CISSP Security Architecture and Engineering Practice Test 3 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company is designing a secure application that requires hardware-based key storage and remote attestation. Which THREE technologies provide hardware root of trust? Select three.

Accepted Answer

Hardware Security Module (HSM). TPM, TEE (e.g., Intel SGX, ARM TrustZone), and HSM provide hardware-based security functions and root of trust.

Answer

Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM)

Answer

Software Guard Extensions (SGX)

Question 2

A security engineer is hardening a system against side-channel attacks that exploit variations in execution time or power consumption. Which TWO mitigations are specifically designed to counter such attacks? Select two.

Accepted Answer

Constant-time algorithms. Constant-time programming ensures operations take the same time regardless of inputs, and noise injection obscures power consumption patterns.

Answer

Data Execution Prevention (DEP)

Answer

Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR)

Answer

Input validation

Question 3

A government agency requires a security model that prevents users from reading documents classified above their clearance level and from writing classified information to lower-level systems. Which model enforces these constraints?

Accepted Answer

Bell-LaPadula. The Bell-LaPadula model is a state machine model that enforces confidentiality via the *no read up* (simple security property) and *no write down* (*-property) rules.

Answer

Biba

Answer

Brewer-Nash

Answer

Clark-Wilson

Question 4

An organization requires a commercial integrity model where users cannot modify data in higher integrity levels and cannot read data from lower integrity levels. Which model should they implement?

Accepted Answer

Biba. The Biba model addresses integrity through *no write up* and *no read down* rules.

Answer

Bell-LaPadula

Answer

Clark-Wilson

Answer

Take-Grant

Question 5

Which access control model allows the data owner to determine who can access their resources, typically using Access Control Lists (ACLs)?

Accepted Answer

Discretionary Access Control (DAC). Discretionary Access Control (DAC) gives owners discretion over access permissions, often via ACLs.

Answer

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Answer

Mandatory Access Control (MAC)

Answer

Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)

Question 6

A security architect is implementing a system that must prevent conflicts of interest for a consulting firm serving competing clients. Which security model is best suited for this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Brewer-Nash. The Brewer-Nash (Chinese Wall) model prevents consultants from accessing data of competing clients once they have accessed one client's data.

Answer

Take-Grant

Answer

Clark-Wilson

Answer

Graham-Denning

Question 7

A company is deploying a hypervisor to run multiple virtual servers. To minimize the risk of VM escape attacks, which type of hypervisor should they choose and what hardening measure is most effective?

Accepted Answer

Type 1 hypervisor with minimal services and regular patching. Type 1 hypervisors (bare-metal) have a smaller attack surface than Type 2. Regular patching and secure configuration are essential.

Answer

Type 2 hypervisor with regular patching

Answer

Type 2 hypervisor with host-based firewall

Answer

Type 1 hypervisor with no additional hardening

Question 8

An organization wants to implement a security mechanism that ensures all accesses are mediated and cannot be bypassed, is tamperproof, and is small enough to be verified. This describes which concept?

Accepted Answer

Reference Monitor. The reference monitor is an abstract model that enforces access control with the properties: complete mediation, tamperproof, and verifiable.

Answer

Trusted Computing Base (TCB)

Answer

Trusted Platform Module (TPM)

Answer

Security Kernel

Question 9

Which cryptographic algorithm is an example of a symmetric stream cipher?

Accepted Answer

RC4. RC4 is a widely known stream cipher that encrypts data one byte at a time.

Answer

AES

Answer

3DES

Answer

RSA

Question 10

A security analyst is investigating a potential data leak via covert channels. Which of the following is an example of a timing covert channel?

Accepted Answer

Varying the spacing between keystrokes. A timing covert channel uses variations in timing (e.g., response time) to encode information, rather than storing data in shared resources.

Answer

Modifying unused fields in network packets

Answer

Encoding data in the TCP sequence number

Answer

Writing data to a shared disk file

Question 11

A software vulnerability allows an attacker to overwrite a return address on the stack to execute arbitrary code. What mitigation technique randomizes the memory layout to prevent the attacker from predicting target addresses?

Accepted Answer

ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization). ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) randomizes the base addresses of executable regions, making it harder to exploit buffer overflows.

Answer

Stack canary

Answer

Data Execution Prevention (DEP)

Answer

NX bit (No-Execute)

Question 12

A company wants to ensure that only authorized software can run on its laptops. They decide to use a hardware component that validates the boot process by measuring each component before it loads. Which technology is being used?

Accepted Answer

Trusted Platform Module (TPM). TPM (Trusted Platform Module) enables measured boot, where the TPM stores measurements of boot components and verifies their integrity.

Answer

Trusted Execution Environment (TEE)

Answer

Security Kernel

Answer

Hypervisor

Question 13

Which physical security concept uses natural surveillance, territorial reinforcement, and access control to deter crime in built environments?

Accepted Answer

CPTED. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) uses design principles to reduce crime opportunities.

Answer

TEMPEST

Answer

Faraday cage

Answer

Defense in depth

Question 14

In a PKI hierarchy, a relying party needs to verify a certificate's validity. To reduce latency and improve privacy, which mechanism allows the relying party to obtain the revocation status without contacting the CA directly for each verification?

Accepted Answer

OCSP stapling. OCSP stapling allows the server to provide a time-stamped OCSP response from the CA, reducing the client's need to contact the CA directly.

Answer

Certificate Transparency (CT) logs

Answer

Certificate pinning

Answer

Certificate Revocation List (CRL)

Question 15

A security architect is designing a system to protect against side-channel attacks that exploit electromagnetic emanations. Which TWO controls are most effective?

Accepted Answer

TEMPEST shielding. TEMPEST shielding reduces emanations, and Faraday cages block electromagnetic signals. While physical access control is important, it does not directly address emanations.

Answer

Data encryption at rest

Answer

Intrusion detection system

Answer

Time-based access controls