CCSP Practice Questions Free – 50 Exam-Style Questions to Sharpen Your Skills
Are you preparing for the CCSP certification exam? Kickstart your success with our CCSP Practice Questions Free – a carefully selected set of 50 real exam-style questions to help you test your knowledge and identify areas for improvement.
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Below, you will find 50 free CCSP practice questions designed to match the real exam in both difficulty and topic coverage. They’re ideal for self-assessment or final review. You can click on each Question to explore the details.
Many activities within a cloud environment are performed via programmatic means, where complex and distributed operations are handled without the need to perform each step individually.
Which of the following concepts does this describe?
A. Orchestration
B. Provisioning
C. Automation
D. Allocation
Suggested Answer: A
Community Answer: A
Orchestration is the programmatic means of managing and coordinating activities within a cloud environment and allowing for a commensurate level of automation and self-service. Provisioning, allocation, and automation are all components of orchestration, but none refers to the overall concept.
Which aspect of cloud computing would make the use of a cloud the most attractive as a BCDR solution?
A. Interoperability
B. Resource pooling
C. Portability
D. Measured service
Suggested Answer: D
Community Answer: D
Measured service means that costs are only incurred when a cloud customer is actually using cloud services. This is ideal for a business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) solution because it negates the need to keep hardware or resources on standby in case of a disaster. Services can be initiated when needed and without costs unless needed.
Which of the following is NOT one of the main intended goals of a DLP solution?
A. Showing due diligence
B. Preventing malicious insiders
C. Regulatory compliance
D. Managing and minimizing risk
Suggested Answer: B
Community Answer: A
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.
What is the concept of isolating an application from the underlying operating system for testing purposes?
A. Abstracting
B. Application virtualization
C. Hosting
D. Sandboxing
Suggested Answer: B
Community Answer: D
Application virtualization is a software implementation that allows applications and programs to run in an isolated environment rather than directly interacting with the operating system. Sandboxing refers to segregating information or processes for security or testing purposes, but it’s not directly related to isolation from the underlying operating system. Abstracting sounds similar to the correct term but is not pertinent to the question, and hosting is provided as an erroneous answer.
Which one of the following threat types to applications and services involves the sending of requests that are invalid and manipulated through a user's client to execute commands on the application under the user's own credentials?
A. Injection
B. Missing function-level access control
C. Cross-site scripting
D. Cross-site request forgery
Suggested Answer: D
Community Answer: D
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.
Which ITIL component focuses on ensuring that system resources, processes, and personnel are properly allocated to meet SLA requirements?
A. Continuity management
B. Availability management
C. Configuration management
D. Problem management
Suggested Answer: B
Community Answer: B
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.
Which type of cloud model typically presents the most challenges to a cloud customer during the "destroy" phase of the cloud data lifecycle?
A. IaaS
B. DaaS
C. SaaS
D. PaaS
Suggested Answer: C
With many SaaS implementations, data is not isolated to a particular customer but rather is part of the overall application. When it comes to data destruction, a particular challenge is ensuring that all of a customer’s data is completely destroyed while not impacting the data of other customers.
Which of the following roles involves testing, monitoring, and securing cloud services for an organization?
A. Cloud service integrator
B. Cloud service business manager
C. Cloud service user
D. Cloud service administrator
Suggested Answer: D
Community Answer: D
The cloud service administrator is responsible for testing cloud services, monitoring services, administering security for services, providing usage reports on cloud services, and addressing problem reports
What process is used within a clustered system to provide high availability and load balancing?
A. Dynamic balancing
B. Dynamic clustering
C. Dynamic optimization
D. Dynamic resource scheduling
Suggested Answer: D
Community Answer: D
Dynamic resource scheduling (DRS) is used within all clustering systems as the method for clusters to provide high availability, scaling, management, and workload distribution and balancing of jobs and processes. From a physical infrastructure perspective, DRS is used to balance compute loads between physical hosts in a cloud to maintain the desired thresholds and limits on the physical hosts.
From a security perspective, what component of a cloud computing infrastructure represents the biggest concern?
A. Hypervisor
B. Management plane
C. Object storage
D. Encryption
Suggested Answer: B
Community Answer: B
The management plane will have broad administrative access to all host systems throughout an environment; as such, it represents the most pressing security concerns. A compromise of the management plane can directly lead to compromises of any other systems within the environment. Although hypervisors represent a significant security concern to an environment because their compromise would expose any virtual systems hosted within them, the management plane is a better choice in this case because it controls multiple hypervisors. Encryption and object storage both represent lower-level security concerns.
Three central concepts define what type of data and information an organization is responsible for pertaining to eDiscovery.
Which of the following are the three components that comprise required disclosure?
A. Possession, ownership, control
B. Ownership, use, creation
C. Control, custody, use
D. Possession, custody, control
Suggested Answer: D
Community Answer: D
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.
What is the minimum regularity for testing a BCDR plan to meet best practices?
A. Once year
B. Once a month
C. Every six months
D. When the budget allows it
Suggested Answer: A
Community Answer: A
Best practices and industry standards dictate that a BCDR solution should be tested at least once a year, though specific regulatory requirements may dictate more regular testing. The BCDR plan should also be tested whenever a major modification to a system occurs.
Which of the following roles involves overseeing billing, purchasing, and requesting audit reports for an organization within a cloud environment?
A. Cloud service user
B. Cloud service business manager
C. Cloud service administrator
D. Cloud service integrator
Suggested Answer: B
The cloud service business manager is responsible for overseeing business and billing administration, purchasing cloud services, and requesting audit reports when necessary
When beginning an audit, both the system owner and the auditors must agree on various aspects of the final audit report.
Which of the following would NOT be something that is predefined as part of the audit agreement?
A. Size
B. Format
C. Structure
D. Audience
Suggested Answer: A
Community Answer: D
Explanation –
The ultimate size of the audit report is not something that would ever be included in the audit scope or definition. Decisions about the content of the report should be the only factor that drives the ultimate size of the report. The structure, audience, and format of the audit report are all crucial elements that must be defined and agreed upon as part of the audit scope.
Which of the following roles involves the connection and integration of existing systems and services to a cloud environment?
A. Cloud service business manager
B. Cloud service user
C. Cloud service administrator
D. Cloud service integrator
Suggested Answer: D
Community Answer: D
The cloud service integrator is the official role that involves connecting and integrating existing systems and services with a cloud environment. This may involve moving services into a cloud environment, or connecting to external cloud services and capabilities from traditional data center-hosted services.
There are many situations when testing a BCDR plan is appropriate or mandated.
Which of the following would not be a necessary time to test a BCDR plan?
A. After software updates
B. After regulatory changes
C. After major configuration changes
D. Annually
Suggested Answer: B
Community Answer: A
Regulatory changes by themselves would not trigger a need for new testing of a BCDR plan. Any changes necessary for regulatory compliance would be accomplished through configuration changes or software updates, which in turn would then trigger the necessary new testing. Annual testing is crucial to any
BCDR plan. Also, any time major configuration changes or software updates are done, the plan should be evaluated and tested to ensure it is still valid and complete.
Which of the following threat types involves an application that does not validate authorization for portions of itself beyond when the user first enters it?
A. Cross-site request forgery
B. Missing function-level access control
C. Injection
D. Cross-site scripting
Suggested Answer: B
Community Answer: B
It is imperative that applications do checks when each function or portion of the application is accessed to ensure that the user is properly authorized. Without continual checks each time a function is accessed, an attacker could forge requests to access portions of the application where authorization has not been granted. 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. Cross-site request forgery occurs when an attack forces an authenticated user to send forged requests to an application running under their own access and credentials.
DLP solutions can aid in deterring loss due to which of the following?
A. Device failure
B. Randomization
C. Inadvertent disclosure
D. Natural disaster
Suggested Answer: C
Community Answer: C
DLP solutions may protect against inadvertent disclosure. Randomization is a technique for obscuring data, not a risk to data. DLP tools will not protect against risks from natural disasters, or against impacts due to device failure.
Which of the following is NOT a focus or consideration of an internal audit?
A. Certification
B. Design
C. Costs
D. Operational efficiency
Suggested Answer: A
Community Answer: A
In order to obtain and comply with certifications, independent external audits must be performed and satisfied. Although some testing of certification controls can be part of an internal audit, they will not satisfy requirements.
Cloud systems are increasingly used for BCDR solutions for organizations.
What aspect of cloud computing makes their use for BCDR the most attractive?
A. On-demand self-service
B. Measured service
C. Portability
D. Broad network access
Suggested Answer: B
Community Answer: C
Business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) solutions largely sit idle until they are actually needed. This traditionally has led to increased costs for an organization because physical hardware must be purchased and operational but is not used. By using a cloud system, an organization will only pay for systems when they are being used and only for the duration of use, thus eliminating the need for extra hardware and costs. Portability is the ability to easily move services among different cloud providers. Broad network access allows access to users and staff from anywhere and from different clients, and although this would be important for a BCDR situation, it is not the best answer in this case. On-demand self-service allows users to provision services automatically and when needed, and although this too would be important for BCDR situations, it is not the best answer because it does not address costs or the biggest benefits to an organization.
Which cloud deployment model would be ideal for a group of universities looking to work together, where each university can gain benefits according to its specific needs?
A. Private
B. Public
C. Hybrid
D. Community
Suggested Answer: D
Community Answer: D
A community cloud is owned and maintained by similar organizations working toward a common goal. In this case, the universities would all have very similar needs and calendar requirements, and they would not be financial competitors of each other. Therefore, this would be an ideal group for working together within a community cloud. A public cloud model would not work in this scenario because it is designed to serve the largest number of customers, would not likely be targeted toward specific requirements for individual customers, and would not be willing to make changes for them. A private cloud could accommodate such needs, but would not meet the criteria for a group working together, and a hybrid cloud spanning multiple cloud providers would not fit the specifics of the question.
What are third-party providers of IAM functions for the cloud environment?
A. AESs
B. SIEMs
C. DLPs
D. CASBs
Suggested Answer: D
Data loss, leak prevention, and protection is a family of tools used to reduce the possibility of unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information. SIEMs are tools used to collate and manage log data. AES is an encryption standard.
If you are running an application that has strict legal requirements that the data cannot reside on systems that contain other applications or systems, which aspect of cloud computing would be prohibitive in this case?
A. Multitenancy
B. Broad network access
C. Portability
D. Elasticity
Suggested Answer: A
Community Answer: A
Multitenancy is the aspect of cloud computing that involves having multiple customers and applications running within the same system and sharing the same resources. Although considerable mechanisms are in place to ensure isolation and separation, the data and applications are ultimately using shared resources.
Broad network access refers to the ability to access cloud services from any location or client. Portability refers to the ability to easily move cloud services between different cloud providers, whereas elasticity refers to the capabilities of a cloud environment to add or remove services, as needed, to meet current demand.
Which of the following components are part of what a CCSP should review when looking at contracting with a cloud service provider?
A. Redundant uplink grafts
B. Background checks for the provider’s personnel
C. The physical layout of the datacenter
D. Use of subcontractors
Suggested Answer: D
Community Answer: D
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. ג€Redundant uplink graftsג€ is a nonsense term used as a distractor.
BCDR strategies typically do not involve the entire operations of an organization, but only those deemed critical to their business.
Which concept pertains to the required amount of time to restore services to the predetermined level?
A. RPO
B. RSL
C. RTO
D. SRE
Suggested Answer: C
Community Answer: C
The recovery time objective (RTO) measures the amount of time necessary to recover operations to meet the BCDR plan. 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 predetermined level of operations necessary during a BCDR situation. SRE is provided as an erroneous response.
With an API, various features and optimizations are highly desirable to scalability, reliability, and security.
What does the REST API support that the SOAP API does NOT support?
A. Acceleration
B. Caching
C. Redundancy
D. Encryption
Suggested Answer: B
Community Answer: B
The Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) does not support caching, whereas the Representational State Transfer (REST) API does. The other options are all capabilities that are either not supported by SOAP or not supported by any API and must be provided by external features.
A variety of security systems can be integrated within a network--some that just monitor for threats and issue alerts, and others that take action based on signatures, behavior, and other types of rules to actively stop potential threats.
Which of the following types of technologies is best described here?
A. IDS
B. IPS
C. Proxy
D. Firewall
Suggested Answer: B
An intrusion prevention system (IPS) can inspect traffic and detect any suspicious traffic based on a variety of factors, but it can also actively block such traffic.
Although an IDS can detect the same types of suspicious traffic as an IPS, it is only design to alert, not to block. A firewall is only concerned with IP addresses, ports, and protocols; it cannot be used for the signature-based detection of traffic. A proxy can limit or direct traffic based on more extensive factors than a network firewall can, but it’s not capable of using the same signature detection rules as an IPS.
What must SOAP rely on for security since it does not provide security as a built-in capability?
A. Encryption
B. Tokenization
C. TLS
D. SSL
Suggested Answer: A
Community Answer: C
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) uses Extensible Markup Language (XML) for data passing, and it must rely on the encryption of those data packages for security. TLS and SSL (before it was deprecated) represent two commons approaches to using encryption for protection of data transmissions. However, they are only two possible options and do not encapsulate the overall concept the question is looking for. Tokenization, which involves the replacement of sensitive data with opaque values, would not be appropriate for use with SOAP because the actual data is needed by the services.
The different cloud service models have varying levels of responsibilities for functions and operations depending with the model's level of service.
In which of the following models would the responsibility for patching lie predominantly with the cloud customer?
A. DaaS
B. SaaS
C. PaaS
D. IaaS
Suggested Answer: D
Community Answer: D
With Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), the cloud customer is responsible for deploying and maintaining its own systems and virtual machines. Therefore, the customer is solely responsible for patching and any other security updates it finds necessary. With Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Desktop as a Service (DaaS), the cloud provider maintains the infrastructure components and is responsible for maintaining and patching them.
Where is an XML firewall most commonly and effectively deployed in the environment?
A. Between the application and data layers
B. Between the presentation and application layers
C. Between the IPS and firewall
D. Between the firewall and application server
Suggested Answer: D
Community Answer: D
An XML firewall is most commonly deployed in line between the firewall and application server to validate XML code before it reaches the application. An XML firewall is intended to validate XML before it reaches the application. Placing the XML firewall between the presentation and application layers, between the firewall and IPS, or between the application and data layers would not serve the intended purpose.
A main objective for an organization when utilizing cloud services is to avoid vendor lock-in so as to ensure flexibility and maintain independence.
Which core concept of cloud computing is most related to vendor lock-in?
A. Scalability
B. Interoperability
C. Portability
D. Reversibility
Suggested Answer: C
Community Answer: C
Portability is the ability for a cloud customer to easily move their systems, services, and applications among different cloud providers. By avoiding reliance on proprietary APIs and other vendor-specific cloud features, an organization can maintain flexibility to move among the various cloud providers with greater ease.
Reversibility refers to the ability for a cloud customer to quickly and easy remove all their services and data from a cloud provider. Interoperability is the ability to reuse services and components for other applications and uses. Scalability refers to the ability of a cloud environment to add or remove resources to meet current demands.
Which of the following is NOT a commonly used communications method within cloud environments to secure data in transit?
A. IPSec
B. HTTPS
C. VPN
D. DNSSEC
Suggested Answer: D
Community Answer: D
DNSSEC is used as a security extension to DNS lookup queries in order to ensure the authenticity and authoritativeness of hostname resolutions, in order to prevent spoofing and redirection of traffic. Although it is a very important concept to be employed for security practices, it is not used to secure or encrypt data transmissions. HTTPS is the most commonly used security mechanism for data communications between clients and websites and web services. IPSec is less commonly used, but is also intended to secure communications between servers. VPN is commonly used to secure traffic into a network area or subnet for developers and administrative users.
The WS-Security standards are built around all of the following standards except which one?
A. SAML
B. WDSL
C. XML
D. SOAP
Suggested Answer: A
Community Answer: B
The WS-Security specifications, as well as the WS-Federation system, are built upon XML, WDSL, and SOAP. SAML is a very similar protocol that is used as an alternative to WS.XML, WDSL, and SOAP are all integral to the WS-Security specifications.
Which of the cloud cross-cutting aspects relates to the ability to reuse or move components of an application or service?
A. Availability
B. Interoperability
C. Reversibility
D. Portability
Suggested Answer: B
Community Answer: D
Interoperability is the ease with which one can move or reuse components of an application or service. This is maximized when services are designed without specific dependencies on underlying platforms, operating systems, locations, or cloud providers.
Which aspect of cloud computing will be most negatively impacted by vendor lock-in?
A. Elasticity
B. Reversibility
C. Interoperability
D. Portability
Suggested Answer: D
Community Answer: D
A cloud customer utilizing proprietary APIs or services from one cloud provider that are unlikely to be available from another cloud provider will most negatively impact portability.
Which aspect of cloud computing makes data classification even more vital than in a traditional data center?
A. Interoperability
B. Virtualization
C. Multitenancy
D. Portability
Suggested Answer: C
Community Answer: C
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.
From a legal perspective, what is the most important first step after an eDiscovery order has been received by the cloud provider?
A. Notification
B. Key identification
C. Data collection
D. Virtual image snapshots
Suggested Answer: A
Community Answer: A
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.
Which of the following would NOT be a reason to activate a BCDR strategy?
A. Staffing loss
B. Terrorism attack
C. Utility disruptions
D. Natural disaster
Suggested Answer: A
Community Answer: A
The loss of staffing would not be a reason to declare a BCDR situation because it does not impact production operations or equipment, and the same staff would be needed for a BCDR situation.
In which cloud service model is the customer required to maintain the OS?
A. Iaas
B. CaaS
C. PaaS
D. SaaS
Suggested Answer: A
Community Answer: A
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.
Which United States law is focused on accounting and financial practices of organizations?
A. Safe Harbor
B. GLBA
C. SOX
D. HIPAA
Suggested Answer: C
Community Answer: C
The Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act is not an act that pertains to privacy or IT security directly, but rather regulates accounting and financial practices used by organizations. It was passed to protect stakeholders and shareholders from improper practices and errors, and it sets forth rules for compliance, regulated and enforced by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The main influence on IT systems and operations is the requirements it sets for data retention, specifically in regard to what types of records must be preserved and for how long.
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