SNOW-CSA Database Administration and CMDB Practice Question
You are a ServiceNow administrator for a healthcare organization. The CMDB contains sensitive patient data under strict compliance rules. You need to ensure that only authorized users can view the full details of certain CIs, while still allowing change management to reference the CIs. What is the best practice to achieve this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse encryption with access control, assuming that encrypting sensitive fields prevents unauthorized viewing, but encryption in ServiceNow does not enforce read permissions—it only protects data at rest, and users with read access can still decrypt and view the data unless ACLs are applied.
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 Access Controls (ACLs) to restrict read access to the sensitive CI records.
Access Controls (ACLs) are the correct mechanism to restrict read access to sensitive CI records while still allowing Change Management to reference them. ACLs can be configured to grant read access only to authorized users or roles, and the cmdb_ci table or specific CI records can be targeted. This ensures compliance with data privacy rules without removing the CIs from the CMDB or breaking downstream processes like change requests that need to link to those CIs.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Move the sensitive CIs to a separate CMDB instance.
Why it's wrong here
Separate instances add complexity and cost; not necessary for access control.
- ✓
Use Access Controls (ACLs) to restrict read access to the sensitive CI records.
Why this is correct
ACLs can grant selective read access, ensuring only authorized users see sensitive details.
- ✗
Encrypt the fields containing sensitive data.
Why it's wrong here
Encryption protects data at rest but does not control who can view it in the application.
- ✗
Remove the sensitive CIs from the CMDB and maintain them externally.
Why it's wrong here
Removing CIs defeats the purpose of a unified CMDB and complicates change management.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SNOW-CSA practice question is part of Courseiva's free ServiceNow 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 SNOW-CSA exam.