ISC² CCSP Cloud Security Exam Dumps and Braindumps

At which stage of the cloud data lifecycle is overwriting commonly used to make information unrecoverable?

• ❏ A. Archive

• ❏ B. Use

• ❏ C. Store

• ❏ D. Purge

In cloud environments which factor increases the need for precise data labeling compared with a traditional on premises data center?

• ❏ A. Data portability

• ❏ B. Elastic scalability

• ❏ C. Virtualization

• ❏ D. Multitenancy

A hosting firm permits multiple client organizations to use a common pool of compute and storage resources. What term describes those client organizations?

• ❏ A. Partner

• ❏ B. Hybrid cloud

• ❏ C. Auditor

• ❏ D. Tenant

An IT team at SummitTech discovered an unauthorized DHCP service on a production VLAN and wants to understand what risk that rogue service could introduce to network clients?

• ❏ A. Facilitating theft of personal data through interception of network traffic

• ❏ B. Assigning IP addresses that conflict and causing devices to lose network connectivity

• ❏ C. Encrypting files across the network via a distributed ransomware attack

• ❏ D. Directing users to malicious or spoofed hosts by providing attacker controlled gateway or DNS settings

A regional financial technology company isolates its cloud infrastructure into separate security zones so that customer facing applications are separated from back end systems. What is the primary security benefit of implementing network zoning in this way?

• ❏ A. Improving overall network throughput

• ❏ B. Containing a security incident to an individual zone

• ❏ C. VPC Service Controls

• ❏ D. Lowering administrative expenses for network upkeep

Which party is responsible for protecting themselves when they use the public internet?

• ❏ A. Internet service provider

• ❏ B. Managed security service provider

• ❏ C. Individual internet users

• ❏ D. Cloud service provider

Which category of authentication does a password fall into within an identity and access management system?

• ❏ A. Possession factor

• ❏ B. Behavioral factor

• ❏ C. Knowledge based factor

• ❏ D. Location based factor

An ecommerce startup at example.com is preparing for a SOC 2 Type II examination. Which item is not one of the five Trust Services Criteria evaluated in a SOC 2 Type II audit?

• ❏ A. Processing integrity

• ❏ B. Privacy

• ❏ C. Financial

• ❏ D. Security

Which statement best defines multitenancy in a cloud computing environment?

• ❏ A. Cloud Identity

• ❏ B. Different cloud customers sharing the same physical or virtual computing resources from a cloud provider

• ❏ C. A single customer running workloads across two or more cloud vendors

• ❏ D. Two independent companies federating their directory services while retaining control of their own accounts

A regional insurance company wants to run a business continuity and disaster recovery exercise that reproduces a real outage as accurately as possible and that involves moving operations to a recovery location. Which type of BCDR exercise should they perform?

• ❏ A. Tabletop exercise

• ❏ B. Parallel test

• ❏ C. Full interruption test

• ❏ D. Hot site activation

All ISC2 questions are from my ISC2 CCSP Udemy course and certificationexams.pro

A regional e commerce firm called Meridian Retail is preparing to roll out a Security Information and Event Management platform across its cloud tenants. Which of the following goals would not be considered a primary function of a SIEM system?

• ❏ A. Centralizing and correlating logs from multiple sources

• ❏ B. Integrating with Cloud Monitoring and VPC Flow Logs for telemetry

• ❏ C. Optimizing cloud workload throughput and system performance

• ❏ D. Proactively assessing security trends to detect threats early

A managed hosting company pools compute storage and networking resources to support many tenant workloads and to provide elastic scaling and on demand provisioning. Which technology enables this capability?

• ❏ A. Software defined networking

• ❏ B. Container orchestration

• ❏ C. Virtualization

• ❏ D. Google Compute Engine

Within software engineering which category of programs typically gets security reviews and patches from a worldwide group of contributors?

• ❏ A. Cloud Functions

• ❏ B. Proprietary applications

• ❏ C. Open source projects

• ❏ D. Object oriented programs

At a cloud hosting firm such as NebulaTech that uses different service models which component does the cloud vendor retain full responsibility for in every model?

• ❏ A. Virtual networking and routing

• ❏ B. Managed database services

• ❏ C. Host hypervisor and virtualization layer

• ❏ D. Persistent block and object storage

At which stage of the software development life cycle are formal requirements for risk mitigation integrated into the program designs?

• ❏ A. Development phase

• ❏ B. Maintenance and operations phase

• ❏ C. Design and architecture phase

• ❏ D. Requirements analysis and feasibility phase

You are designing cloud infrastructure for a fintech called Aurora Ledger that will process sensitive customer records and must comply with privacy laws and industry regulations; which strategy should be prioritized to protect personal data and ensure regulatory compliance?

• ❏ A. Regular backup and retention strategy

• ❏ B. Data anonymization techniques

• ❏ C. VPC Service Controls

• ❏ D. Multi region high availability

Which of the following threats appears on the Cloud Safety Consortium’s list of twelve critical cloud threats and is not included in the OWASP Top 10?

• ❏ A. Injection

• ❏ B. Sensitive data exposure

• ❏ C. Broken access control

• ❏ D. Denial of service

Which category best describes the following services Fabrikam Active Directory Domain Services Fabrikam Cloud Identity Google Cloud Identity Nimbus Directory Service?

• ❏ A. Cloud access security broker

• ❏ B. Federated identity mechanisms

• ❏ C. Identity providers

• ❏ D. APIs for application integration

As a cloud security analyst at a payments startup evaluating third party cloud vendors which single factor should you prioritize when judging the physical security of a vendor’s data center facilities?

• ❏ A. Power resilience and environmental controls at the facility

• ❏ B. Network bandwidth capacity available at the site

• ❏ C. Geographic location and legal jurisdiction of the data center

• ❏ D. On site access controls and continuous surveillance systems

NovaNet plans to protect communications between its microservices using TLS and recognizes that TLS is split into two protocol layers. Which two protocol layers make up TLS?

• ❏ A. Cloud Load Balancing

• ❏ B. Record protocol and data protocol

• ❏ C. Transport protocol and record protocol

• ❏ D. Handshake protocol and record protocol

As the cloud platform lead at a mid sized software company that is expanding operations into three new regions you must pick a cloud service model that lets your distributed engineering teams move fast while shielding them from infrastructure management details. Which cloud service model would you choose?

• ❏ A. Containers as a Service

• ❏ B. Software as a Service

• ❏ C. Platform as a Service

• ❏ D. Infrastructure as a Service

As the compliance lead at a regional credit union that uses cloud platforms you are building a governance program to manage regulatory obligations across cloud environments given the rapid evolution of cloud services and rules what is the primary advantage of adding automated compliance monitoring tools to your governance program and how does that strengthen the credit union’s compliance approach?

• ❏ A. Ensuring flawless compliance with every regulation and eliminating any chance of noncompliance

• ❏ B. Cloud Security Command Center

• ❏ C. Delivering continuous real time compliance visibility so the team can monitor continuously and react quickly to deviations or regulatory updates

• ❏ D. Reducing the number of manual tasks for routine compliance checks and boosting the productivity of the compliance staff

Which technology learns from very large datasets and finds recurring patterns and trends in the information?

• ❏ A. Machine learning

• ❏ B. BigQuery

• ❏ C. Artificial intelligence

• ❏ D. Edge device networks

Which statement most accurately describes the differences between cloud platforms and privately owned data centers?

• ❏ A. Moving to the cloud will always reduce overall costs

• ❏ B. On-premise and cloud deployments expose organizations to exactly the same security risks

• ❏ C. Adopting cloud platforms commonly delivers greater scalability and improved performance compared with private data centers

• ❏ D. Transitioning to cloud platforms completely removes security vulnerabilities

A regional fintech named Nimbus Savings keeps customer records in cloud platforms. At which stage of the cloud data lifecycle should security controls be applied for the first time?

• ❏ A. Use

• ❏ B. Google Cloud Storage

• ❏ C. Store

• ❏ D. Create

An IT lead at Altair Systems acquired a cloud hosted productivity suite for the company that runs entirely on the vendor cloud and the vendor manages both the application software and the underlying servers and platform. Staff reach the application via the public internet and nothing is installed on their individual workstations. Which category of cloud service is being described?

• ❏ A. Platform as a Service

• ❏ B. Container as a Service

• ❏ C. Software as a Service

• ❏ D. Infrastructure as a Service

All ISC2 questions are from my ISC2 CCSP Udemy course and certificationexams.pro

A regional payments startup migrated its systems to a public cloud and found that one service model requires the tenant to handle operating system updates and runtime patching. Which cloud service model assigns patching responsibility to the customer?

• ❏ A. Software as a Service

• ❏ B. Desktop as a Service

• ❏ C. Infrastructure as a Service

• ❏ D. Platform as a Service

Which of the following is not considered one of the three common approaches to store encryption keys in a cloud deployment?

• ❏ A. Keeping the keys on the same compute instance that runs the encryption engine

• ❏ B. Cloud Key Management Service

• ❏ C. Hosting keys on a separate host within the same network segment

• ❏ D. Making a physical copy of the encryption keys and locking it in a secure safe

A security analyst at a mid sized fintech company has been asked to carry out a risk evaluation that uses numeric metrics such as single loss expectancy SLE annual rate of occurrence ARO and annual loss expectancy ALE. Which type of risk evaluation is being requested?

• ❏ A. Threat modeling

• ❏ B. Qualitative risk assessment

• ❏ C. Cost benefit analysis

• ❏ D. Quantitative risk assessment

You are the cloud security lead at Meridian Apps and you are improving the security of a cloud hosted software development lifecycle. Which practice would be least effective at protecting the SDLC from potential security threats?

• ❏ A. Integrating automated security scans into the CI CD pipeline

• ❏ B. Using a single shared engineering login for all developers

• ❏ C. Granting developers and operators only the minimum permissions they need

• ❏ D. Providing regular hands on security training for the development team

What is the first activity to perform when preparing a business continuity and disaster recovery plan?

• ❏ A. Conduct a business impact analysis

• ❏ B. Determine the plan scope

• ❏ C. Collect stakeholder requirements

• ❏ D. Develop test and recovery procedures

As a cloud architect advising emerging payment platform startups you are consulting for a new digital banking firm called MaplePay and you must recommend a cloud service model that grants strong control over data and customization while keeping the cloud provider responsible for minimal operations. The firm requires flexibility scalability and fine grained control over customer financial records. Which cloud service model should you recommend?

• ❏ A. Platform as a Service (PaaS)

• ❏ B. Anthos

• ❏ C. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

• ❏ D. Software as a Service (SaaS)

A payments company named ArborFin is reviewing its cloud security measures and asks which capability a hardware security module provides to help satisfy regulatory requirements for cryptographic protection?

• ❏ A. Delivering multi region failover and redundancy to maintain service continuity

• ❏ B. Routing incoming traffic among instances with Google Cloud Load Balancing

• ❏ C. Providing tamper resistant key generation and hardware backed cryptographic key storage

• ❏ D. Enforcing physical data center entry restrictions and badge access controls

Which communications protocol is most widely adopted for delivering block level storage over IP networks to enterprise virtual servers?

• ❏ A. Fibre Channel

• ❏ B. CHAP

• ❏ C. iSCSI

• ❏ D. SMB

During which stage of the cloud data lifecycle should SSL/TLS protections be applied so that data is secured when it first enters the environment?

• ❏ A. Consumption stage

• ❏ B. Storage stage

• ❏ C. Creation or ingestion stage

• ❏ D. Sharing stage

The correct answer is Purge.

Overwriting is a sanitization technique applied during the Purge stage of the cloud data lifecycle because purge is the point when data is intentionally removed and rendered unrecoverable. Organizations perform overwriting, cryptographic erase, degaussing, or physical destruction at purge to ensure that residual data cannot be recovered from storage media.

Archive is for long term retention and preservation of data for future access or compliance. Overwriting would defeat the purpose of archiving and so it is not used at that stage.

Use refers to active processing and access of data while applications and users operate on it. This stage is about availability and access and not about making data unrecoverable.

Store covers holding and managing data in primary or backup storage and focuses on protection and availability rather than destructive sanitization. Overwriting as a final destruction method is therefore not typical during the store stage.

When a question asks about rendering data unrecoverable think of the purge or sanitization stage rather than retention or archive stages.

The correct option is Multitenancy.

Multitenancy increases the need for precise data labeling because multiple tenants share the same logical resources and storage and strong labels help enforce tenant specific access controls, encryption keys, retention policies, and routing rules so that one tenant’s data cannot be accessed by another tenant.

Multitenancy also makes it easier to apply automated policy engines and IAM rules when data is consistently labeled, and this supports compliance, billing and data residency controls across shared infrastructure.

Data portability is about moving data between environments and formats and it does not by itself create the same need for tenant specific labels because portability focuses on transfer and compatibility rather than isolating multiple tenants.

Elastic scalability describes the ability to scale resources up and down to meet demand and it relates to capacity and performance rather than to labeling data for tenant isolation and policy enforcement.

Virtualization is an underlying technology that enables multiple isolated instances and it can exist on premises as well as in the cloud and so it is not the primary driver for more precise data labeling compared with the shared tenancy model.

When a question mentions shared resources or multiple customers think about multitenancy and how data separation and access control drive requirements for precise labeling.

The correct answer is Tenant.

A Tenant is an independent client organization that consumes a shared pool of compute and storage in a multi tenant hosting environment. The term refers to logical separation of each customer’s data and settings while the provider shares the underlying infrastructure and management across multiple tenants.

Partner is incorrect because that term describes a business relationship or reseller and not a customer organization using shared hosting resources.

Hybrid cloud is incorrect because that phrase describes a deployment model that combines public and private cloud resources and not the identity of client organizations in a shared environment.

Auditor is incorrect because an auditor is a person or team who assesses compliance and controls and not a client organization that occupies compute and storage resources.

Focus on terms that describe a role within the hosting environment. If the question mentions multiple customers sharing the same pool of resources pick tenant rather than a deployment model or a business role.

Directing users to malicious or spoofed hosts by providing attacker controlled gateway or DNS settings is the correct answer.

A rogue DHCP server can hand out network configuration parameters such as the default gateway and DNS servers. When a client accepts those values the attacker can route client traffic through malicious hosts or resolve names to attacker controlled IP addresses and intercept or manipulate connections.

This attack path allows credential harvesting phishing redirects and delivery of additional payloads because clients are unknowingly directed to attacker controlled systems rather than legitimate services.

Facilitating theft of personal data through interception of network traffic is not the best choice because it describes a possible outcome rather than the specific mechanism. A rogue DHCP server enables interception mainly by providing malicious gateway or DNS settings which is why the other option is more precise.

Assigning IP addresses that conflict and causing devices to lose network connectivity is incorrect because DHCP servers typically manage leases to avoid conflicts. While a poorly configured or malicious DHCP server might cause addressing problems the primary risk from a rogue DHCP is redirection through supplied gateways and DNS, not address conflicts.

Encrypting files across the network via a distributed ransomware attack is incorrect because DHCP simply provides network configuration and cannot itself execute or propagate file encryption. Ransomware requires an execution vector and payload delivery which are not actions performed by DHCP alone.

When you see DHCP in a question think about what configuration it provides. Remember that gateway and DNS entries are the strongest indicators of a redirection or spoofing risk from a rogue DHCP server.

Containing a security incident to an individual zone is the correct answer.

Network zoning isolates customer facing systems from back end systems so that a compromise in one zone does not automatically affect other zones. This containment reduces the blast radius and limits an attacker�s lateral movement which makes detection and remediation easier and faster.

Segmentation is enforced with network controls such as firewalls, security groups, access control lists, and microsegmentation in cloud environments. These controls let operators apply stricter rules and monitoring on sensitive zones which supports incident containment and recovery.

Improving overall network throughput is incorrect because zoning is a security measure and it does not inherently increase throughput. In some cases segmentation can add inspection points that affect performance rather than improve it.

VPC Service Controls is incorrect because that is a specific cloud vendor feature and not the general primary benefit of network zoning. The question asks about the fundamental security advantage which is containment and not a particular product.

Lowering administrative expenses for network upkeep is incorrect because segmentation often increases configuration and policy management work. The primary goal is improved security and not reduced administrative cost.

When a question describes separating front end and back end systems think about reducing the blast radius and preventing lateral movement rather than performance gains or cost savings.

The correct answer is Individual internet users.

Individual internet users are responsible for protecting themselves when they use the public internet because they control the endpoints and user actions determine many security outcomes. They must secure their devices and accounts by using strong passwords, installing updates, enabling firewalls and antivirus, and using secure networks or a VPN when on public Wi Fi.

Internet service provider supplies the network connection and may offer optional security features, but it does not manage or secure each user device or personal account and so it is not the party primarily responsible for an individual’s protection on the public internet.

Managed security service provider can provide monitoring and defensive services for organizations under contract, but an MSSP does not automatically protect independent individuals using the public internet and their protections depend on the scope of the service agreement.

Cloud service provider is responsible for securing the cloud infrastructure that it operates, but customers and end users are responsible for protecting their data and endpoints when accessing cloud services over the public internet according to shared responsibility models.

When a question asks who must protect data on the public internet think about who controls the endpoint and user behavior and emphasize user responsibilities rather than infrastructure ownership.

The correct answer is Knowledge based factor.

A password is a secret that the user knows so it is a Knowledge based factor. Knowledge based factor refers to authentication based on something the user can recall such as a password or a PIN and it is distinct from items or biometric traits.

Possession factor is incorrect because it refers to something the user has such as a hardware token or a smartphone. A password is not a physical object that the user carries.

Behavioral factor is incorrect because it depends on patterns like typing rhythm or gesture habits. A password is a static secret and not a behavioral pattern.

Location based factor is incorrect because it uses geolocation or network origin to influence authentication. A password does not depend on where the user is located.

When deciding factor categories remember the classic triad something you know, something you have and something you are. Choose knowledge for passwords and PINs.

The correct answer is Financial.

SOC 2 reports evaluate the five Trust Services Criteria which focus on operational and security related controls rather than financial reporting. Those criteria include Security, availability, Processing integrity, confidentiality, and Privacy. Because SOC 2 addresses those criteria a category like Financial is not one of the five Trust Services Criteria.

Processing integrity is incorrect because it is explicitly one of the five Trust Services Criteria evaluated in a SOC 2 engagement rather than an item that is excluded.

Privacy is incorrect because privacy of personal information is one of the Trust Services Criteria assessed in SOC 2 reports.

Security is incorrect because security is the foundational Trust Services Criteria and is always evaluated in a SOC 2 engagement.

When you see a SOC 2 question look for answers that relate to the Trust Services Criteria such as security and privacy and eliminate options that refer to financial reporting.

The correct answer is Different cloud customers sharing the same physical or virtual computing resources from a cloud provider.

The phrase Different cloud customers sharing the same physical or virtual computing resources from a cloud provider captures the essence of multitenancy because it describes multiple tenant accounts using the same underlying infrastructure while the provider enforces logical isolation between tenants. Multitenancy focuses on sharing compute, storage, or networking resources to achieve economies of scale and simplified management while still keeping tenant data and operations separate.

Cloud Identity is incorrect because it is a service for identity and access management and not a definition of how resources are shared among customers. The term refers to user and device identity controls and not to the architectural model of resource sharing.

A single customer running workloads across two or more cloud vendors is incorrect because that scenario describes multi cloud or cross cloud deployment and not multitenancy. Multitenancy is about multiple customers sharing one provider’s resources rather than one customer using multiple providers.

Two independent companies federating their directory services while retaining control of their own accounts is incorrect because that describes federation or trust relationships and not multitenancy. Federation lets separate organizations share authentication or authorization but it does not mean they share the same underlying compute or storage resources.

When you see phrases about sharing the same physical or virtual resources think multitenancy and distinguish it from multi cloud or federation which describe different relationships.

Full interruption test is correct because it intentionally reproduces a real outage by taking production offline and moving operations to a recovery location.

A Full interruption test forces teams to perform an actual failover and to operate from the recovery site so it gives the highest fidelity of a real disaster. It validates not only technical recovery but also operational procedures, communications, data integrity, and staff readiness under real conditions. Because it impacts live services it carries significant risk and is scheduled with strong governance and stakeholder approval.

Tabletop exercise is incorrect because that approach is discussion based and does not involve moving operations or interrupting production. It is useful for reviewing plans and roles but it does not reproduce an actual outage.

Parallel test is incorrect because it runs recovery systems alongside production without intentionally shutting down the primary environment. It can confirm that systems work at the recovery site but it does not simulate the impact of a real interruption to services.

Hot site activation is incorrect as the single best answer because activating a hot site describes using an alternate facility rather than the named exercise type that deliberately takes production offline. A hot site activation may be a component of a full interruption test but by itself it does not uniquely describe the comprehensive, high risk exercise the question describes.

When a question asks for the exercise that most closely mimics a real outage choose the option that describes intentionally taking production offline and failing over to the recovery site and watch for answers that are discussion based or that run systems in parallel.

All ISC2 questions are from my ISC2 CCSP Udemy course and certificationexams.pro

The correct answer is: Optimizing cloud workload throughput and system performance.

This choice is correct because tuning workload throughput and system performance is an infrastructure and application operations concern and not a primary responsibility of a SIEM. SIEM platforms focus on ingesting, normalizing, correlating, and retaining security telemetry so teams can detect, investigate, and alert on suspicious activity rather than improving application or workload performance.

Centralizing and correlating logs from multiple sources is incorrect because collecting and correlating logs is a core SIEM capability. SIEMs centralize diverse log sources to identify patterns and generate security alerts and reports.

Integrating with Cloud Monitoring and VPC Flow Logs for telemetry is incorrect because modern SIEMs ingest cloud monitoring feeds and VPC Flow Logs to provide visibility into cloud network and host activity. Integration with cloud telemetry is a common and expected SIEM function.

Proactively assessing security trends to detect threats early is incorrect because SIEMs provide analytics, correlation rules, and sometimes machine learning to surface emerging threat patterns and enable proactive detection. Trend analysis and early detection are part of their security use cases.

When you see answers about performance tuning versus security telemetry think about the core SIEM purpose. Favor answers that mention log aggregation, correlation, or threat detection over general system performance.

The correct option is Virtualization.

Virtualization enables a hosting provider to abstract and partition compute storage and networking resources so many tenant workloads can run on the same physical hardware. Hypervisors and virtual machine management provide isolation and resource scheduling which allow elastic scaling and on demand provisioning across tenants.

Software defined networking focuses on separating the network control plane from the forwarding plane to enable programmable network management. That capability improves network flexibility but it does not by itself create the compute and storage abstraction or the VM level isolation required to pool hardware for many tenants.

Container orchestration automates deployment scaling and lifecycle management of containers and it is commonly used on top of virtualized infrastructure. Orchestration coordinates workloads but containers share the host kernel and do not inherently provide the hardware level multi tenant isolation and resource partitioning that virtualization provides.

Google Compute Engine is a specific public cloud compute product and not the underlying technology. It is an example of a service that leverages virtualization to offer pooled and elastic resources rather than the core technology that enables those capabilities.

When a question describes pooling compute storage and networking for many tenants and mentions elastic scaling think about the underlying technology first. Identify whether an option names a general technology like virtualization or a specific product or orchestration tool.

Open source projects is the correct option.

Open source projects publish their source code publicly so developers around the world can inspect, test, and contribute fixes. This transparency and the use of public repositories enable coordinated security reviews, issue reporting, and patch submission from a global community which speeds detection and remediation of vulnerabilities.

Cloud Functions is incorrect because it describes a serverless deployment model or managed service and not a development model that implies community review. The security responsibilities and patching for cloud functions are usually handled by the cloud provider or the application owner rather than a worldwide contributor base.

Proprietary applications is incorrect because proprietary code is closed and controlled by a vendor. Security fixes typically come from that vendor and not from an open, global group of contributors who can freely review and patch the code.

Object oriented programs is incorrect because object orientation is a programming paradigm and not a distribution or collaboration model. Being object oriented does not make a project subject to community review and worldwide patch contributions.

When a question mentions worldwide contributors or community reviews think of projects with publicly available source code. Look for words that imply public repositories or community governance.

The correct answer is Host hypervisor and virtualization layer.

The Host hypervisor and virtualization layer are part of the physical infrastructure that the cloud vendor controls across IaaS PaaS and SaaS. The vendor owns the physical hosts and the hypervisor that runs virtual machines and enforces tenant isolation, and those responsibilities do not shift to the customer in any service model.

Virtual networking and routing is not correct because networking responsibility can vary by model. In some models the provider manages the underlying physical network but customers often configure and manage virtual networks, routing tables, and security rules especially in IaaS.

Managed database services is not correct because that is a platform level service that the vendor provides in PaaS or managed service offerings, but customers can run and manage their own databases in IaaS, so responsibility is not always retained by the vendor.

Persistent block and object storage is not correct because while the vendor supplies and maintains the storage hardware, customers are responsible for the data, its configuration, and often encryption or backup choices depending on the service model.

Focus on the shared responsibility model and identify what is always part of the provider controlled hardware. Pay attention to words like host and hypervisor because they usually point to vendor responsibility across IaaS PaaS and SaaS.

The correct answer is Design and architecture phase.

During the Design and architecture phase formal requirements for risk mitigation are translated into concrete architecture decisions and detailed design specifications. This phase is where threat modeling is performed and specific security controls and data flow protections are chosen so that developers and testers have clear, implementable guidance.

Capturing mitigation requirements in the Design and architecture phase ensures security is built into the system rather than added later. The design documents define component responsibilities, trust boundaries, and assurance activities that guide secure implementation and verification.

Development phase is incorrect because that phase focuses on writing code and unit testing. Developers implement the design and apply secure coding practices, but the formal specification of mitigations belongs in the prior design work.

Maintenance and operations phase is incorrect because that phase addresses ongoing support, patching, and monitoring. It is intended for fixes and operational controls rather than for first integrating formal mitigation requirements into the program design.

Requirements analysis and feasibility phase is incorrect because that phase gathers stakeholder needs and assesses whether the project is viable. It sets high level security goals but does not convert those goals into the concrete design decisions and controls that are produced during the architecture phase.

When you see SDLC questions focus on where abstract requirements become concrete plans. The Design and architecture stage is the point where risk mitigations are specified and documented for implementation.

Data anonymization techniques is the correct strategy to prioritize to protect personal data and ensure regulatory compliance.

Data anonymization techniques reduce the risk of reidentification by removing or transforming direct and indirect identifiers so sensitive records can be processed or analyzed with lower exposure. Properly designed anonymization that is demonstrably irreversible can reduce the scope of many privacy obligations and help meet regulatory requirements for handling personal data.

Data anonymization techniques include masking, tokenization, aggregation, generalization, and advanced methods such as differential privacy and synthetic data generation. The choice of technique should follow a risk assessment and testing to ensure the data cannot be reidentified in the intended use scenarios.

Regular backup and retention strategy is important for recovery and durability but it does not remove personal identifiers or reduce regulatory obligations. Backups can actually increase exposure unless they are encrypted and access controlled, so this is a supporting control rather than the primary privacy strategy.

VPC Service Controls provide network perimeter protections and can prevent unauthorized API access and data exfiltration, but they do not anonymize or deidentify data. They are useful for limiting access to resources, yet they do not satisfy the requirement to transform or protect personal data itself.

Multi region high availability improves resilience and uptime and it supports business continuity and disaster recovery. It does not address privacy by removing identifiers or reducing the regulatory scope for processing personal data, so it is not the correct prioritized strategy for compliance in this context.

When a question focuses on protecting personal data and meeting privacy laws, favor answers that transform or remove identifiers. Also check that anonymization is appropriate and irreversible for the use case and pair it with encryption and strict access controls.

Denial of service is correct because it appears on the Cloud Safety Consortium’s list of twelve critical cloud threats and it is not included in the OWASP Top 10.

Denial of service attacks focus on availability and are especially relevant in cloud environments where shared infrastructure and scaling mechanisms can be abused to disrupt services. The cloud threat list calls out availability risks like this because they represent a distinct class of operational and infrastructure level threats that the OWASP Top 10 does not emphasize.

Injection is incorrect because it is a classic application layer flaw and it is explicitly included in the OWASP Top 10.

Sensitive data exposure is incorrect because it maps to data protection risks that OWASP covers under the Top 10 and it deals with confidentiality rather than the availability emphasis of a denial of service threat.

Broken access control is incorrect because it is listed in the OWASP Top 10 and it concerns authorization and privilege enforcement rather than service availability.

When a question compares cloud threat lists with the OWASP Top Ten, think about the security property targeted. If the choice affects availability it is more likely to be a cloud infrastructure threat and not in the OWASP Top Ten.

Identity providers is the correct option. These services are presented as systems that create, store, and authenticate user identities and they act as the authoritative source for user credentials and attributes.

The listed examples such as Fabrikam Active Directory Domain Services, Fabrikam Cloud Identity, Google Cloud Identity, and Nimbus Directory Service are all directory or identity management services that provide authentication, user lifecycle management, single sign on, and token issuance. That behavior is characteristic of Identity providers and distinguishes them from services that only enforce policy or provide integration endpoints.

Cloud access security broker is incorrect because a cloud access security broker focuses on enforcing security policies between users and cloud services rather than being the authoritative system that issues authentication tokens and manages user identities.

Federated identity mechanisms is incorrect because federation describes a method for linking identities across domains rather than a category of services that host and manage the identity store and perform authentication. The listed services act as identity hosts rather than being only federation protocols or mechanisms.

APIs for application integration is incorrect because those APIs provide programmatic connectivity and integration points for applications. They are not primarily responsible for storing user directories or performing authentication as an identity provider does.

When choices include services that manage user accounts, authentication, and token issuance pick Identity providers and rule out options that describe enforcement tools or integration layers.

Geographic location and legal jurisdiction of the data center is the correct choice because the jurisdiction governs which laws apply and which authorities can compel access to data.

The geographic location and legal jurisdiction of the data center dictates data sovereignty requirements and cross border transfer rules and it determines how privacy laws and law enforcement requests will be handled. Those legal and regulatory factors can override technical and physical protections and they therefore have the largest impact on the security and confidentiality of payment data.

Geographic location and legal jurisdiction of the data center should be confirmed first through contractual commitments and compliance documentation and then you should validate physical and operational controls during audits and assessments.

Power resilience and environmental controls at the facility are important for availability and hardware protection but they do not address who can lawfully access or seize data under local law. That makes them secondary when choosing a single most important factor.

Network bandwidth capacity available at the site is primarily a performance and capacity consideration and not a core physical security or legal control for protecting payment data.

On site access controls and continuous surveillance systems are critical operational controls for preventing unauthorized entry and tampering and they must be verified. They are not the single top priority because even strong on site controls cannot prevent lawful government access under the governing jurisdiction.

Prioritize checking the vendor’s legal jurisdiction and contractual data residency commitments first and then validate physical, power, and surveillance controls during the on site assessment.

The correct option is Handshake protocol and record protocol.

The TLS architecture is split into a handshake layer and a record layer. The handshake layer negotiates the cipher suite, authenticates peers, and establishes shared cryptographic keys. The record layer fragments and optionally compresses data, and then provides confidentiality and integrity for the bytes that are sent and received using the negotiated keys and algorithms.

Cloud Load Balancing is not a TLS protocol layer. It is a load balancing product and has nothing to do with the internal protocol layers of TLS.

Record protocol and data protocol is incorrect because the TLS specification does not define a separate “data protocol” layer. The record layer carries application data, but the standard name for the other TLS layer is the handshake protocol.

Transport protocol and record protocol is incorrect because the transport protocol such as TCP sits below TLS and is not one of TLS internal layers. TLS operates on top of a transport protocol and provides the record and handshake protocols above it.

Remember the exact terms from the TLS specification and RFCs. Focus on handshake for negotiation and key exchange and record for fragmentation and protection of the transmitted bytes.

All ISC2 questions are from my ISC2 CCSP Udemy course and certificationexams.pro

The correct answer is Platform as a Service (PaaS).

Platform as a Service provides managed runtimes, middleware, and developer tools so engineering teams can focus on writing and deploying code rather than on provisioning or maintaining servers. It abstracts provisioning, patching, and many networking details so distributed teams can move quickly while the platform handles operational concerns.

Platform as a Service commonly offers built in scaling, integrated data and monitoring services, and deployment pipelines which simplify expanding into new regions and keep teams productive without deep infrastructure work.

Containers as a Service emphasizes container hosting and orchestration which still requires managing clusters, node configurations, and orchestration details. That makes it less suitable when the goal is to fully shield developers from infrastructure management.

Software as a Service delivers complete applications to end users and does not provide the development platform or deployment control that engineering teams need to build and run their own software.

Infrastructure as a Service gives raw virtual machines, storage, and networking which forces teams to manage operating systems, middleware, and scaling. That contradicts the requirement to hide infrastructure management and enable developers to move fast.

When a question asks to hide infrastructure management and speed developer delivery look for PaaS features such as managed runtimes, built in scaling, and integrated deployment services.

Delivering continuous real time compliance visibility so the team can monitor continuously and react quickly to deviations or regulatory updates is correct because automated compliance monitoring gives persistent oversight across dynamic cloud environments and it enables the compliance team to detect drift and respond faster to changes in controls or regulations.

Continuous monitoring tools collect and correlate telemetry and configuration data in near real time so the team can prioritize issues, create evidence for audits, and implement automated alerts or remediation. This improves the speed of detection and reduces the window of exposure when cloud services or regulatory requirements change rapidly.

Automated monitoring also supports consistent control checks and repeatable evidence collection which strengthens audit readiness and reduces compliance risk over time. The main advantage is the visibility and responsiveness that comes from continuous assessment rather than relying only on periodic manual reviews.

Ensuring flawless compliance with every regulation and eliminating any chance of noncompliance is wrong because no tool can guarantee perfect compliance. Regulations are subject to interpretation and change, and human governance and policy decisions remain essential.

Cloud Security Command Center is incorrect in this context because it names a specific product rather than stating the core advantage of automation. A product name does not capture the general benefit of continuous, real time compliance visibility across cloud environments.

Reducing the number of manual tasks for routine compliance checks and boosting the productivity of the compliance staff is a true benefit of automation but it is not the primary advantage asked for in the question. Productivity gains are important but they follow from the larger capability of continuous monitoring and faster response.

When an answer promises perfect compliance it is usually incorrect. Look for choices that describe continuous or real time visibility and the ability to detect and respond to changes across cloud environments.

The correct option is Artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence is the broad field that includes methods such as machine learning and deep learning which are used to analyze very large datasets and to discover recurring patterns and trends in the information. AI systems combine algorithms, statistical models, and computational power to extract patterns, make predictions, and automate decisions based on those recurring trends.

Machine learning is a key subset of AI and it refers specifically to the algorithms and models that learn from data. It is not marked as the correct choice here because the question names the overarching technology that encompasses those learning methods.

BigQuery is a cloud data warehouse and query service. It is used to store, manage, and analyze very large datasets and it can supply data to learning systems, but it is not itself the learning technology that discovers patterns in the conceptual sense used by the question.

Edge device networks describe architectures where devices process or collect data near the source. They can run models or collect training data but they are not the core technology that performs large scale pattern discovery across datasets by themselves.

When a question asks about systems that learn from large datasets look for the broadest technology that includes specific methods like algorithms and models.

The correct answer is Adopting cloud platforms commonly delivers greater scalability and improved performance compared with private data centers.

Cloud providers run large, geographically distributed infrastructures and offer features such as autoscaling, managed load balancing, content delivery networks and specialized hardware. These capabilities let applications handle large and variable demand more easily and often provide better latency and throughput than a single privately owned data center.

Cloud platforms also enable rapid provisioning and elastic capacity, and they provide managed services for databases, caches and analytics that improve performance without the long procurement and deployment cycles required for on premise infrastructure.

Moving to the cloud will always reduce overall costs is incorrect because cost outcomes depend on workload characteristics, architecture choices and operating practices. Poorly optimized cloud deployments, high data egress, and licensing or managed service fees can make cloud more expensive than on premise for some use cases.

On-premise and cloud deployments expose organizations to exactly the same security risks is incorrect because the risk profiles differ. Cloud changes which controls the provider manages and which the customer manages, and it introduces risks around misconfiguration, identity and API access that are not identical to traditional physical security and hardware risks.

Transitioning to cloud platforms completely removes security vulnerabilities is incorrect because no platform eliminates all vulnerabilities. Cloud providers secure the underlying infrastructure, but customers remain responsible for securing their data, configurations and access. The shared responsibility model means vulnerabilities can still arise from application code, misconfiguration and user access.

When an answer uses absolute words such as always or completely it is usually wrong. Prefer answers that describe typical cloud strengths like scalability and elasticity rather than guaranteed outcomes.

Store is correct because security controls should be applied when data is first written to persistent cloud storage.

At the Store stage data becomes durable and accessible beyond the moment of creation and that is when you apply persistent protections. Examples of those protections include encryption at rest, storage level access controls, identity and access management policies, and retention and backup controls. Applying controls at storage reduces the risk surface for all later stages of the lifecycle.

Create is incorrect because it refers to the moment data is generated or collected and it can be transient. While some protections may start at creation the first durable enforcement and long term protections occur when the data is stored.

Use is incorrect because it describes processing and consumption of data after it is stored. Controls at use are important for runtime access and monitoring but they build on the protections applied at store.

Google Cloud Storage is incorrect because it names a specific cloud storage service rather than a lifecycle stage. The question asks which stage of the data lifecycle requires controls first and not which product to use.

When a question asks about the first point to protect cloud data look for the stage where data becomes persistent and accessible. That stage is often Store because permanent protections like encryption and access policies are applied there.

Software as a Service is the correct option because the described productivity suite is hosted and run entirely by the vendor and users simply access the application over the public internet with nothing installed on their workstations.

The scenario matches the hallmark of a SaaS offering where the vendor manages the application software and the underlying servers and platform and provides access to end users via the internet. This removes the need for local installation or for the customer to manage operating systems, middleware, or runtime environments.

Platform as a Service is incorrect because PaaS provides a managed platform for developers to deploy and run their own applications while the customer remains responsible for the application code. The vendor would not be delivering a complete, ready to use end user productivity application in a PaaS model.

Container as a Service is incorrect because CaaS gives customers tools to deploy and manage containers and container orchestration. That model exposes container management to the customer and is not the same as a fully managed end user application delivered over the internet.

Infrastructure as a Service is incorrect because IaaS supplies virtualized compute, storage, and networking resources while the customer manages the operating systems and applications. In the described case the vendor manages the application and the underlying infrastructure so it is not IaaS.

When you see that the vendor manages the application and everything underneath and users access the software through the internet with nothing installed locally it is a strong sign of SaaS.

The correct option is Infrastructure as a Service.

Infrastructure as a Service gives customers control over virtual machines and the guest operating systems and runtimes. That control means the tenant must install operating system updates and apply runtime patches while the cloud provider manages the underlying physical hosts networking and storage.

Under the shared responsibility model the provider secures the infrastructure and the customer secures the guest environment and applications. That is why patching the OS and runtimes falls to the tenant with Infrastructure as a Service.

Software as a Service is incorrect because the provider delivers and manages the application and the entire underlying stack so the customer does not handle OS or runtime patching.

Desktop as a Service is incorrect because it provides managed virtual desktops and the provider typically maintains the desktop OS and runtime patches for the tenant.

Platform as a Service is incorrect because the platform vendor manages the operating system and runtime environment so the customer focuses on application code and configuration rather than OS patching.

When a question asks who patches the operating system think about who controls the virtual machines and choose Infrastructure as a Service when the tenant manages VMs and the guest OS.

The correct answer is Making a physical copy of the encryption keys and locking it in a secure safe.

This option is not considered one of the three common approaches to store encryption keys in a cloud deployment because it is an offline, manual method that does not align with cloud automation, availability, or key lifecycle management. Cloud deployments expect keys to be accessible to services and to support automated rotation and auditing, and a physical safe breaks those operational models even though it can be used for long term cold backups in rare circumstances.

Keeping the keys on the same compute instance that runs the encryption engine is a common approach for simple deployments because it minimizes latency and operational complexity. It is less secure than other options because if the instance is compromised the keys are exposed, but it is still one of the three typical patterns.

Cloud Key Management Service is a standard managed option offered by cloud providers that centralizes key storage and lifecycle features and integrates with identity and access controls. This is a primary cloud pattern and is widely used for production workloads.

Hosting keys on a separate host within the same network segment is also a common pattern because it provides separation between the encryption engine and the key store. Organizations may run a dedicated key server or customer managed HSM on a separate host to improve isolation and control while still operating within the cloud network.

When deciding which choice is not a cloud approach think about what supports automation and availability rather than manual, physical processes that break cloud operations.

Quantitative risk assessment is correct because the question calls out numeric metrics such as single loss expectancy SLE annual rate of occurrence ARO and annual loss expectancy ALE which are the core measures used in a quantitative approach.

A quantitative risk assessment calculates numeric values to estimate potential losses. SLE is the monetary loss from a single event and is typically computed as asset value multiplied by an exposure factor. ARO is the expected frequency of the event in a year. ALE is the product of SLE and ARO and gives an annualized expected loss which helps prioritize risks and justify controls.

Threat modeling is incorrect because threat modeling focuses on identifying assets threats attack paths and mitigations rather than producing numeric loss estimates like SLE ARO and ALE.

Qualitative risk assessment is incorrect because a qualitative approach uses descriptive rankings such as high medium and low to assess likelihood and impact instead of calculating numeric loss values.

Cost benefit analysis is incorrect because it compares the costs of controls to their expected benefits and may use monetary figures but it is not the standard term for the risk evaluation method that specifically uses SLE ARO and ALE which is quantitative risk assessment.

When a question mentions SLE ARO or ALE choose the quantitative approach because those abbreviations are the classic numeric metrics used to calculate expected losses.

The correct option is Using a single shared engineering login for all developers.

This practice is least effective because it removes individual accountability and prevents accurate auditing of actions in the SDLC. Shared credentials make it difficult to trace who made specific changes and they increase the risk of credential compromise. They also work against strong controls like unique identities, multifactor authentication, and role based access which are important for secure development workflows.

Integrating automated security scans into the CI CD pipeline is not correct because automated scans help find vulnerabilities early in the development process and they enable a shift left approach. Scans such as static analysis, dependency checks, and dynamic tests reduce the chance of defects reaching production.

Granting developers and operators only the minimum permissions they need is not correct because the principle of least privilege reduces the attack surface and limits the blast radius of any compromised account. Limiting permissions is a foundational access control practice for securing an SDLC.

Providing regular hands on security training for the development team is not correct because training increases secure coding skills and awareness of common threats. Practical exercises help developers apply security controls and reduce the likelihood of introducing vulnerabilities.

When a question asks which practice is least effective look for choices that remove individual accountability or violate least privilege. Those are often the correct answers.

Determine the plan scope is the first activity to perform when preparing a business continuity and disaster recovery plan.

Determining the plan scope establishes which business units systems processes and locations will be included and it sets the objectives priorities and boundaries for the planning effort. With the scope defined you can identify which functions are critical set recovery time objectives and focus the business impact analysis on the right areas rather than trying to analyze everything at once.

Conduct a business impact analysis is an essential step but it normally follows scope definition because the BIA must be targeted to the systems and functions that fall inside the agreed scope.

Collect stakeholder requirements is important and it often happens early in the project but gathering requirements is usually done as part of or immediately after scoping because you need the scope to know which stakeholders to engage and what information to collect.

Develop test and recovery procedures is a later activity that comes after you have defined scope completed the BIA and drafted the plan. Procedures are created and refined once priorities recovery objectives and resources are known.

When you see a question about the first step think about what frames the entire project. Defining the scope sets boundaries and focuses all subsequent activities.

All ISC2 questions are from my ISC2 CCSP Udemy course and certificationexams.pro

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is the correct choice for MaplePay.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) gives the startup control of virtual machines, storage, networking and the operating system so the firm can implement fine grained encryption, access controls, logging and data residency policies that are critical for customer financial records. The cloud provider remains responsible for the physical datacenter, the hardware and the virtualization layer, which keeps the provider operations minimal while preserving customer control.

With IaaS MaplePay can scale compute and storage independently and choose specialized VM types, custom images and security tooling. That flexibility and customization capability make it a better fit for an emerging payments platform than more managed service models.

Platform as a Service (PaaS) is incorrect because it abstracts the operating system and runtime and therefore reduces the ability to perform low level configuration and host level security controls that a payments firm may require.

Anthos is incorrect because it is a Google Cloud hybrid management platform for running and managing containers across environments and not a fundamental cloud service model. It operates on top of IaaS or managed Kubernetes and does not by itself define the level of infrastructure control needed for this requirement.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is incorrect because the provider manages the application and the underlying data stores, which gives the least control over customer records and limits deep customization and host level security configurations.

When a question emphasizes strong control over data and fine grained customization pick IaaS since it provides OS level access while the provider manages only hardware and virtualization.

Providing tamper resistant key generation and hardware backed cryptographic key storage is correct because hardware security modules are designed to generate and store cryptographic keys inside tamper resistant hardware and to perform cryptographic operations without exposing key material.

HSMs create keys in a protected environment and they keep keys in hardware that resists extraction and tampering. They commonly have validations such as FIPS 140 2 and FIPS 140 3 and they can provide attestation and strict role separation which auditors and regulators expect for strong key custody and cryptographic protection.

Delivering multi region failover and redundancy to maintain service continuity is not an HSM capability. That option describes availability and disaster recovery design which is handled by replication and architecture rather than by cryptographic hardware.

Routing incoming traffic among instances with Google Cloud Load Balancing is a networking and traffic management service. It does not provide tamper resistant key generation or hardware backed key storage which are the central features of an HSM.

Enforcing physical data center entry restrictions and badge access controls are physical facility controls. They support overall security but they do not provide the cryptographic key generation and hardware backed custody that HSMs deliver.

When questions ask about cryptographic protection and compliance look for answers that mention tamper resistant key generation or hardware backed key custody and deprioritize options that describe availability or network functions.

The correct answer is iSCSI.

iSCSI delivers block level storage by encapsulating SCSI commands in TCP and it runs over standard IP networks so it is widely adopted for enterprise virtual servers and SANs. It supports initiator and target roles and integrates with hypervisors so virtual machines can boot from and store data on remote block devices while using existing Ethernet infrastructure. Implementations commonly use TCP port 3260 and can use CHAP for optional authentication.

Fibre Channel is incorrect because it is a block level transport that normally runs over dedicated Fibre Channel networks rather than over IP. That makes it a SAN technology but not the protocol that delivers block storage over IP networks.

CHAP is incorrect because it is an authentication protocol used by iSCSI and other services. It does not carry storage traffic and it is not a block storage transport.

SMB is incorrect because it is a file level network file sharing protocol and it does not provide block level storage over IP.

When a question asks for block level storage over IP remember that iSCSI encapsulates SCSI over TCP and is the common SAN choice for virtual servers.

The correct answer is Creation or ingestion stage.

Creation or ingestion stage is when data first enters the cloud environment and that is when SSL and TLS should be applied. SSL and TLS provide encryption in transit and they protect data as it moves from the client or source into cloud services so interception or tampering during the initial transfer is prevented.

Creation or ingestion stage should be the earliest point of defense for transport security. Later controls such as encryption at rest and access controls are still necessary but they do not replace the need for transport level protection at ingestion.

Consumption stage refers to when users or applications access data after it has been stored or processed. Securing data at consumption is important but it does not ensure the data was protected when it first entered the environment.

Storage stage covers data at rest and the controls for that stage involve encryption at rest and access policies. SSL and TLS are transport protections and they do not secure data while it is stored, so storage is not the correct stage for SSL/TLS when data first arrives.

Sharing stage deals with distribution of data between users or systems after the data is already in the environment. Transport protections may be used during sharing as well but the question asks about securing data when it first enters and that is the ingestion point.

When a question asks about protecting data when it first enters the cloud think in transit and look for options that mention ingestion or creation rather than storage or consumption.