CCAK Reviews Questions

The greatest governance challenge in the scenario where production is hosted in a public cloud and backups are held on-premises is aligning the shared responsibilities between the provider and the customer. This is because the division of security and compliance duties must be clearly understood and managed to ensure that all aspects of the cloud services are adequately protected and meet regulatory requirements. The customer is responsible for the security ‘in’ the cloud (i.e., the data and applications), while the provider is responsible for the security ‘of’ the cloud (i.e., the infrastructure). Misalignment in this shared responsibility model can lead to gaps in security and compliance, making it a significant governance challenge.

References = This answer is verified by the information available in the Cloud Auditing Knowledge (CCAK) documents and related resources provided by ISACA and the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), which discuss the shared responsibility model and its implications for governance in cloud environments12.

A double blind penetration test is a type of pen test where the hacker has no prior knowledge of the target’s defenses, assets, or channels, and the target’s security team is not notified in advance of the scope of the audit and the test vectors. This mode simulates a real-world attack scenario, where both the attacker and the defender have to rely on their skills and resources to achieve their objectives. A double blind penetration test can help evaluate the effectiveness of the target’s security posture, detection and response capabilities, and incident management procedures12.

References:

What is Penetration Testing | Step-By-Step Process & Methods | Imperva

7 Types of Penetration Testing: Guide to Pentest Methods & Types

 The greatest risk associated with hidden interdependencies between cloud services is the lack of visibility over the cloud service providers’ supply chain. Hidden interdependencies are the complex and often unknown relationships and dependencies between different cloud services, providers, sub-providers, and customers. These interdependencies can create challenges and risks for the security, availability, performance, and compliance of the cloud services and data. For example, a failure or breach in one cloud service can affect other cloud services that depend on it, or a change in one cloud provider’s policy or contract can impact other cloud providers or customers that rely on it.12

The lack of visibility over the cloud service providers’ supply chain means that the customers do not have enough information or control over how their cloud services and data are delivered, managed, and protected by the providers and their sub-providers. This can expose the customers to various threats and vulnerabilities, such as data breaches, data loss, service outages, compliance violations, legal disputes, or contractual conflicts. The customers may also face difficulties in monitoring, auditing, or verifying the security and compliance status of their cloud services and data across the supply chain. Therefore, it is important for the customers to understand the hidden interdependencies between cloud services and to establish clear and transparent agreements with their cloud providers and sub-providers regarding their roles, responsibilities, expectations, and obligations.3

References := How to identify and map service dependencies - Gremlin1; Mitigate Risk for Data Center Network Migration - Cisco2; Practical Guide to Cloud Service Agreements Version 2.03; HIDDEN INTERDEPENDENCIES BETWEEN INFORMATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL …

According to the ISACA Cloud Auditing Knowledge Certificate Study Guide, a cloud auditor should use statistical sampling rather than judgment (nonstatistical) sampling when the probability of error must be objectively quantified1. Statistical sampling is a sampling technique that uses random selection methods and mathematical calculations to draw conclusions about the population from the sample results. Statistical sampling allows the auditor to measure the sampling risk, which is the risk that the sample results do not represent the population, and to express the confidence level and precision of the sample1. Statistical sampling also enables the auditor to estimate the rate of exceptions or errors in the population based on the sample1.

The other options are not valid reasons for using statistical sampling rather than judgment sampling. Option A is irrelevant, as generalized audit software is a tool that can facilitate both statistical and judgment sampling, but it is not a requirement for either technique. Option B is incorrect, as statistical sampling does not avoid sampling risk, but rather measures and controls it. Option D is illogical, as the tolerable error rate is a parameter that must be determined before conducting any sampling technique, whether statistical or judgmental. References:

ISACA Cloud Auditing Knowledge Certificate Study Guide, page 17-18.