Certified Cloud Security Engineer (CCSE) 312-40 Exam Questions and Answers PDF

Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS): DRaaS is a third-party service that provides organizations with a secondary site infrastructure, which employs cloud computing for application and data recovery from synchronous or asynchronous replication1.

Fault Tolerance and Redundancy: A fault-tolerant disaster recovery site with fully redundant equipment ensures that all critical systems and components have backups ready to take over in case of failure1.

Real-Time Data Synchronization: This feature ensures that data is continuously mirrored to the disaster recovery site, allowing for real-time recovery and zero data loss during failover1.

Hot Site: A hot site is a fully operational offsite data center equipped with hardware and software, network connectivity, and real-time data synchronization. It is ready to assume operation at a moment’s notice, which aligns with the description provided1.

Minimal Downtime: The use of a hot site allows for minimal downtime during a disaster, as the site is already running and can take over immediately without the need to set up or configure equipment1.

References:

Flexential’s explanation of Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)1.

To effectively overcome shadow IT and unwarranted usage of cloud resources at FinTech Inc., the organization should implement cloud governance.

Cloud Governance Defined: Cloud governance is a set of rules and policies that govern the use of cloud resources. It ensures that the IT infrastructure is used in a way that aligns with the company’s strategic goals, compliance requirements, and security standards1.

Addressing Shadow IT:

Policy Creation: Establish clear policies regarding the use of cloud services and the procurement of IT resources.

Enforcement Mechanisms: Implement controls to enforce these policies, such as requiring approval for new cloud services or software.

Education and Training: Educate employees about the risks associated with shadow IT and the importance of following IT department rules.

Monitoring and Reporting: Use tools to monitor cloud usage and report on compliance with governance policies.

Benefits of Cloud Governance:

Control and Visibility: Provides better control over IT resources and visibility into how they are being used.

Cost Management: Helps prevent unnecessary spending on unapproved cloud services.

Security and Compliance: Ensures that cloud services are used in a secure and compliant manner, reducing the risk of breaches.

References:

Microsoft Learn: Discover and manage Shadow IT1.

CrowdStrike: What is Shadow IT? Defining Risks & Benefits2.

Microsoft Security Blog: Top 10 actions to secure your environment3.

SC Magazine: Stop chasing shadow IT: Tackle the root causes of cloud breaches4.

AWS IAM Roles: AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles allow for permissions to be assigned to AWS resources without the use of static credentials. Roles provide temporary credentials that are automatically rotated.

Service Role: The ‘get-pics’ service role created by Rebecca includes a permission policy for read-only access to the S3 bucket and a trust policy that allows the EC2 instance to assume the role.

Temporary Credentials: When the application runs on the EC2 instance, it uses the temporary credentials provided by the role to access the S3 bucket. These credentials are dynamically provided and do not require developer management.

Developer and Admin Roles: Since the EC2 instance has the necessary permissions through the service role, the developer does not need to manage credentials. Similarly, the admin does not need to grant explicit permission to the developer because the permissions are already encapsulated within the role.

Security Best Practices: This approach adheres to AWS security best practices by avoiding the sharing of static credentials and minimizing the need for manual credential management.

References:

AWS’s official documentation on IAM roles.

In the event of a security issue on the cloud, such as a DDoS attack or illegal activities, Incident Handlers are typically the first responders. Their role is to manage the initial response to the incident, which includes identifying, assessing, and mitigating the threat to reduce damage and recover from the attack.

Here’s the role of Incident Handlers as first responders:

Incident Identification: They quickly identify the nature and scope of the incident.

Initial Response: Incident Handlers take immediate action to contain and control the situation to prevent further damage.

Communication: They communicate with internal stakeholders and may coordinate with external parties like law enforcement if necessary.

Evidence Preservation: Incident Handlers work to preserve evidence for forensic analysis and legal proceedings.

Recovery and Documentation: They assist in the recovery process and document all actions taken for future reference and analysis.

References:

Industry best practices on incident response, highlighting the role of Incident Handlers as first responders.

Guidelines from cybersecurity frameworks outlining the responsibilities of Incident Handlers during a cloud security incident.