CCSP Cloud Data Security Practice Question
An organization uses a cloud-based data analytics platform with data stored in a data warehouse. The security team discovers that some tables contain unencrypted personally identifiable information (PII). They need to automatically scan the data warehouse for PII and apply pseudonymization to protect sensitive columns. Which cloud service should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
CCSP often tests the confusion between encryption (KMS) and pseudonymization (DLP), or between access control (bucket policies) and data inspection (DLP), causing candidates to pick KMS or CASB when the question explicitly asks for automatic PII scanning and pseudonymization.
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
✓
Cloud Data Loss Prevention (DLP) API
Cloud Data Loss Prevention (DLP) API is designed to discover, classify, and protect sensitive data such as PII across cloud storage and data warehouses. It can automatically scan tables, identify PII using built-in infoType detectors, and apply de-identification transformations like pseudonymization (e.g., replacing values with surrogate tokens) directly. This matches the requirement to automatically scan and pseudonymize sensitive columns without manual intervention.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Cloud Storage bucket policies
Why it's wrong here
Bucket policies govern access to object storage, not warehouse tables, and cannot scan for PII or pseudonymise columns. They are tempting because they enforce storage-level access control; they would be correct when the requirement is restricting who may read objects in a bucket, not discovering and masking sensitive columns.
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Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)
Why it's wrong here
A CASB mediates traffic between users and cloud services, enforcing access and DLP policy in transit; it cannot scan warehouse tables or pseudonymise columns in place. It is tempting because it performs data protection; it would be correct when the requirement is governing sanctioned SaaS usage and shadow IT, not in-database discovery.
- ✓
Cloud Data Loss Prevention (DLP) API
Why this is correct
The Cloud DLP API inspects data at rest, using infoType detectors to identify PII such as names, emails and national identifiers, then applies de-identification transforms like pseudonymisation via crypto-based tokenisation or format-preserving encryption directly to matched columns.
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Cloud Key Management Service (KMS)
Why it's wrong here
Cloud KMS stores and manages cryptographic keys; it performs no data discovery, so it cannot scan tables or identify PII columns. It is tempting because pseudonymization ultimately relies on encryption keys, and KMS would be the right choice when the requirement is to create, rotate, or control access to those keys rather than to locate and transform sensitive data.
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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.