure. Which of the following controls is most likely the responsibility of the financial institution as part of IT general controls (ITGC)?

Accepted Answer

Logical access controls to the financial application, including user provisioning and segregation of duties. Under the shared responsibility model, the cloud provider secures the infrastructure (data centers, hypervisors, network fabric), while the customer is responsible for controls over their own data, applications, and access. Logical access controls — user provisioning, authentication, authorization, and segregation of duties — are IT general controls that the financial institution must implement and evidence for SOX compliance, since they directly affect the integrity of financial reporting systems.

Answer

Physical security of the data center housing the cloud servers

Answer

Network intrusion detection at the cloud perimeter

Answer

Patching of the hypervisor that hosts the virtual machines

Question 8

A company is designing a data retention policy for cloud storage. Regulatory requirements mandate that certain records be kept for 7 years and then securely destroyed. Which combination of controls should be used?

Accepted Answer

Lifecycle policy and secure deletion. A lifecycle policy automates the transition and expiration of objects, allowing you to set a rule to delete objects after 7 years. Secure deletion (e.g., overwriting or cryptographic erasure) ensures the data is irrecoverable, meeting the regulatory requirement for secure destruction. Together, they provide a fully automated, auditable process for retention and destruction.

Answer

Data masking and encryption

Answer

Versioning and MFA delete

Answer

Lifecycle policy and object lock

Question 9

A SaaS provider uses a customer-managed encryption key (CMEK) model for data-at-rest. The provider's application runs in a multi-tenant cloud environment. Which attack surface is MOST directly mitigated by this approach?

Accepted Answer

Insider threats from cloud provider employees. A customer-managed encryption key (CMEK) model gives the customer control over the key used to encrypt data at rest. This directly mitigates the risk of a cloud provider employee accessing the plaintext data, because even if the employee has administrative access to the storage infrastructure, they cannot decrypt the data without the customer's key. The provider holds the encrypted data, but the decryption key is managed and controlled by the customer, creating a logical separation that protects against insider threats from the provider's personnel.

Answer

Misconfigured storage buckets exposing data

Answer

SQL injection vulnerabilities in the application

Answer

Side-channel attacks on shared physical hardware

Question 10

A financial services company uses a multi-region cloud deployment for its trading application. The application consists of a web frontend, a REST API, and a relational database. Recently, a penetration test revealed that an attacker could perform a time-based blind SQL injection through the API's search functionality. The injection allows the attacker to enumerate database contents by observing response times. The development team was already aware of the issue but had prioritized other features. The security team now demands immediate remediation. The application is critical and cannot be taken offline. Which of the following is the most effective immediate action to mitigate the risk without modifying the application code?

Accepted Answer

Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with a rule to block SQL injection patterns. A WAF can inspect incoming HTTP requests and block those matching SQL injection patterns (e.g., SQL keywords, special characters) without modifying application code. Since the vulnerability is a time-based blind SQL injection, a WAF with a dedicated SQL injection rule set can immediately stop the attack vector by filtering malicious payloads at the edge, providing a virtual patch while the code fix is developed. This is the only option that directly addresses the injection vector without requiring code changes or downtime.

Answer

Implement rate limiting on the API endpoint

Answer

Enable DDoS protection on the cloud load balancer

Answer

Enable transparent data encryption (TDE) on the database