SSCP Access Controls Practice Question
A security architect is designing an access control system for a healthcare application. The system must ensure that a nurse can view patient records but cannot modify them, and that a doctor can both view and update records. Additionally, the system must prevent a single user from both ordering a medication and approving its administration. Which TWO access control principles are being applied? (Select TWO.)
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
✓
Separation of duties
Least privilege ensures users have only the permissions needed (nurse view, doctor view/update). Separation of duties prevents a single user from performing conflicting actions (order and approve).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Discretionary access control
Why it's wrong here
Discretionary access control lets data owners assign permissions at their own judgement, which cannot enforce the fixed nurse-view/doctor-update split or the medication ordering-versus-approval separation. It would be the right model where owners need flexibility over their own resources, not rigid role-based constraints.
- ✓
Separation of duties
Why this is correct
Splitting the medication workflow so no single user both orders and approves it enforces separation of duties, preventing one person from completing a sensitive transaction end to end. This satisfies the stem's explicit constraint that ordering and administration approval must remain with different individuals.
- ✗
Need to know
Why it's wrong here
Need to know limits access to information required for a task, but it does not itself grant the view-only versus update distinction or prevent one person ordering and approving medication. Role-based access control with separation of duties satisfies those requirements. Need to know would be correct when minimising exposure of sensitive data beyond a user's duties.
- ✗
Mandatory access control
Why it's wrong here
Mandatory access control enforces clearance and classification labels, not job-function permissions. The scenario requires role-based rights plus separation of duties, neither of which MAC's sensitivity labels express. MAC would be correct where data classification levels, such as Confidential or Secret, must govern access regardless of user role.
- ✓
Least privilege
Why this is correct
Least privilege grants each role only the permissions its duties require: nurses receive read-only access to patient records, doctors receive read and update rights. This satisfies the stem's constraint that users hold no excess authority beyond their defined responsibilities, limiting potential misuse of healthcare data.
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on SSCP
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. During an access control audit, you find that a user has been assigned to two mutually exclusive roles. Which TWO principles are most likely violated?
hard- A.Role hierarchy
- ✓ B.Least privilege
- ✓ C.Separation of duties
- D.Mandatory access control
- E.Accountability
Why B: Option B (Least privilege) is correct because assigning a user to two mutually exclusive roles grants them more permissions than their job function requires, violating the principle that users should receive only the minimum access necessary to perform their duties. Option C (Separation of duties) is correct because mutually exclusive roles are specifically designed to prevent one person from holding conflicting responsibilities (e.g., initiating and approving a transaction), and assigning both to a single user directly defeats that control. Option A (Role hierarchy) is not necessarily violated, since a hierarchy merely organizes roles by inheritance and does not inherently prohibit holding two roles. Option D (Mandatory access control) is unrelated, as MAC relies on system-enforced labels and clearances rather than conflicting role assignments. Option E (Accountability) concerns traceability of actions to an individual, which is not directly breached by holding two mutually exclusive roles.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.