CCSP Cloud Data Security Practice Question
A company has enabled object versioning on its cloud storage bucket to protect against accidental deletion. A ransomware attack encrypts all objects and creates new versions. To recover the data, the company needs to restore the previous unencrypted versions. What is the most efficient recovery method?
⚠ Common exam trap
CCSP often tests whether candidates understand that versioning preserves prior objects in place — many pick backup or provider restore options, missing that the previous versions are directly accessible.
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
✓
Delete the current versions or use the previous versions directly
With object versioning enabled, the previous unencrypted versions of the objects still exist in the bucket as noncurrent versions, so the most efficient recovery is to delete the current (encrypted) versions or simply access the previous versions directly. This avoids any external restore process and leverages the versioning feature exactly as designed. The recovery is fast, in-place, and requires no provider intervention or cross-region transfer.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Delete the current versions or use the previous versions directly
Why this is correct
Because versioning preserved the pre-ransomware copies, the unencrypted objects still exist as prior versions. Deleting the current encrypted versions or promoting the previous versions restores data directly, avoiding full backup restoration and satisfying the efficient recovery requirement.
- ✗
Use the object lifecycle policy to delete current versions
Why it's wrong here
A lifecycle policy deleting current versions removes the ransomware-encrypted objects but also the version history needed to restore clean copies, causing further loss. It is tempting because lifecycle rules manage version accumulation, and would be correct for expiring noncurrent versions to control storage cost, not for recovery.
- ✗
Request the cloud provider to restore from their backups
Why it's wrong here
Provider-side backups are not exposed for customer-initiated object restoration; the provider's own durability copies are inaccessible and irrelevant to version recovery. It tempts because providers do hold infrastructure backups, yet those protect against hardware loss, not ransomware, and cannot target specific object versions.
- ✗
Restore from a backup stored in a different region
Why it's wrong here
Cross-region backup restoration rebuilds the whole dataset from a separate copy, ignoring the intact prior versions already retained in the bucket. It tempts because geographic redundancy guards against regional failure, but here versioning itself supplies the unencrypted objects directly.
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About these practice questions
This CCSP question is part of Courseiva's 934-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 September 2026 · checked against the official ISC2 exam blueprint
This CCSP 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 CCSP exam.