CSSLP Practice Test 3 — 10 Questions

Question 1

You are eliciting security requirements for an application that must comply with PCI-DSS. What is the most effective way to identify the scope of the systems requiring the highest level of security?

Accepted Answer

Map the data flow of credit card information. PCI-DSS requires identifying the Cardholder Data Environment (CDE) to define the scope of compliance, which is the most critical first step.

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Perform a network vulnerability scan

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Review the application source code

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Update the firewall rule set

Question 2

Which cryptographic practice is recommended for protecting sensitive data at rest in a relational database?

Accepted Answer

Using AES-256 encryption. AES-256 is a symmetric block cipher approved by NIST (FIPS 197) and is the standard recommendation for encrypting data at rest in databases, offering strong confidentiality with acceptable performance. It is used in modes like GCM or CBC with proper key management (e.g., KMS, HSM) to protect sensitive fields, tablespaces, or full-disk volumes.

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Using cleartext with database permissions

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Using MD5 hashing

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Storing data in base64 encoding

Question 3

A healthcare SaaS provider is designing a multi-tenant web application where each hospital customer's data must remain logically isolated. The design team proposes using a single shared database schema with a tenant identifier column on every table, enforced by application-layer query filters. A security architect must evaluate this proposal. Which design concern is the MOST significant risk with this approach?

Accepted Answer

A defect in any single query filter can expose one tenant's records to another tenant, because isolation depends entirely on application code being correct in every data access path.. Application-enforced tenant filtering places the entire isolation guarantee inside code that changes constantly, so any missed predicate, raw SQL query, or new feature path can leak one hospital's records to another. Database-enforced controls such as row-level security or schema-per-tenant provide a backstop that survives application defects. The dominant design risk is therefore the absence of a defense-in-depth boundary, not encryption, performance, or a non-existent regulatory mandate.

Answer

A tenant identifier column prevents the database from using indexes effectively, causing query performance to degrade until row-level security can be introduced.

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Multi-tenant applications built on a single schema cannot meet HIPAA because the regulation explicitly requires physically separate databases for each covered entity.

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Shared schemas cannot support per-tenant encryption keys, so data at rest would necessarily be stored in plaintext across all hospital customers.

Question 4

A healthcare SaaS provider is designing a multi-tenant system where each tenant's data is stored in a shared database. To prevent one tenant from accessing another tenant's records, the design team decides to enforce isolation at the data-access layer. Which secure design approach best ensures tenant isolation while maintaining a single logical database?

Accepted Answer

Implement row-level security (RLS) policies in the database that automatically filter rows based on the tenant identifier associated with the authenticated session.. Row-level security (RLS) enforces tenant isolation directly in the database engine, automatically filtering data based on the authenticated tenant context. This provides a strong, centralized control that is not dependent on application code correctness, reducing the risk of cross-tenant data leakage. It aligns with the principle of defense in depth and is well-suited for multi-tenant architectures with shared databases.

Answer

Use a separate database schema for each tenant within the same database instance, and grant each tenant's application role access only to its own schema.

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Rely on application code to always include a WHERE clause filtering by tenant ID in every query, and perform code reviews to ensure compliance.

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Encrypt each tenant's data with a unique encryption key and store the keys in a hardware security module (HSM), decrypting only after the application retrieves the data.

Question 5

When evaluating a secure design, which TWO of the following practices are considered essential for secure session management?

Accepted Answer

Setting the HttpOnly and Secure flags on session cookies.. Option C is correct because setting the HttpOnly flag prevents client-side JavaScript from accessing the session cookie, mitigating XSS-based session theft, while the Secure flag ensures the cookie is only transmitted over HTTPS, protecting it from interception on plaintext channels. Option E is correct because regenerating the session ID after successful authentication prevents session fixation attacks, where an attacker pre-sets a known session ID and hijacks the authenticated session. Option A is not essential and can actually weaken security by increasing the attack surface and complicating session tracking. Option B is incorrect because long-lived sessions increase the window of opportunity for token theft or replay; secure designs favor short lifetimes with re-authentication or refresh tokens. Option D is incorrect because storing session tokens in localStorage exposes them to XSS since JavaScript can read them, unlike HttpOnly cookies.

Answer

Allowing multiple simultaneous sessions for a single user.

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Using long-lived sessions to improve user experience.

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Storing session tokens in the browser's local storage.

Question 6

When designing secure software, why is 'Economy of Mechanism' important?

Accepted Answer

To minimize the attack surface by keeping the design simple.. Economy of Mechanism is a core security design principle (from Saltzer and Schroeder) that advocates for simple, minimal designs. By keeping the design as simple as possible, the number of potential vulnerabilities and entry points for attackers is reduced, directly minimizing the attack surface. This simplicity also makes the system easier to verify and secure.

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To lower the cost of hardware infrastructure.

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To increase the lines of code for better functionality.

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To ensure that the software is faster at runtime.

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To enable easier debugging for developers.

Question 7

In a Java Spring Boot application, which configuration prevents Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) for state-changing HTTP requests?

Accepted Answer

Configure the HttpSecurity object to require CSRF tokens. In Spring Security, CSRF protection is enabled by default and is configured through the HttpSecurity object; explicitly requiring CSRF tokens (via csrf() configuration with a CsrfTokenRepository) ensures state-changing requests (POST/PUT/DELETE) must present a valid token tied to the user's session. This prevents an attacker's forged cross-site request from succeeding because the attacker cannot read the victim's token.

Answer

Set the Content-Type header to application/json

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Use a stateless session strategy with no tokens

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Enable csrf().disable() in the SecurityFilterChain

Question 8

Your application uses digital signatures to confirm the sender of a message. Which security goal is primarily achieved?

Accepted Answer

Non-repudiation. Digital signatures are the standard mechanism for proving authenticity and non-repudiation.

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Authorization

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Encryption

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Availability

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Confidentiality

Question 9

When performing a threat model using the STRIDE methodology, which component are you analyzing when you evaluate the risk of an attacker sniffing traffic between a client and the web server?

Accepted Answer

Information Disclosure.. STRIDE's Information Disclosure category covers the exposure of information to unauthorized parties, which is exactly what traffic sniffing achieves — an attacker on the network path reads data that should be confidential. Sniffing between a client and web server exposes credentials, session tokens, or sensitive payloads, so the threat being modeled is Information Disclosure. The other STRIDE categories describe different attacker goals (spoofing identity, tampering with data, etc.), not confidentiality loss.

Answer

Elevation of Privilege.

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Tampering.

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Spoofing.

Question 10

In the context of secure design, what does 'Fail-safe defaults' mean when designing an authentication module?

Accepted Answer

If a system error occurs during login, the system denies access by default.. If the module crashes or encounters an error, the system should default to 'deny' access rather than 'allow'.

Answer

The system automatically resets passwords if a login failure occurs.

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The system permits login if the authentication server is unreachable.

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All new users are granted guest access until the admin verifies them.