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CAS-004 Practice Question: The compliance officer for a financial…
You are the compliance officer for a financial institution that must adhere to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). During a quarterly vulnerability scan, you discover that several critical vulnerabilities in the cardholder data environment (CDE) were not remediated within the required 30-day window. Additionally, the most recent penetration test report shows that a segmentation control between the CDE and the corporate network is not functioning as intended. The next PCI DSS assessment is in two months. Which of the following remediation actions should be prioritized FIRST to maintain compliance?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often prioritize patching critical vulnerabilities (Option B) because it seems urgent, but they overlook that a segmentation failure is a scope-breaking issue that must be resolved first to keep the CDE boundary intact. This question tests understanding of PCI DSS scope and the priority of remediating segmentation failures over individual vulnerabilities.
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
✓
Re-establish correct segmentation between CDE and corporate network
The segmentation control failure is the most critical issue because it directly undermines the scope of the PCI DSS assessment. If the CDE is not properly isolated from the corporate network, the entire corporate network could be considered in-scope for PCI DSS, drastically increasing compliance requirements. Re-establishing correct segmentation first restores the intended security boundary and reduces the risk of a non-compliant assessment in two months.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Implement a compensating control for the segmentation failure and document it
Why it's wrong here
Compensating controls are acceptable but fixing segmentation is primary.
- ✗
Immediately patch all critical vulnerabilities in the CDE
Why it's wrong here
Important but segmentation issue has larger impact on scope.
- ✗
Request an extension from the acquirer for the next assessment
Why it's wrong here
Extensions are not guaranteed and do not fix the issues.
- ✓
Re-establish correct segmentation between CDE and corporate network
Why this is correct
Segmentation is foundational to PCI DSS compliance.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.