hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
CCSP Practice Question: A large e-commerce company uses a multi-cloud…
A large e-commerce company uses a multi-cloud environment with workloads in AWS and Azure. They store customer payment data in an AWS S3 bucket and use Azure SQL Database for transactional data. The company requires that all data at rest be encrypted using keys managed by their on-premises HSM. They have implemented AWS KMS with custom key store (CloudHSM) for S3, and Azure SQL TDE with Azure Key Vault (using BYOK) for the database. Recently, the security team noticed that some S3 objects are not encrypted with the expected key, and there are intermittent access failures to the Azure SQL database. Investigation reveals that the AWS KMS key ID changed after a recent security incident, and the Azure Key Vault key has been disabled due to a misconfigured access policy. What is the most effective course of action to restore encryption compliance and service availability?
⚠ Common exam trap
ISC2 often tests the misconception that switching to simpler cloud-managed keys (SSE-S3 or service-managed) is a valid fix, but the trap is that this violates the explicit compliance requirement for on-premises HSM-managed keys, making such options non-compliant.
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
✓
Re-establish synchronization between on-premises HSM and cloud key stores: update AWS KMS custom key store with correct key and fix Azure Key Vault access policies.
The root cause is a loss of synchronization between the on-premises HSM and the cloud key stores. Updating the AWS KMS custom key store (CloudHSM) with the correct key restores S3 encryption compliance, while fixing the Azure Key Vault access policy re-enables the BYOK key for SQL TDE, restoring service availability. This directly addresses the specific failures: the changed KMS key ID and the disabled Key Vault key.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Re-establish synchronization between on-premises HSM and cloud key stores: update AWS KMS custom key store with correct key and fix Azure Key Vault access policies.
Why this is correct
Correct: This directly resolves the key ID change and access policy issues, restoring compliance and availability.
- ✗
Implement client-side encryption for all data, bypassing cloud KMS.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: Client-side encryption would require significant re-engineering and does not address the existing key issues.
- ✗
Switch S3 to use SSE-S3 and Azure SQL to use service-managed keys.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: This does not resolve the current misconfiguration and violates policy.
- ✗
Roll back all encryption to use cloud-provided managed keys to simplify operations.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: This violates the organization's requirement to use on-premises managed keys.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
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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.