Pass the ISC Cloud Security CCSP Questions and answers with CertsForce

An intrusion detection system (IDS) is implemented to watch network traffic and operations, using predefined criteria or signatures, and alert administrators if anything suspect is found. An intrusion prevention system (IPS) is similar to an IDS but actually takes action against suspect traffic, whereas an IDS just alerts when it finds anything suspect. A firewall works at the network level and only takes into account IP addresses, ports, and protocols; it does not inspect the traffic for patterns or content. A web application firewall (WAF) works at the application layer and provides additional security via proxying, filtering service requests, or blocking based on additional factors such as the client and requests.

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.

Security misconfigurations occur when applications and systems are not properly configured or maintained in a secure manner. This can be due to 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. Insecure direct object references occur when code references aspects of the infrastructure, especially internal or private systems, and an attacker can use that knowledge to glean more information about the infrastructure. Unvalidated redirects and forwards occur when an application has functions to forward users to other sites, and these functions are not properly secured to validate the data and redirect requests, allowing spoofing for malware or phishing attacks. Sensitive data exposure occurs when an application does not use sufficient encryption and other security controls to protect sensitive application data.

Shares are used within a cloud environment to prioritize resource allocation when customer requests exceed the available resources. Cloud providers utilize shares by assigning a priority score to each customer and allocating resources to those with the highest scores first. Scoring is a component of shares that determines the actual order in which to allocate resources. Neither weighting nor prioritization is the correct term in this case.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) recommends 40 to 60 percent relatively humidity for data centers. None of these options is the recommendation from ASHRAE.

To monitor data at rest appropriately, the DLP solution would be installed on the host system where the data resides. A database server, in some situations, may be an appropriate answer, but the host system is the best answer because a database server is only one example of where data could reside. An application server processes data and typically sits between the data and presentation zones, and as such, does not store data at rest. A network firewall would be more appropriate for data in transit because it is not a place where data would reside.

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.

The inter-cloud provider is responsible for peering with other cloud services and providers, as well as overseeing and managing federations and federated services. A cloud service administrator is responsible for testing, monitoring, and securing cloud services, as well as providing usage reporting and dealing with service problems. The cloud service integrator is responsible for connecting existing systems and services with a cloud. The cloud service business manager is responsible for overseeing the billing, auditing, and purchasing of cloud services.

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

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.

The Uptime Institute publishes the most widely known and used standard for data center topologies and tiers. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) publishes a broad range of fire safety and design standards for many different types of facilities. Building Industry Consulting Services International (BICSI) issues certifications for data center cabling. The International Data Center Authority (IDCA) offers the Infinity Paradigm, which takes a macro-level approach to data center design.

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 to see 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. 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. Cross-site scripting occurs when an attacker is able to send untrusted data to a user's browser without going through validation processes.

In IaaS, the service is bare metal, and the customer has to install the OS and the software; the customer then is responsible for maintaining that OS. In the other models, the provider installs and maintains the OS.

Cryptographic keys should not be stored along with the data they secure, regardless of key length. We don’t split crypto keys or generate redundant keys (doing so would violate the principle of secrecy necessary for keys to serve their purpose).

The lowest level is Level 1, which is self-assessment, Level 2 is an external third-party attestation, and Level 3 is a continuous-monitoring program. Hybridization does not exist as part of the CSA STAR program.