CISSP ISC Exam Dumps & Practice Test Questions

Question 1:

Which of the following items would best be classified as a physical asset in a business impact analysis (BIA)?

A. Employees’ personal property
B. Revenue projections related to disaster recovery
C. Applications hosted in the cloud
D. Materials stored in an off-site location

Answer: D

Explanation:

In the context of a Business Impact Analysis (BIA), physical assets refer to tangible items that are crucial to the continuation or recovery of business operations. A BIA helps identify which resources are vital for maintaining business functionality during and after a disruption. This includes both physical and non-physical assets, but understanding the distinction between the two is critical.

Option A, personal belongings of staff, are not considered organizational physical assets. While personally valuable, these items have no direct bearing on the organization’s ability to function and are therefore not included in a BIA for recovery purposes.

Option B, disaster recovery line-item revenues, involves financial forecasting or planning. These figures are relevant to financial analysis or budgeting but are not classified as physical assets. BIA categorizes such data as financial or intangible considerations rather than tangible resources.

Option C, cloud-based applications, though critical to modern operations, are virtual resources. While important for operations, they are not physical in nature and typically fall under the category of technological or digital assets. Their availability is managed through service providers rather than internal physical infrastructure.

Option D, supplies stored in a remote facility, fits the definition of a physical asset. These can include backup hardware, printed records, essential inventory, or operational materials needed in case the primary site becomes unusable. Their tangible nature and critical purpose for continuity planning make them a key component in a BIA.

In summary, among the options listed, only the off-site supplies represent a physical, tangible, and operationally critical resource. These are the kinds of items that would be prioritized in disaster recovery and contingency planning efforts. Hence, they are rightly classified as physical assets within a Business Impact Analysis framework.

Question 2:

When evaluating the auditing features of an application, which factor is the most essential?

A. Developing processes to examine suspicious events
B. Ensuring audit logs provide adequate detail
C. Confirming sufficient storage is available for log files
D. Examining the security policy for actions during audit failure

Answer: B

Explanation:

Assessing the audit capabilities of an application is a critical part of ensuring system accountability, traceability, and incident response. The most fundamental aspect of a successful audit process is whether the audit logs contain comprehensive and relevant information.

Option A highlights the importance of procedures to handle suspicious activity. While incident response processes are vital, they rely entirely on the quality of the audit data. If the data is incomplete or insufficient, even the best investigation procedures will be ineffective. Thus, this is a supporting activity rather than a core capability.

Option B focuses on verifying that audit records hold enough information. This is the most crucial requirement because the entire purpose of logging is to monitor, trace, and analyze actions within a system. Logs should ideally include time stamps, user identifiers, event types, source IPs, success/failure indicators, and affected resources. Without detailed logs, organizations risk missing key indicators of security breaches or policy violations.

Option C addresses the need for storage capacity to retain audit logs. While storage is necessary to maintain logs for a given retention period, it does not matter how much storage is available if the logs themselves are not detailed or relevant. Adequate storage supports audit processes but does not define their effectiveness.

Option D refers to preparing a response plan in case auditing mechanisms fail. While this is part of good governance, it is a fallback procedure and should not substitute for ensuring that logs are properly generated and maintained in the first place.

Ultimately, having complete and well-structured audit logs is the cornerstone of effective monitoring and security oversight. All other audit-related activities—such as investigations, storage management, and contingency planning—depend on the logs containing the necessary level of detail. This makes Option B the most important factor when evaluating audit capability.

Question 3:

An organization wants to streamline access control by assigning system permissions based on groups of users performing similar functions. 

Which access control method would be the most effective choice?

A. Role-based access control (RBAC)
B. Discretionary access control (DAC)
C. Content-dependent access control
D. Rule-based access control

Answer: A

Explanation:

When a company needs to manage access permissions for many users sharing the same job responsibilities, the best solution is Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). This model simplifies authorization by assigning access rights based on job roles rather than to individual users, making it scalable and easy to manage—especially in larger organizations.

With RBAC, administrators define roles (e.g., HR manager, sales rep, or IT technician) and then associate permissions with those roles. Users are then assigned to roles, automatically inheriting the appropriate access levels. This model ensures consistency in access rights, reduces the risk of excessive permissions, and minimizes administrative overhead.

Option A: Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) – This is the most suitable model for organizations needing to assign consistent permissions across users with similar responsibilities. It ensures efficient and centralized access management.

Option B: Discretionary Access Control (DAC) – DAC allows resource owners to set access permissions. While it offers flexibility, it’s not ideal for managing large groups of users, as permissions are distributed and harder to control centrally.

Option C: Content-Dependent Access Control – This model controls access based on the specific content being accessed (e.g., document sensitivity). It’s suitable for data-centric controls but not for managing access by job role.

Option D: Rule-Based Access Control – Rule-based models apply predefined policies to control access. Though flexible, they can be more complex to implement and less intuitive than RBAC for organizations focusing on role similarity.

In summary, RBAC is best suited for organizations looking to standardize and simplify system access for users with shared responsibilities. It is both scalable and secure, aligning access with business functions.

Question 4:

Why is it particularly difficult to apply criminal law in cases involving cybercrime?

A. Jurisdiction is difficult to establish
B. Law enforcement lacks sufficient staffing
C. Extradition treaties are seldom enforced
D. Language barriers often complicate prosecution

Answer: A

Explanation:

The biggest hurdle in prosecuting cybercrime is the challenge of determining jurisdiction—that is, which country's legal system has the authority to investigate and prosecute the crime. Unlike traditional crimes, cybercrimes are borderless by nature. An attacker can operate from one country, target servers in another, and affect users across several continents simultaneously. This global reach makes it difficult to pinpoint which nation has legal control over the matter.

Cybercrime investigations often involve multiple jurisdictions, each with its own laws, priorities, and procedures. For example, a cyberattack launched from Country A against a server in Country B—impacting victims in Country C—creates a complex legal puzzle. Law enforcement agencies must determine who has the legal right to pursue the case, and how to cooperate across borders.

Option A: Jurisdiction is difficult to establish – This is the most accurate reason. Disputes over legal authority and conflicting national laws make enforcement highly problematic.

Option B: Law enforcement lacks sufficient staffing – While resource constraints exist, they are secondary compared to the complexities of cross-border legal authority.

Option C: Extradition treaties are seldom enforced – Extradition can be difficult, but the more fundamental issue is deciding which jurisdiction has the right to prosecute in the first place.

Option D: Language barriers often complicate prosecution – Language can be an obstacle in international cooperation, but it is not the core issue.

In conclusion, the lack of clearly defined jurisdiction is the most critical challenge in enforcing cybercrime laws. It impedes investigations, delays prosecutions, and often allows perpetrators to avoid consequences by exploiting international legal loopholes.

Question 5:

Which protocol does WPA2 rely on to provide secure authentication for users on a wireless network?

A. Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)
B. Internet Protocol Security (IPsec)
C. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
D. Secure Shell (SSH)

Answer: A

Explanation:

Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) is a wireless security standard designed to safeguard network traffic through robust encryption and authentication. A key component of WPA2’s strength is its reliance on the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP), which facilitates a flexible, secure method of user authentication.

EAP works alongside the IEEE 802.1X standard to enable various forms of credential-based authentication, including usernames, passwords, digital certificates, and smart cards. This makes it adaptable to a range of organizational requirements and security levels. EAP ensures that only authorized users gain access to the network, while also enabling mutual authentication between the client and the authentication server.

Option A: Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) – This is the correct answer. WPA2 uses EAP to authenticate users and establish secure encrypted communication sessions between devices and access points.

Option B: Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) – IPsec is used to secure IP-level communications, typically in VPNs. It operates at a different layer of the network stack and is not part of WPA2’s architecture.

Option C: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) – SSL is used to encrypt web traffic over HTTPS but is not relevant to wireless network authentication or encryption under WPA2.

Option D: Secure Shell (SSH) – SSH is used for secure remote access to systems via command-line interfaces. It is not involved in wireless security or WPA2.

To sum up, WPA2 ensures robust wireless network protection by using EAP for flexible and secure user authentication, making it the key protocol behind WPA2’s security effectiveness.

Question 6:

Which component of an operating system is responsible for securely managing the interface between hardware, the OS, and other system components?

A. Reference monitor
B. Trusted Computing Base (TCB)
C. Time separation
D. Security kernel

Answer: D

Explanation:

The security kernel is the core component within an operating system responsible for implementing and enforcing the system’s security policies. It serves as a bridge between the hardware, operating system, and other subsystems, ensuring that only authorized interactions occur. Operating at a fundamental level, the security kernel is critical for safeguarding the system by managing processes such as authentication, access control, and monitoring of privileged operations.

This kernel is a part of the Trusted Computing Base (TCB), which includes the complete set of hardware and software components that are essential to enforce security rules. However, while the TCB encompasses everything necessary for security, it’s the security kernel that actively performs the checking and enforcement functions. Its integrity is vital—if the security kernel is compromised, the entire security of the system could be at risk.

The reference monitor (option A), by contrast, is a theoretical concept that outlines the requirements for access control enforcement: complete mediation, tamperproofness, and verifiability. The security kernel is the implementation of this concept in actual systems.

Time separation (option C) refers to techniques used to ensure that different processes or users don’t interfere with each other by accessing shared resources simultaneously or successively in insecure ways, which is unrelated to enforcing security at the system level.

The Trusted Computing Base (option B) is more of a security boundary concept rather than an enforcing component. It defines all the elements required for a system to be secure, but the TCB itself doesn’t enforce policies—it relies on the security kernel to do that.

In conclusion, among the options listed, the security kernel is the actual mechanism embedded in the operating system that performs low-level security enforcement and protects access to system resources, making it the correct answer.

Question 7:

Which process ensures that protective measures are cost-effective while still supporting mission success?

A. Performance testing
B. Risk assessment
C. Security audit
D. Risk management

Answer: D

Explanation:

Risk management is a strategic process that helps organizations identify potential threats, assess their impact, and determine appropriate responses to mitigate them. One of its central goals is to find a balance between the cost of implementing security or operational safeguards and the benefits they provide in protecting business or mission objectives.

This process is crucial in environments where both operational capability and budget constraints are important factors. Risk management allows decision-makers to evaluate the likelihood and consequences of different risks, and then choose protective measures that provide the highest value. This might involve accepting some level of risk if the cost of fully eliminating it is too high compared to the potential impact.

Within risk management, steps include risk identification, analysis, evaluation, treatment (or mitigation), and continuous monitoring. These steps ensure that security investments are justified and aligned with organizational goals.

Performance testing (option A) focuses on evaluating how well systems perform under specific conditions and is not designed to evaluate or mitigate risk. While important for ensuring system reliability, it does not address the economic aspect of implementing security controls.

Risk assessment (option B) is a key part of risk management but is only a subset of the overall process. It involves identifying and analyzing risks but doesn’t encompass the entire decision-making framework required for balancing cost and operational effectiveness.

Security audits (option C) are typically performed to ensure compliance with policies and regulations. While they provide valuable feedback on existing controls, audits are more retrospective and do not focus on balancing costs with mission gains.

Therefore, risk management is the only process that addresses both the operational effectiveness and the economic feasibility of implementing protective measures, making it the best choice for this question.

Question 8:

Under the Extended Identity model, how does a clothing retailer enable its employees to securely access services from partner companies that use varying IAM technologies?

A. The retailer acts as a self-service system, verifies the employee’s identity using standards, and sends credentials to partners acting as service providers.
B. The retailer functions as an identity provider, authenticates the user via industry standards, and shares credentials with partner companies acting as service providers.
C. The retailer acts as a service provider, authenticates the user, and sends credentials to partners acting as identity providers.
D. The retailer operates as an access control provider, authenticates the user, and transfers credentials to partners that are service providers.

Answer: B

Explanation:

The correct identity and access flow in a federated IAM (Identity and Access Management) system—particularly under the Extended Identity model—is where the clothing retailer acts as the Identity Provider (IdP). In this role, the retailer verifies the identity of its employees using established identity protocols such as SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) or OAuth 2.0.

Once the identity is verified, the retailer then transmits a trusted authentication token or credential to partner businesses, which act as Service Providers (SPs). These SPs rely on the assertion from the IdP to authorize the user for access to their services or resources.

This setup is standard in federated identity systems where multiple organizations need to collaborate securely without creating and managing separate user accounts for each partner’s environment. It ensures that identity verification is centralized and consistent while still allowing flexible access to external services.

Option A is incorrect because “User Self Service” typically refers to user-managed credentials or profile updates and is not equivalent to the role of an Identity Provider.

Option C reverses the roles incorrectly. The service provider does not perform identity verification in this model—the IdP does.

Option D introduces a concept (“Access Control Provider”) that doesn’t align with standard IAM terminology or functions in federated identity frameworks.

In summary, the Extended Identity principle relies on trusted relationships between Identity Providers and Service Providers, where identity verification is centralized at the originating organization (in this case, the clothing retailer), and access is granted by partners based on those credentials. That makes option B the most accurate and appropriate choice.

Question 9:

In a cloud computing setup, which option best illustrates the implementation of the least privilege security principle?

A. Assigning a single administrator with full access to critical services
B. Performing inspection of all inbound and outbound internet traffic
C. Routinely updating routing tables with the most recent paths
D. Keeping internal network segments inaccessible from the internet when not required

Correct Answer: D

Explanation:

The principle of least privilege is a fundamental concept in cybersecurity, especially within cloud environments, where access control is critical. It ensures that users, systems, and services are granted only the minimum necessary access to perform their assigned duties—no more, no less.

Option D represents this principle most accurately. Keeping internal network segments private—unless absolutely necessary for internet access—helps prevent unauthorized exposure and reduces the attack surface. This practice limits access to essential services only, which is the core intent of least privilege. For example, if a cloud-based internal database doesn’t require access from the internet, its segment should be restricted from external traffic. This reduces the risk of compromise and adheres strictly to the principle.

Option A goes against least privilege. Granting a single administrator full access to all core functions introduces a single point of failure and unnecessary privilege escalation risk. In a least privilege model, responsibilities should be segmented with role-based access controls (RBAC), ensuring each administrator only has access to the systems they manage.

Option B talks about traffic inspection, which, although vital for security monitoring and anomaly detection, is not directly related to limiting access. It deals more with intrusion detection and prevention rather than controlling privilege levels.

Option C relates to updating routing configurations, which helps maintain optimal pathing for data but does not influence who or what can access certain resources. It’s a performance and connectivity measure, not a security access principle.

Thus, option D reflects the true essence of the least privilege approach by restricting exposure to only what is essential, which enhances both security and resource governance in cloud environments.

Question 10:

An organization’s storage system is being overwhelmed with repeated, redundant, and nonessential data. Which technology should be implemented to resolve the issue effectively?

A. Compression
B. Caching
C. Replication
D. Deduplication

Correct Answer:  D

Explanation:

In a scenario where a Storage Area Network (SAN) is overwhelmed with repetitive and redundant data, the best way to manage this inefficiency is through deduplication. Deduplication technology identifies and removes duplicate copies of repeating data blocks or files, storing only a single instance. Subsequent duplicates are replaced with pointers or references to the original data.

This results in substantial storage savings, particularly in environments where the same data is frequently stored—for example, in backup systems or virtual desktop infrastructures. Deduplication not only helps optimize existing storage space but also reduces backup time, network bandwidth usage, and long-term storage costs.

Option A, compression, reduces the size of data through encoding techniques, helping to minimize space used. However, it doesn’t differentiate between unique and duplicate files. While useful, it is more effective when used in conjunction with deduplication rather than as a standalone solution.

Option B, caching, is used to improve access speed to frequently used data by storing it in a high-speed memory layer. This enhances performance, not storage efficiency, and doesn’t address the underlying issue of redundant data consuming disk space.

Option C, replication, actually does the opposite of what’s needed in this case. It creates additional copies of data to ensure high availability and disaster recovery. While this is valuable for fault tolerance, it contributes to storage bloat rather than resolving it.

Therefore, deduplication directly solves the organization’s problem by eliminating unnecessary duplicates, making it the most practical and cost-effective solution for managing space in a SAN environment. It allows IT teams to extend the lifecycle of existing storage investments without compromising data availability or system performance.