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CCSP Practice Question: An enterprise uses a cloud-based relational…
An enterprise uses a cloud-based relational database service (e.g., AWS RDS) to store customer order data. The database is encrypted at rest using the cloud provider's default encryption. The security team is concerned about the risk of a rogue database administrator (DBA) exfiltrating data by creating unencrypted backups or snapshots and moving them to a different account. Which of the following controls would BEST mitigate this risk while maintaining operational efficiency?
⚠ Common exam trap
ISC2 often tests the misconception that enabling automatic encryption or monitoring alone is sufficient to prevent data exfiltration by a privileged insider, when in reality only a combination of customer-managed keys with strict key policies and IAM permission boundaries can block the DBA's ability to decrypt or re-encrypt snapshots for exfiltration.
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 a customer-managed key (CMK) in KMS and configure the database to use that key for encryption, and restrict the DBA's IAM permissions to prevent using the key on snapshots.
Using a customer-managed key (CMK) in AWS KMS allows the organization to attach a key policy that explicitly denies the DBA's IAM role the kms:Decrypt permission on the CMK when used with snapshot operations. This prevents the DBA from creating an unencrypted snapshot or from copying an encrypted snapshot to another account, as the snapshot would remain encrypted with the CMK and the DBA cannot decrypt it. This maintains operational efficiency because the DBA can still perform routine database management tasks (e.g., creating backups) but cannot exfiltrate data via snapshots.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use a customer-managed key (CMK) in KMS and configure the database to use that key for encryption, and restrict the DBA's IAM permissions to prevent using the key on snapshots.
Why this is correct
Ensures snapshots are encrypted and DBA cannot decrypt them without key permission.
- ✗
Disable the ability for any user to create database snapshots.
Why it's wrong here
Prevents legitimate backup needs; not operationally feasible.
- ✗
Implement database activity monitoring (DAM) to alert on snapshot creation.
Why it's wrong here
Detective control; does not prevent the actual exfiltration.
- ✗
Enable automatic snapshot encryption and ensure that only the database service role can access snapshots.
Why it's wrong here
DBA could still move encrypted snapshots; decryption key access may be misconfigured.
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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.