CISSP Practice Questions

Question 1

An application authenticates users using session tokens. A security analyst finds that the application does not invalidate session tokens after logout, allowing session fixation attacks. Which secure coding practice should be implemented to mitigate this?

Accepted Answer

Regenerating session ID after successful login. Proper session management includes invalidating session tokens on logout and generating new tokens after authentication to prevent fixation.

Answer

Using short session timeouts

Answer

Setting the secure flag on cookies

Answer

Implementing HTTPS for all communications

Question 2

Which of the following is the primary purpose of the CIA triad in information security?

Accepted Answer

To define the core objectives of information security. The CIA triad—Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability—provides a foundational model for developing security policies and ensuring that data is protected from unauthorized access, tampering, and downtime.

Answer

To establish a framework for risk management

Answer

To ensure compliance with regulatory requirements

Answer

To balance security controls with usability

Question 3

Your organization is a medium-sized e-commerce company with a hybrid infrastructure: on-premises datacenter and AWS cloud. The security team recently conducted an internal vulnerability scan of the on-premises network and discovered multiple critical vulnerabilities in a legacy ERP system that cannot be patched because the vendor no longer supports it. The ERP system is essential for order processing and cannot be decommissioned. The team also ran a penetration test against the cloud environment and found that an attacker with network access could leverage misconfigured security groups to move laterally between instances. The company has a risk appetite that allows for limited risk acceptance with compensating controls. As the senior security analyst, what is the BEST course of action?

Accepted Answer

Apply virtual patching via an intrusion prevention system (IPS) for the ERP vulnerabilities and implement stricter security group rules in the cloud to restrict lateral movement.. The best course of action because it applies compensating controls to reduce risk without disrupting operations. Virtual patching via an IPS mitigates the unpatched ERP vulnerabilities, while stricter security group rules limit lateral movement in the cloud. This aligns with the organization's risk appetite for limited risk acceptance with compensating controls. Option A is too disruptive, Option B would cause unacceptable operational disruption, and Option C fails to implement any controls.

Answer

Immediately isolate the legacy ERP system from the network and implement a manual workaround for order processing.

Answer

Decommission the legacy ERP system and migrate to a modern alternative, accepting a temporary disruption in operations.

Answer

Accept the risk for both findings and document them in the risk register without additional controls.

Question 4

An organization is implementing role-based access control (RBAC). Which two components are fundamental to the RBAC model? (Select TWO.)

Accepted Answer

Constraints such as separation of duties. Constraints such as separation of duties are fundamental to RBAC because they enforce organizational policies by preventing conflicts of interest (e.g., a user cannot both create and approve a purchase order). This is a core component of the RBAC model as defined in the NIST RBAC standard (ANSI INCITS 359-2004), which includes core RBAC, hierarchical RBAC, and constrained RBAC. Constraints ensure that role assignments and permissions adhere to security rules beyond simple role-user mapping.

Answer

Access control lists (ACLs)

Answer

Subjects, objects, and operations

Answer

Security labels and clearances

Question 5

A hospital chain collects and stores electronic health records (EHR) for millions of patients. The EHR system is hosted in a private cloud and accessed by doctors, nurses, and administrative staff from various locations. Recently, an internal audit found that several employees shared their login credentials with colleagues to expedite workflows. The hospital must comply with HIPAA and state privacy laws. The security officer wants to implement a solution that minimizes the risk of unauthorized access due to shared credentials while still allowing efficient access for patient care. Which of the following is the BEST approach?

Accepted Answer

Implement single sign-on (SSO) integrated with role-based access control (RBAC) and enforce audit logging of all access. SSO integrated with RBAC reduces the attack surface of shared credentials by centralizing authentication and enforcing least-privilege access based on job roles. Audit logging provides non-repudiation and traceability, which deters credential sharing and satisfies HIPAA's requirement to track access to ePHI. This combination directly addresses the root cause (shared credentials) while maintaining workflow efficiency through seamless authentication.

Answer

Enforce a policy requiring password changes every 30 days and complexity requirements

Answer

Replace passwords with biometric authentication (fingerprint and iris scans) for all users

Answer

Disable remote access to the EHR system and require all access to occur only from within the hospital's LAN

Question 6

An organization's security policy requires that privileged accounts have their passwords changed every 30 days and be monitored. Which solution effectively manages these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution. A Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution is specifically designed to manage privileged accounts, enforce password rotation policies (e.g., every 30 days), and provide detailed monitoring and auditing of privileged sessions. It automates password changes, vaults credentials, and logs all access, directly meeting the policy requirements for privileged accounts.

Answer

Role-based access control

Answer

Enterprise password manager

Answer

Single sign-on for administrators

Question 7

A network architect is designing a secure connection between two data centers across an untrusted WAN. The requirement is to encrypt all traffic and authenticate both endpoints. Which protocol should be used?

Accepted Answer

IPsec tunnel mode. IPsec tunnel mode is the correct choice because it encrypts the entire IP packet, including the original IP header, and encapsulates it within a new IP header for secure transport across an untrusted WAN. It also provides mutual authentication of both endpoints using IKE (Internet Key Exchange) with pre-shared keys or certificates, satisfying the requirement for encrypting all traffic and authenticating both data centers.

Answer

SSH

Answer

MPLS

Answer

SSL/TLS

Question 8

An organization is developing a business continuity plan (BCP). The IT department has identified a critical application that must be restored within 4 hours of a disruption. Which metric defines the maximum acceptable time that the application can be unavailable?

Accepted Answer

Recovery Time Objective (RTO). The Recovery Time Objective (RTO) defines the maximum acceptable downtime for a critical application after a disruption. In this scenario, the IT department has specified that the application must be restored within 4 hours, which directly aligns with the RTO metric. RTO is a key BCP parameter that drives resource allocation and recovery strategy design.

Answer

Recovery Point Objective (RPO)

Answer

Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)

Answer

Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)

Answer

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Question 9

A company wants to ensure that its security policy is effectively enforced across all departments. Currently, the policy is published on the intranet and included in the employee handbook. However, the security team notices that many employees are not following the policy, leading to security incidents. Which of the following would be the most effective way to improve policy enforcement?

Accepted Answer

Require annual signed acknowledgment of the policy. Requiring annual signed acknowledgment ensures that employees are aware of and agree to comply with the policy. This creates a record of acceptance and can be used in disciplinary actions. Publishing on intranet or handbook alone does not guarantee reading or acceptance. Random audits with penalties may enforce compliance but without awareness, employees may not know what is expected.

Answer

Include the policy in the employee handbook

Answer

Conduct random audits and penalize non-compliance

Answer

Publish the policy on the intranet only

Question 10

A network analyst suspects a host on the internal network is sending abnormal amounts of traffic. Which tool should be used to capture and analyze the packets?

Accepted Answer

Wireshark. Wireshark is the correct tool because it is a packet analyzer that captures live network traffic and provides deep inspection of individual packets, including headers and payloads. This allows the analyst to examine the abnormal traffic patterns, identify source/destination IPs, protocols, and payload content to diagnose the issue.

Answer

Nmap

Answer

Netstat

Answer

Traceroute

Question 11

A security architect is designing a zero-trust network. Which principle is fundamental to a zero-trust architecture (ZTA) such as BeyondCorp?

Accepted Answer

Never trust, always verify. In a zero-trust architecture (ZTA) like Google's BeyondCorp, the foundational principle is 'never trust, always verify.' This means no entity—user, device, or network—is trusted by default, regardless of its location (inside or outside the corporate perimeter). Every access request must be authenticated, authorized, and continuously validated before granting access to resources, eliminating implicit trust based on network location.

Answer

Trust but verify

Answer

Trust internal users implicitly

Answer

Trust network location as a primary factor

Question 12

Which THREE of the following are valid considerations when implementing data loss prevention (DLP) controls to protect sensitive data? (Select three.)

Accepted Answer

User training to reduce false positives and increase acceptance. User training is a critical component of a successful DLP implementation. Without proper training, users may inadvertently trigger false positives by mishandling data or may attempt to bypass controls they perceive as overly restrictive. Training helps users understand classification labels and proper data handling procedures, reducing the operational burden on security teams and increasing overall acceptance of DLP policies.

Answer

Integration with all third-party applications

Answer

Blocking all data transfers to external devices

Question 13

Which THREE of the following are valid risk response strategies?

Accepted Answer

Transfer. Common risk responses include Avoid, Transfer, Mitigate, and Accept.

Answer

Eliminate

Answer

Ignore

Question 14

An organization is acquiring a third-party software product. Which THREE of the following should be included in the security assessment of the vendor?

Accepted Answer

Vulnerability scanning of dependencies. Reviewing the SBOM, vulnerability scanning of dependencies, and vendor security assessments are key elements of third-party security evaluation. Code signing is a deployment control, not assessment; license compliance is legal but not security-specific.

Answer

Verifying software license compliance

Answer

Ensuring code signing is used in the vendor's development process

Question 15

A security administrator is configuring a system that requires users to provide a password and a one-time code from a hardware token. Which authentication method is being implemented?

Accepted Answer

Multi-factor authentication. Using two different factor types (password and hardware token) constitutes multi-factor authentication (MFA).

Answer

Biometric authentication

Answer

Step-up authentication

Answer

Single-factor authentication

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