CAS-004 Security Architecture Practice Question
A company uses a multi-cloud strategy with workloads in AWS and Azure. They need a centralized solution to enforce consistent security policies across both cloud environments. Which type of tool should they deploy?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is conflating CSPM with CWPP — candidates pick CWPP because it also 'secures the cloud,' but the question is about configuration posture and policy consistency, not workload runtime protection.
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
✓
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
CSPM continuously monitors cloud configurations against security benchmarks and compliance frameworks across multiple providers, providing a centralized view and policy enforcement for misconfigurations, drift, and compliance violations in AWS and Azure. This directly addresses the need for consistent security policy enforcement across both clouds.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)
Why it's wrong here
A CASB sits between users and cloud services, governing SaaS access, data loss prevention and shadow IT; it does not enforce workload-level policy across IaaS estates in AWS and Azure. It is tempting because it centralises cloud security control, and it would be correct for securing sanctioned SaaS application usage.
- ✓
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
Why this is correct
CSPM continuously assesses configurations across AWS and Azure against a unified policy baseline, detecting misconfigurations and compliance drift in both environments. This directly satisfies the stem's requirement for centralised, consistent policy enforcement spanning multiple clouds, since CSPM ingests native APIs from each provider rather than relying on a single-vendor security stack.
- ✗
Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP)
Why it's wrong here
A CWPP secures individual workloads — hosts, containers, serverless functions — through agents, so policy is applied per workload rather than centrally across both providers' control planes. It is tempting because it covers runtime protection in multi-cloud estates, and it would be correct for hardening those workloads themselves.
- ✗
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
Why it's wrong here
SIEM aggregates and correlates logs for detection and response; it does not push preventive policy configuration into AWS or Azure workloads. It is tempting because centralised visibility across clouds is a genuine SIEM strength, and it would be the right choice when the requirement is cross-cloud threat detection and compliance reporting rather than policy enforcement.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
This CAS-005 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 CAS-005 exam.