This 350-701 practice question tests your understanding of cloud security. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A cloud security engineer is evaluating CSPM (Cloud Security Posture Management) solutions. Which TWO capabilities are essential for a CSPM tool? (Select two.)
Vulnerability scanning of container images
Why wrong: Container scanning is typically part of CI/CD security.
Incident response automation with playbooks
Why wrong: SOAR capability.
Continuous compliance monitoring with industry standards
Core CSPM capability.
Real-time network traffic analysis
Why wrong: Network analysis is more NDR.
Misconfiguration detection based on best practices
Core CSPM capability.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Continuous compliance monitoring with industry standards
Option C is correct because CSPM tools are fundamentally designed to continuously monitor cloud environments against industry standards such as CIS, NIST, and PCI DSS. This ensures that the cloud infrastructure remains compliant with regulatory and security frameworks, which is a core requirement for cloud security posture management.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Vulnerability scanning of container images
Why it's wrong here
Container scanning is typically part of CI/CD security.
Incident response automation with playbooks
Why it's wrong here
SOAR capability.
Continuous compliance monitoring with industry standards
Why this is correct
Core CSPM capability.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Real-time network traffic analysis
Why it's wrong here
Network analysis is more NDR.
Misconfiguration detection based on best practices
Why this is correct
Core CSPM capability.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Cisco often tests the distinction between CSPM (configuration and compliance) and other cloud security tools (container scanning, SOAR, NTA), so the trap here is confusing adjacent security functions with the specific scope of CSPM.
Detailed technical explanation
CSPM tools operate by polling cloud provider APIs (e.g., AWS Config, Azure Policy, GCP Cloud Asset Inventory) to collect resource metadata and evaluate it against policy-as-code rules (e.g., Open Policy Agent, Sentinel). A subtle behavior is that CSPM can detect drift from a baseline configuration, such as an S3 bucket changing from 'private' to 'public-read' due to a misapplied IAM policy, triggering an alert without requiring agent installation. In a real-world scenario, a CSPM tool might flag an Azure Storage account with 'AllowBlobPublicAccess' set to true, which violates CIS Azure Foundations Benchmark recommendation 3.1.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A practitioner preparing for the 350-701 exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
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FAQ
Cloud Security — This question tests Cloud Security — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Continuous compliance monitoring with industry standards — Option C is correct because CSPM tools are fundamentally designed to continuously monitor cloud environments against industry standards such as CIS, NIST, and PCI DSS. This ensures that the cloud infrastructure remains compliant with regulatory and security frameworks, which is a core requirement for cloud security posture management.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
This 350-701 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 350-701 exam.
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