SSCP Access Controls Practice Question
A financial services firm wants to let customers authorize a third-party budgeting application to read their account transaction history without sharing their banking password. Which technology should the firm deploy?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse authentication with authorization and selecting SAML because it is a familiar federated identity standard, even though the requirement is delegated, scoped access rather than single sign-on.
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
✓
OAuth 2.0
The scenario requires delegated authorization: a customer lets a third-party budgeting app read transaction history without revealing the banking password. OAuth 2.0 is built for this purpose, issuing scoped access tokens that the application presents to the resource server. The customer authenticates with the bank, approves specific scopes, and the app operates within those limits, so credentials are never shared and access can be revoked.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS)
Why it's wrong here
RADIUS is an authentication, authorization, and accounting protocol used mainly for network access, such as VPNs and Wi-Fi. It centralizes credential verification for network entry and does not define a framework for a user to delegate scoped access to a third-party application reading financial data. Deploying RADIUS would address network authentication, not the customer consent and delegated authorization requirement described.
- ✗
Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)
Why it's wrong here
SAML is designed for browser-based single sign-on and federated authentication, where an identity provider issues assertions to a service provider. It authenticates a user but does not provide a standard mechanism for a customer to grant a third-party application delegated, scoped access to account data without exposing credentials. Using SAML here would authenticate the customer to the budgeting app but not authorize limited API access to transaction history.
- ✗
Kerberos
Why it's wrong here
Kerberos is a network authentication protocol that uses tickets issued by a key distribution center to prove identity within a trusted realm. It is suited to internal single sign-on and service authentication, not to granting external third-party applications scoped access to a customer's financial data. Kerberos also assumes mutual trust and time synchronization across participants, which is impractical for public-facing customer consent scenarios.
- ✓
OAuth 2.0
Why this is correct
OAuth 2.0 is an authorization framework that lets a resource owner grant a third-party application limited access to protected resources without sharing credentials. The budgeting app receives an access token scoped to reading transaction history, and the customer's banking password is never disclosed. This exactly matches the requirement for delegated, limited access to account data with user consent.
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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 SSCP 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 SSCP exam.