ISC2 CC Access Controls Concepts Practice Question
An employee claims to have accessed a confidential document that is not related to their job role. The security team investigates and finds that the employee's account had read access to the folder containing the document. Which TWO access control concepts were likely violated?
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
✓
Need-to-know
Need-to-know restricts access to data required for job duties; the employee should not have accessed the document if it wasn't job-related. Least privilege ensures users have only necessary permissions; the employee likely had excessive rights if they could access unrelated data.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Identification and authentication
Why it's wrong here
The user was properly identified and authenticated.
- ✓
Need-to-know
Why this is correct
The employee accessed data not needed for their job.
- ✗
Separation of duties
Why it's wrong here
No task segregation issue is involved.
- ✓
Least privilege
Why this is correct
The employee had read permissions beyond what was necessary.
- ✗
Defense in depth
Why it's wrong here
Lack of layers is not the primary issue.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to Security Principles
Key term
Role
A role is a named set of permissions that can be assigned to users or groups to control access to resources in an IT environment.
Key term
Least privilege
Least privilege is a security principle that means giving users, systems, or programs only the minimum permissions they need to do their job and nothing more.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CC practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 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 CC exam.