CCSP Sample Questions Answers

An SOC 1 is a report on controls at a service organization that may be relevant to a user entity’s internal control over financial reporting. An SOC 2 report is based on the existing SysTrust and WebTrust principles. The purpose of an SOC 2 report is to evaluate an organization’s information systems relevant to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, or privacy. An SOC 3 report is also based on the existing SysTrust and WebTrust principles, like a SOC 2 report. The difference is that the SOC 3 report does not detail the testing performed.

The cloud service business manager is responsible for overseeing business and billing administration, purchasing cloud services, and requesting audit reports when necessary

Potential clients are not served by SOC Type 1 audits. A Type 2 or Type 3 report would be appropriate for potential clients. SOC Type 1 reports are intended for restricted use, where only the service organization itself, current clients, or auditors would have access to them.

While hard drives may be useful in the kit (for instance, if they store BC/DR data such as inventory lists, baselines, and patches), they are not necessarily required. All the other items should be included.

DRM applies to the protection of consumer media, such as music, publications, video, movies, and soon.

Cloud environments lack the ability to physically separate resources like a traditional data center can. To compensate, cloud computing logical segregation concepts are employed. These include VLANs, sandboxing, and the use of virtual network devices such as firewalls.

The main problem when it comes to data discovery is the quality of the data that analysis is being performed against. Data that is malformed, incorrectly stored or labeled, or incomplete makes it very difficult to use analytical tools against.

Regardless of which cloud-hosting model is used, the cloud customer always has sole responsibility for the data and its security.

Authentication is the process of proving whether the identity presented by a user is true and valid. This can be done through common mechanisms such as user ID and password combinations or with more secure methods such as multifactor authentication.

Representational State Transfer (REST) uses TLS for communication over secured channels. Although REST also supports SSL, at this point SSL has been phased out due to vulnerabilities and has been replaced by TLS.

SAS-70 reports were replaced in 2011 with the SSAE-16 reports throughout the industry.

Integrity is focused on the trustworthiness of data as well as the prevention of unauthorized modification or tampering of it. A prime consideration for maintaining integrity is an emphasis on the change management and configuration management aspects of operations, so that all modifications are predictable, tracked, logged, and verified, whether they are performed by actual human users or systems processes and scripts.

Firewalls take into account source IP, destination IP, the port the traffic is using, as well as the network protocol (UDP/TCP). Whether or not the traffic is encrypted is not something a firewall is concerned with.

The recovery service level (RSL) is a percentage measure of the total typical production service level that needs to be restored to meet BCDR objectives in the case of a failure.

The main goal of confidentiality is to ensure that sensitive information is not made available or leaked to parties that should not have access to it, while at the same time ensuring that those with appropriate need and authorization to access it can do so in a manner commensurate with their needs and confidentiality requirements.

Any application can be a possible target of denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. From the application side, the developers should minimize how many operations are performed for non-authenticated users. This will keep the application running as quickly as possible and using the least amount of system resources to help minimize the impact of any such attacks.

Because the public cloud model is available to everyone, in most instances all a customer will need to do to gain access is set up an account and provide a credit card number through the service's web portal. No additional contract negotiations, agreements, or specific group memberships are typically needed to get started.

Over time, maintaining the ability to restore and read archives is a primary concern for data archiving. As technologies change and new systems are brought in, it is imperative for an organization to ensure they are still able to restore and access archives for the duration of the required retention period.

Reversibility is the ability for a cloud customer to easily remove their applications or data from a cloud environment, as well as to ensure that all traces of their applications or data have been securely removed per a predefined agreement with the cloud provider.

A cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attack forces a client that a user has used to authenticate to an application to send forged requests under the user's own credentials to execute commands and requests that the application thinks are coming from a trusted client and user. Although this type of attack cannot be used to steal data directly because the attacker has no way of seeing the results of the commands, it does open other ways to compromise an application. Missing function-level access control exists where an application only checks for authorization during the initial login process and does not further validate with each function call. Cross-site scripting occurs when an attacker is able to send untrusted data to a user's browser without going through validation processes. An injection attack is where a malicious actor sends commands or other arbitrary data through input and data fields with the intent of having the application or system execute the code as part of its normal processing and queries.

Auditing, which can be supported to varying degrees by DLP solutions, is not a core component of them. Data loss prevention (DLP) solutions have core components of discovery and classification, enforcement, and monitoring. Discovery and classification are concerned with determining which data should be applied to the DLP policies, and then determining its classification level. Monitoring is concerned with the actual watching of data and how it's used through its various stages. Enforcement is the actual application of policies determined from the discovery stage and then triggered during the monitoring stage.

The create phase encompasses any time data is created, imported, or modified. With any change in the content or value of data, the classification may also change. It must be continually reevaluated to ensure proper security. During the use, share, and archive phases, the data is not modified in any way, so the original classification is still relevant.

When leasing space in a data center versus utilizing cloud services, a customer has a much greater control over its systems and services, from both the hardware/software perspective and the operational management perspective. Costs, regulations, and security are all prime considerations regardless of the hosting type selected. Although regulations will be the same in either hosting solution, in most instances, costs and security will be greater factors with leased space.

The question is describing the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud offering, and as such, the volume and object storage types will be available to the customer. Structured and unstructured are storage types associated with PaaS, and although the other answers present similar-sounding storage types, they are a mix of real and fake names.

To monitor data in transit, a DLP solution would optimally be installed at the network perimeter, to ensure that data leaving the network through various protocols conforms to security controls and policies. An application server or a web server would be more appropriate for monitoring data in use, and a database server would be an example of a location appropriate for monitoring data at rest.

SOC Type 1 reports are intended for restricted use, only to be seen by the actual service organization, its current clients, or its auditors. These reports are not intended for wider or public distribution.SAS-70 audit reports have been deprecated and are no longer in use, and both the SOC Type 2 and 3 reports are designed to expand upon the SOC Type 1 reports and are for broader audiences.

During the data-in-use state, the information has already been accessed from storage and transmitted to the service, so reliance on a technology such as digital signatures is imperative to ensure security and complement the security methods used during previous states. Data in transit relies on technologies such as TLS to encrypt network transmission of packets for security. Data at rest primarily uses encryption for stored file objects. Archived data would be the same as data at rest.

With multitenancy, multiple customers share the same physical hardware and systems. With the nature of a cloud environment and how it writes data across diverse systems that are shared by others, the process of eDiscovery becomes much more complicated. Administrators cannot pull physical drives or easily isolate which data to capture. They not only have to focus on which data they need to collect, while ensuring they find all of it, but they also have to make sure that other data is not accidently collected and exposed along with it. Measured service is the aspect of a cloud where customers only pay for the services they are actually using, and for the duration of their use. Portability refers to the ease with which an application or service can be moved among different cloud providers. Broad network access refers to the nature of cloud services being accessed via the public Internet, either with or without secure tunneling technologies. None of these concepts would pertain to eDiscovery.

No matter what form they come in, "services" are obtained or purchased by a cloud customer from a cloud service provider. Services can come in many forms--virtual machines, network configurations, hosting setups, and software access, just to name a few. Hosting and servers--or, with a cloud, more appropriately virtual machines--are just two examples of "services" that a customer would purchase from a cloud provider. "Customers" would never be a service that's purchased.

A reservation guarantees to a cloud customer that they will have access to a minimal level of resources to run their systems, which will help mitigate against DoS attacks or systems that consume high levels of resources. A reservation pertains to memory and CPU resources. Under the concept of a reservation, memory and CPU are the guaranteed resources, but storage and networking are not included even though they are core components of cloud computing. Software would be out of scope for a guarantee and doesn't really pertain to the concept.

Data loss prevention (DLP) extends the capabilities for data protection beyond the standard and traditional security controls that are offered by operating systems, application containers, and network devices. DLP is not specifically implemented to counter malicious insiders, and would not be particularly effective in doing so, because a malicious insider with legitimate access would have other ways to obtain data. DLP is a set of practices and controls to manage and minimize risk, comply with regulatory requirements, and show due diligence with the protection of data.

Hex GBL is a reference to a computer part in Terry Pratchett’s fictional Discworld universe. The rest are not.

Data that falls under the purview of an eDiscovery request is that which is in the possession, custody, or control of the organization. Although this is an easy concept in a traditional data center, it can be difficult to distinguish who actually possesses and controls the data in a cloud environment due to multitenancy and resource pooling. Although these options provide similar-sounding terms, they are ultimately incorrect.

The CPU and memory resources of an environment together comprise its "computing" resources. Cloud environments, especially public clouds, are enormous pools of resources for computing and are typically divided among a large number of customers with constantly changing needs and demands. Although storage and networking are core components of a cloud environment, they do not comprise its computing core. Software, much like within a traditional data center, is highly subjective based on the application, system, service, or cloud computing model used; however, it is not one of the core cloud components.

Object storage is typically used to house virtual machine images because it is independent from other systems and is focused solely on storage. It is also the most appropriate for handling large individual files. Volume storage, because it is allocated to a specific host, would not be appropriate for the storing of virtual images. Structured and unstructured are storage types specific to PaaS and would not be used for storing items used throughout a cloud environment.

Vendor documentation from the manufacturer of the physical hardware is the best source of best practices for securing the BIOS.

Limits are put in place to enforce a maximum on the amount of memory or processing a cloud customer can use. This can be done either on a virtual machine or as a comprehensive whole for a customer, and is meant to ensure that enormous cloud resources cannot be allocated or consumed by a single host or customer to the detriment of other hosts and customers.

Security misconfigurations occur when applications and systems are not properly configured or maintained in a secure manner. This can be caused from a shortcoming in security baselines or configurations, unauthorized changes to system configurations, or a failure to patch and upgrade systems as the vendor releases security patches.

BIOS is the firmware that governs the physical initiation and boot up of a piece of hardware. If it is compromised, an attacker could have access to hosted systems and make configurations changes to expose or disable some security elements on the system.

Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, data custodians are assumed and expected to have full and comprehensive knowledge of the internal design and architecture of their systems. In a cloud environment, especially with PaaS and SaaS, it is impossible for the data custodian to have this knowledge because those systems are controlled by the cloud provider and protected as proprietary knowledge.

The infrastructure service capability gives the cloud customer substantial control in provisioning and configuring resources, including processing, storage, and network resources.

Under the SOC guidelines, when any of the four principles other than security are being audited, which includes availability, confidentiality, processing integrity, and privacy, the security principle must also be included with the audit.

Some regulations may require specific security controls or certifications be used for hosting certain types of data or functions, and in some circumstances they may be requirements that are unable to be met by any cloud provider.

The guidelines from ASHRAE establish 40-60 percent relative humidity as optimal for a data center.

With multitenancy, eDiscovery becomes more complicated because the data collection involves extra steps to ensure that only those customers or systems that are within scope are turned over to the requesting authority.

The AICPA is the organization responsible for generating and maintaining what are the Generally Accepted Accounting Practices in the United States.

The contract should include requirements for notification by the cloud provider to the cloud customer upon the receipt of such an order. This serves a few important purposes. First, it keeps communication and trust open between the cloud provider and cloud customers. Second, and more importantly, it allows the cloud customer to potentially challenge the order if they feel they have the grounds or desire to do so.

With multiple tenants within the same hosting environment, any failure to properly classify data may lead to potential exposure to other customers and applications within the same environment.

Modifying the metadata does not change the actual data. Although this initial phase is called "create," it can also refer to modification. In essence, any time data is considered "new," it is in the create phase. This can come from data that is newly created, data that is imported into a system and is new to that system, or data that is already present and is modified into a new form or value.

A reservation guarantees to a cloud customer that they will have access to a minimal level of resources to run their systems, which will help mitigate against DoS attacks or systems that consume high levels of resources. A limit refers to the enforcement of a maximum level of resources that can be consumed by or allocated to a cloud customer, service, or system. Both guarantee and assurance are terms that sound similar to reservation, but they are not correct choices.

Within IaaS, where the cloud customer is responsible for everything beyond the physical network, the number of users on a system would not be a factor in billing or service charges. The core cloud services for IaaS are based on the memory, storage, and CPU requirements of the cloud customer. Because the cloud customer with IaaS is responsible for its own images and deployments, these components comprise the basis of its cloud provisioning and measured services billing.

Due to the lack of an adequate privacy law or protection at the federal level in the United States, European privacy regulations generally prohibit the exporting or sharing of PII from Europe with the United States. Participation in the Safe Harbor program is voluntary on behalf of an organization, but it does require them to conform to specific requirements and policies that mirror those from the EU. Thus, organizations can fulfill requirements for data sharing and export and possibly serve customers in the EU.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires the U.S. Federal Department of Health and Human Services to publish and enforce regulations pertaining to electronic health records and identifiers between patients, providers, and insurance companies. It is focused on the security controls and confidentiality of medical records, rather than the specific technologies used, so long as they meet the requirements of the regulations.

The cloud service broker is responsible for obtaining new customers, analyzing the marketplace, and securing contracts and agreements.

Virtual private networks (VPNs) are commonly used to allow access into trust zones. Via a VPN, access can be controlled and logged and only allowed through secure channels by authorized users. It also adds an additional layer of encryption and protection to communications.

Reversibility is the cloud concept involving the ability for a cloud customer to remove all of its data and IT assets from a cloud provider. Also, processes and agreements would be in place with the cloud provider that ensure all removals have been completed fully within the agreed upon timeframe. Portability refers to the ability to easily move between different cloud providers and not be locked into a specific one. Removability and extraction are both provided as terms similar to reversibility, but neither is the official term or concept.

Sandboxing involves the segregation and isolation of information or processes from other information or processes within the same system or application, typically for security concerns. Sandboxing is generally used for data isolation (for example, keeping different communities and populations of users isolated from others with similar data). In IT terminology, pooling typically means bringing together and consolidating resources or services, not segregating or separating them. Cell blocking and fencing are both erroneous terms.

The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) forms the basis of virtually all directory services, regardless of the specific vendor or software package.WS is a protocol for information exchange between two systems and does not actually store the data. ADFS is a Windows component for enabling single sign-on for the operating system and applications, but it relies on data from an LDAP server. PKI is used for managing and issuing security certificates.

The use of subcontractors can add risk to the supply chain and should be considered; trusting the provider’s management of their vendors and suppliers (including subcontractors) is important to trusting the provider. Conversely, the customer is not likely to be allowed to review the physical design of the datacenter (or, indeed, even know the exact location of the datacenter) or the personnel security specifics for the provider’s staff. “Redundant uplink grafts” is a nonsense term used as a distractor.

Multifactor authentication systems are composed of something the user knows, has, and/or is, not something the user sends. Multifactor authentication commonly uses something that a user knows, has, and/or is (such as biometrics or features).

IPSec is a protocol for encrypting and authenticating packets during transmission between two parties and can involve any type of device, application, or service. The protocol performs both the authentication and negotiation of security policies between the two parties at the start of the connection and then maintains these policies throughout the lifetime of the connection. TLS operates at the application layer, not the network layer, and is widely used to secure communications between two parties. SSL is similar to TLS but has been deprecated. Although a VPN allows a secure channel for communications into a private network from an outside location, it's not a protocol.

If an organization wants to use a cloud service for BCDR, the location of the cloud hosting becomes a very important security consideration due to regulations and jurisdiction, which could be dramatically different from the organization's normal hosting locations. Availability is a hallmark of any cloud service provider, and likely will not be a prime consideration when an organization is considering using a cloud for BCDR; the same goes for self-service options. Resource pooling is common among all cloud systems and would not be a concern when an organization is dealing with the provisioning of resources during a disaster.

According to “The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing,” in IaaS, “the capability provided to the consumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, and deployed applications; and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls).

A cloud carrier is the intermediary who provides connectivity and transport of cloud services between cloud providers and cloud customers.

Regardless of the cloud service category used, the physical environment is always the sole responsibility of the cloud provider. In many instances, the cloud provider will supply audit reports or some general information about their physical security practices, especially to those customers or potential customers that may have regulatory requirements, but otherwise the cloud customer will have very little insight into the physical environment. With IaaS, the infrastructure is a shared responsibility between the cloud provider and cloud customer. With all cloud service categories, the data and governance are always the sole responsibility of the cloud customer.

SaaS most commonly uses client-side key management. With this type of implementation, the software for doing key management is supplied by the cloud provider, but is hosted and run by the cloud customer. This allows for full integration with the SaaS implementation, but also provides full control to the cloud customer. Although the cloud provider may offer software for performing key management to the cloud customers, with the Infrastructure, Platform, and Desktop as a Service categories, the customers would largely be responsible for their own options and implementations and would not be bound by the offerings from the cloud provider.

The FIPS 140-2 standard pertains to the certification of cryptographic modules and is not a regulatory framework. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) are all regulatory frameworks for sensitive or specialized data.

Conflict of interest is a threat, not a control.

SOC Type 1 reports are considered "restricted use" reports. They are intended for management and stakeholders of an organization, clients of the service organization, and auditors of the organization. They are not intended for release beyond those audiences.

While the main focus of confidentiality revolves around technological requirements or particular security methods, an important and often overlooked aspect of safeguarding data confidentiality is appropriate and comprehensive training for those with access to it. Training should be focused on the safe handling of sensitive information overall, including best practices for network activities as well as physical security of the devices or workstations used to access the application.

The recovery service level (RSL) measures the percentage of operations that would be recovered during a BCDR situation. The recovery point objective (RPO) sets and defines the amount of data an organization must have available or accessible to reach the determined level of operations necessary during a BCDR situation. The recovery time objective (RTO) measures the amount of time necessary to recover operations to meet the BCDR plan. SRE is provided as an erroneous response.

Availability management is focused on making sure system resources, processes, personnel, and toolsets are properly allocated and secured to meet SLA requirements. Continuity management (or business continuity management) is focused on planning for the successful restoration of systems or services after an unexpected outage, incident, or disaster. Configuration management tracks and maintains detailed information about all IT components within an organization. Problem management is focused on identifying and mitigating known problems and deficiencies before they occur.