easyMultiple Choice
CCSP Practice Question: A financial services company is migrating its…
A financial services company is migrating its on-premises data center to a public cloud IaaS environment. During the transition, the security team must ensure that the same network segmentation and firewall rules are maintained. Which of the following is the BEST approach to replicate the on-premises network security controls in the cloud?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse extending the network via VPN (Option A) with replicating segmentation, not realizing that VPNs merge networks rather than isolating them, while virtual private clouds (VPCs) provide the necessary logical isolation and granular firewall controls.
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
✓
Use virtual private clouds (VPCs) with subnets and security groups to enforce segmentation and firewall rules.
VPCs with subnets and security groups provide native, software-defined network segmentation and stateful firewall rules that directly replicate on-premises network segmentation and ACLs. Security groups act as virtual firewalls at the instance level, while network ACLs provide subnet-level stateless filtering, together enabling granular control without extending the on-premises network.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure a site-to-site VPN between on-premises and cloud to extend the existing network.
Why it's wrong here
A site-to-site VPN extends Layer 3 reachability between sites but does not reproduce segmentation or firewall rule sets; cloud workloads still need security groups and network ACLs. VPNs suit hybrid connectivity and encrypted transit, not replicating on-premises firewall policy within the cloud environment itself.
- ✓
Use virtual private clouds (VPCs) with subnets and security groups to enforce segmentation and firewall rules.
Why this is correct
VPCs with subnets and security groups reproduce on-premises segmentation and firewall enforcement natively in IaaS, applying stateful, instance-level rules. This maps the existing network security controls directly onto cloud constructs without relying on host-based agents.
- ✗
Implement an intrusion detection and prevention system (IDPS) to monitor traffic.
Why it's wrong here
An IDPS detects and alerts on malicious traffic but does not enforce network segmentation or replicate firewall rule sets. Segmentation in IaaS requires security groups, network ACLs, and subnet design. IDPS deployment is the right choice for threat detection and prevention layered atop those controls, not as their replacement.
- ✗
Deploy a software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) to manage network traffic between cloud resources.
Why it's wrong here
SD-WAN optimises WAN transport and path selection between sites and cloud edges; it does not enforce east-west segmentation or stateful firewall rules inside a cloud VPC. It is tempting because it does connect on-premises networks to cloud resources, but that is transport, not the security-group and subnet-level control the scenario demands.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.