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CV0-004 Practice Question: Deploying a critical financial application on a…
A company is deploying a critical financial application on a private cloud. The compliance team requires that all data at rest be encrypted with a key managed by the company's hardware security module (HSM). The cloud architect must select a storage solution that supports customer-managed keys and integrates with the existing HSM. Which storage option should the architect choose?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse 'built-in encryption' on a NAS appliance with the ability to integrate with an external HSM, but NAS appliances typically lack native KMIP or PKCS#11 support for HSM-backed key management, making SDS the only option that explicitly supports such integration.
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
✓
Encrypted volumes on a software-defined storage (SDS) cluster
A software-defined storage (SDS) cluster can be configured to use customer-managed encryption keys that integrate directly with the company's existing hardware security module (HSM) via standard interfaces like PKCS#11 or KMIP. This allows the company to maintain full control over key management and meet the compliance requirement for data-at-rest encryption with HSM-managed keys.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Object storage with server-side encryption using a cloud provider key
Why it's wrong here
Provider-managed keys cannot be customer-managed, so the compliance requirement for HSM-held keys is unmet; SSE-KMS with a customer-managed key would satisfy it. It is tempting because provider-key SSE is the default, zero-configuration option for object storage encryption.
- ✗
Instance store volumes on the compute nodes
Why it's wrong here
Instance store volumes are ephemeral and their encryption keys cannot be customer-managed through an external HSM, failing the at-rest requirement. They are tempting for scratch data or temporary caching where high-throughput local disk is needed and persistence is irrelevant.
- ✓
Encrypted volumes on a software-defined storage (SDS) cluster
Why this is correct
Encrypted volumes on an SDS cluster let the company supply its own HSM-backed keys, since the encryption layer is software-controlled and can be bound to an external key manager rather than a provider-held key. This satisfies the compliance constraint that keys remain under company HSM custody, unlike provider-managed encryption.
- ✗
Network-attached storage (NAS) appliance with built-in encryption
Why it's wrong here
The appliance's built-in encryption uses its own embedded key store, not the company's external HSM, so keys are not customer-managed as required. NAS is tempting where shared file-level storage with transparent encryption is needed, but it cannot integrate with an existing HSM for key custody.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CV0-004 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 CV0-004 exam.