This CCSP practice question tests your understanding of cloud security operations. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A financial services company uses a hybrid cloud environment with an on-premises data center and AWS. They have deployed a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) to enforce data loss prevention (DLP) policies for SaaS applications. Recently, the security team noticed that sensitive customer data is being exfiltrated via encrypted traffic to a sanctioned cloud storage application. The CASB logs show the traffic is identified as HTTPS, but the DLP policy is not blocking it. The team verifies that the CASB is configured with a forward proxy and SSL inspection is enabled. Which action should the security team take to prevent this exfiltration?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Ensure the CASB's SSL certificate is deployed to all endpoint devices
The CASB is configured as a forward proxy with SSL inspection enabled, but for SSL inspection to work, the CASB's certificate must be trusted by the endpoint devices. Without the CASB's certificate deployed to the endpoints, the SSL inspection fails (the CASB cannot decrypt the traffic), so the DLP policy cannot inspect the payload of HTTPS traffic, allowing sensitive data to be exfiltrated. Deploying the CASB's certificate to all endpoint devices ensures that the endpoints trust the CASB's man-in-the-middle decryption, enabling the CASB to decrypt, inspect, and enforce DLP policies on encrypted traffic.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Block all HTTPS traffic to the cloud storage application
Why it's wrong here
Blocking all HTTPS traffic would disrupt legitimate business use; the goal is to inspect and block only exfiltration.
✓
Ensure the CASB's SSL certificate is deployed to all endpoint devices
Why this is correct
Without the CASB’s certificate trusted by clients, SSL inspection fails, and DLP cannot inspect encrypted content.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Configure the CASB to log only metadata for encrypted traffic
Why it's wrong here
Logging metadata does not prevent exfiltration; the issue is failure to inspect content.
✗
Disable HTTPS for the cloud storage application and force HTTP
Why it's wrong here
Forcing HTTP is insecure and likely not supported; SSL inspection should work with HTTPS.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume SSL inspection is automatically effective once enabled in the CASB configuration, overlooking the critical prerequisite that the CASB's certificate must be trusted by the endpoints for decryption to occur.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SSL inspection (also known as HTTPS decryption) works by the CASB acting as a man-in-the-middle: it terminates the client's TLS connection using its own certificate, then establishes a new TLS connection to the destination server. For this to succeed without certificate warnings, the CASB's root CA certificate must be installed in the trusted root store of every endpoint device. In enterprise environments, this is typically done via Group Policy (Windows), MDM profiles (mobile devices), or manual deployment. Without this trust, the TLS handshake fails or the client rejects the CASB's certificate, and the CASB falls back to passthrough mode, bypassing DLP inspection entirely.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A developer is choosing between AES-256 (symmetric) and RSA-2048 (asymmetric) for encrypting a large file that will be sent to a partner. Symmetric encryption is fast but requires key exchange; asymmetric is slower but solves the key distribution problem. A hybrid approach — encrypt the file with AES, encrypt the AES key with RSA — is standard. Questions like this test whether you understand when each approach applies.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Cloud Security Operations — This question tests Cloud Security Operations — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Ensure the CASB's SSL certificate is deployed to all endpoint devices — The CASB is configured as a forward proxy with SSL inspection enabled, but for SSL inspection to work, the CASB's certificate must be trusted by the endpoint devices. Without the CASB's certificate deployed to the endpoints, the SSL inspection fails (the CASB cannot decrypt the traffic), so the DLP policy cannot inspect the payload of HTTPS traffic, allowing sensitive data to be exfiltrated. Deploying the CASB's certificate to all endpoint devices ensures that the endpoints trust the CASB's man-in-the-middle decryption, enabling the CASB to decrypt, inspect, and enforce DLP policies on encrypted traffic.
What should I do if I get this CCSP question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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