SDSI Application Security Design Practice Question
A client is deploying a serverless application on AWS and needs to secure the API interactions with Cisco Umbrella. Which design pattern effectively protects the API endpoints from malicious exfiltration without introducing significant latency?
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 the Cisco Umbrella API or DNS-layer security to enforce request filtering at the outbound proxy level.
Integrating Cisco Umbrella with serverless architectures often involves using the Umbrella API or DNS-layer security to block requests to malicious domains, which is ideal for serverless environments where traditional inline appliances cannot be placed.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Route all serverless traffic through an on-premises Cisco Firepower appliance.
Why it's wrong here
This would introduce significant latency and is not scalable for serverless architectures.
- ✓
Use the Cisco Umbrella API or DNS-layer security to enforce request filtering at the outbound proxy level.
Why this is correct
This allows for cloud-native security enforcement without requiring an inline appliance.
- ✗
Configure an inline Cisco ASA virtual instance to inspect all API traffic.
Why it's wrong here
Inline inspection appliances are not natively compatible with the ephemeral nature of serverless compute.
- ✗
null
Why it's wrong here
N/A
- ✗
Implement the Cisco Umbrella DNS forwarder within the serverless function environment.
Why it's wrong here
Serverless environments like AWS Lambda do not allow the installation of DNS forwarders.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
About these practice questions
This SDSI question is part of Courseiva's 298-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed August 2026 · checked against the official Cisco exam blueprint
This SDSI 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 SDSI exam.