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200-201 Practice Question: A company's security policy prohibits the use of…
A company's security policy prohibits the use of shared accounts. However, a legacy application requires a shared administrative account to run. What is the best approach?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the misconception that policy exceptions or ignoring the policy are acceptable for legacy systems, when in fact compensating controls like PAM are the correct security engineering approach to balance operational needs with policy compliance.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use a privileged access management solution to control and monitor the shared account
A privileged access management (PAM) solution allows the shared administrative account to be used while enforcing security controls. PAM tools can vault the shared credentials, require check-in/check-out workflows, rotate passwords automatically, and provide full session recording and auditing. This satisfies the security policy's prohibition on shared accounts by eliminating direct shared access and replacing it with monitored, temporary, and revocable privileged sessions.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use a privileged access management solution to control and monitor the shared account
Why this is correct
PAM enforces accountability and auditability, aligning with policy intent.
- ✗
Create a policy exception
Why it's wrong here
Exceptions should be rare and temporary; PAM is a more secure solution.
- ✗
Disable the application
Why it's wrong here
Disabling may impact business operations unnecessarily.
- ✗
Ignore the policy because it's a legacy system
Why it's wrong here
Ignoring policy introduces security risk and non-compliance.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 200-201 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 200-201 exam.