Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) Practice Exam

Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) Practice Exam

ISC2 created the Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) certification to guarantee that individuals working in cloud security get the necessary knowledge, skills, and capabilities in various aspects such as design, implementation, architecture, operations, controls, and compliance with regulatory standards. A CCSP utilizes its information security expertise within cloud computing settings and showcases proficiency in areas like cloud security architecture, design, operations, and service coordination. Their proficiency is evaluated based on an internationally recognized knowledge base.

Who should take the CCSP Exam?

The CCSP is suitable for IT, cyber, information, and software security leaders responsible for applying best practices to cloud security architecture, design, operations, and service orchestration, including those in the following positions:

• Cloud Architect
• Cloud Engineer
• Cloud Consultant
• Cloud Administrator
• Cloud Security Analyst
• Cloud Specialist
• Auditor of Cloud Computing Services
• Professional Cloud Developer

Experience Requirements for the Exam

Candidates should have at least five years of paid work experience in the field of information technology, with three years specifically in information security and one year in one or more of the six domains of the CCSP CBK. Alternatively, obtaining CSA's CCSK certificate can substitute one year of experience in the CCSP CBK domains, while achieving the CISSP credential can fulfill the entire CCSP experience requirement.

If a candidate does not have the necessary experience for CCSP certification, they have the option to become an Associate of ISC2 by passing the CCSP examination. As an Associate of ISC2, they will have six years to obtain the required five years of experience.

Exam Details

• Exam Code: CCSP
• Exam Name: Certified Cloud Security Professional
• Exam Languages: English, Chinese, Japanese and German
• Time Duration: 3 hours
• Exam Questions: 125
• Passing Score: 700 out of 1000 points

CCSP Exam Course Outline 

The Exam covers the given topics  - 

Domain 1: Understand Cloud Concepts, Architecture and Design

1.1 - Understanding cloud computing concepts

• Cloud computing definitions
• Cloud computing roles and responsibilities (e.g., cloud service customer, cloud service provider, cloud service partner, cloud service broker, regulator)
• Key cloud computing characteristics (e.g., on-demand self-service, broad network access, multi-tenancy, rapid elasticity and scalability, resource pooling, measured service)
• Building block technologies (e.g., virtualization, storage, networking, databases, orchestration)

1.2 - Learn the cloud reference architecture

• Cloud computing activities
• Cloud service capabilities (e.g., application capability types, platform capability types, infrastructure capability types)
• Cloud service categories (e.g., Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS))
• Cloud deployment models (e.g., public, private, hybrid, community, multi-cloud)
• Cloud shared considerations (e.g., interoperability, portability, reversibility, availability, security, privacy, resiliency, performance, governance, maintenance and versioning, service levels and service-level agreements (SLA), auditability, regulatory, outsourcing)
• Impact of related technologies (e.g., data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), containers, quantum computing, edge computing, confidential computing, DevSecOps)

1.3 - Understanding the security concepts relevant to cloud computing

• Cryptography and key management
• Identity and access control (e.g., user access, privilege access, service access)
• Data and media sanitization (e.g., overwriting, cryptographic erase)
• Network security (e.g., network security groups, traffic inspection, geofencing, zero trust network)
• Virtualization security (e.g., hypervisor security, container security, ephemeral computing, serverless technology)
• Common threats
• Security hygiene (e.g., patching, baselining)

1.4 - Learn about design principles of secure cloud computing

• Cloud secure data lifecycle
• Cloud-based business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) plan
• Business impact analysis (BIA) (e.g., cost-benefit analysis, return on investment (ROI))
• Functional security requirements (e.g., portability, interoperability, vendor lock-in)
• Security considerations and responsibilities for different cloud categories (e.g., Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS))
• Cloud design patterns (e.g., SANS security principles, Well-Architected Framework, Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Enterprise Architecture)
• DevOps security

1.5 - Evaluating cloud service providers

• Verification against criteria (e.g., International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 27017, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS))
• System/subsystem product certifications (e.g., Common Criteria (CC), Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2)

Domain 2: Learn about Cloud Data Security

2.1 - Understand cloud data concepts

• Cloud data life cycle phases
• Data dispersion
• Data flows

2.2 - Designing and implementing cloud data storage architectures

• Storage types (e.g., long-term, ephemeral, raw storage)
• Threats to storage types

2.3 - Learn how to design and apply data security technologies and strategies

• Encryption and key management
• Hashing
• Data obfuscation (e.g., masking, anonymization)
• Tokenization
• Data loss prevention (DLP)
• Keys, secrets and certificates management

2.4 - Implementing data discovery

• Structured data
• Unstructured data
• Semi-structured data
• Data location

2.5 - Ways to implement data classification

• Data classification policies
• Data mapping
• Data labeling

2.6 - Designing and implementing Information Rights Management (IRM)

• Objectives (e.g., data rights, provisioning, access models)
• Appropriate tools (e.g., issuing and revocation of certificates)

2.7 - Understand planning and implementing data retention, deletion, and archiving policies

• Data retention policies
• Data deletion procedures and mechanisms
• Data archiving procedures and mechanisms
• Legal hold

2.8 - Designing and implementing auditability, traceability, and accountability of data events

• Definition of event sources and requirement of event attributes (e.g., identity, Internet Protocol (IP) address, geolocation)
• Logging, storage and analysis of data events
• Chain of custody and non-repudiation

Domain 3: Understand Cloud Platform and Infrastructure Security

3.1 - Comprehending cloud infrastructure components

• Physical environment
• Network and communications
• Compute
• Virtualization
• Storage
• Management plane

3.2 - Planning a secure data center

• Logical design (e.g., tenant partitioning, access control)
• Physical design (e.g., location, buy or build)
• Environmental design (e.g., Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC), multi-vendor pathway connectivity)
• Design resilient

3.3 - Analyzing risks associated with cloud infrastructure

• Risk assessment (e.g., identification, analysis)
• Cloud vulnerabilities, threats and attacks
• Risk mitigation strategies

3.4 - Designing security controls

• Physical and environmental protection (e.g., on-premises)
• System, storage and communication protection
• Identification, authentication and authorization in cloud environments
• Audit mechanisms (e.g., log collection, correlation, packet capture)

3.5 - Planning Disaster Recovery (DR) and Business Continuity (BC)

• Business continuity (BC) / disaster recovery (DR) strategy
• Business requirements (e.g., Recovery Time Objective (RTO), Recovery Point Objective (RPO), recovery service level)
• Creation, implementation and testing of plan

Domain 4: Get familiar with Cloud Application Security

4.1 - Advocate training and awareness for application security

• Cloud development basics
• Common pitfalls
• Common cloud vulnerabilities (e.g., Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Top-10, SANS Top-25)

4.2 - Describing the Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) process

• Business requirements
• Phases and methodologies (e.g., design, code, test, maintain, waterfall vs. agile)

4.3 - Implementing the Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

• Cloud-specific risks
• Threat modeling (e.g., Spoofing, Tampering, Repudiation, Information Disclosure, Denial of Service, and Elevation of Privilege (STRIDE), Damage, Reproducibility, Exploitability, Affected Users, and Discoverability (DREAD), Architecture, Threats, Attack Surfaces, and Mitigations (ATASM), Process for Attack Simulation and Threat Analysis (PASTA))
• Avoid common vulnerabilities during development
• Secure coding (e.g., Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Application Security
• Verification Standard (ASVS), Software Assurance Forum for Excellence in Code (SAFECode))
• Software configuration management and versioning

4.4 - Applying cloud software assurance and validation

• Functional and non-functional testing
• Security testing methodologies (e.g., blackbox, whitebox, static, dynamic, Software Composition Analysis (SCA), interactive application security testing (IAST))
• Quality assurance (QA)
• Abuse case testing

4.5 - Using verified secure software

• Securing application programming interfaces (API)
• Supply-chain management (e.g., vendor assessment)
• Third-party software management (e.g., licensing)
• Validated open-source software

4.6 - Comprehending the specifics of cloud application architecture

• Supplemental security components (e.g., web application firewall (WAF), Database Activity Monitoring (DAM), Extensible Markup Language (XML) firewalls, application programming interface (API) gateway)
• Cryptography
• Sandboxing
• Application virtualization and orchestration (e.g., microservices, containers)

4.7 - Designing suitable Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions

• Federated identity
• Identity providers (IdP)
• Single sign-on (SSO)
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
• Cloud access security broker (CASB)
• Secrets management

Domain 5: Understand Cloud Security Operations

5.1 - Building and implementing physical and logical infrastructure for the cloud environment

• Hardware specific security configuration requirements (e.g., hardware security module (HSM) and Trusted Platform Module (TPM))
• Installation and configuration of management tools
• Virtual hardware specific security configuration requirements (e.g., network, storage, memory, central processing unit (CPU), Hypervisor type 1 and 2)
• Installation of guest operating system (OS) virtualization toolsets

5.2 - Operate and maintain physical and logical infrastructure for the cloud environment

• Access controls for local and remote access (e.g., Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), secure terminal access, Secure Shell (SSH), console-based access mechanisms, jumpboxes, virtual client)
• Secure network configuration (e.g., virtual local area networks (VLAN), Transport Layer Security (TLS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), virtual private network (VPN))
• Network security controls (e.g., firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), intrusion prevention systems (IPS), honeypots, vulnerability assessments, network security groups, bastion host)
• Operating system (OS) hardening through the application of baselines, monitoring and remediation (e.g., Windows, Linux, VMware)
• Patch management
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC) strategy
• Availability of clustered hosts (e.g., distributed resource scheduling, dynamic optimization, storage clusters, maintenance mode, high availability (HA))
• Availability of guest operating system (OS)
• Performance and capacity monitoring (e.g., network, compute, storage, response time)
• Hardware monitoring (e.g., disk, central processing unit (CPU), fan speed, temperature)
• Configuration of host and guest operating system (OS) backup and restore functions
• Management plane (e.g., scheduling, orchestration, maintenance)

5.3 - Implementing operational controls and standards (e.g., Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 20000-1)

• Change management
• Continuity management
• Information security management
• Continual service improvement management
• Incident management
• Problem management
• Release management
• Deployment management
• Configuration management
• Service level management
• Availability management
• Capacity management

5.4 - Support digital forensics

• Forensic data collection methodologies
• Evidence management
• Collect, acquire, and preserve digital evidence

5.5 - Managing communication with relevant parties

• Vendors
• Customers
• Partners
• Regulators
• Other stakeholders

5.6 - Managing security operations

• Security operations center (SOC)
• Intelligent monitoring of security controls (e.g., firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), intrusion prevention systems (IPS), honeypots, network security groups, artificial intelligence (AI))
• Log capture and analysis (e.g., security information and event management (SIEM), log management)
• Incident management
• Vulnerability assessments

Domain 6: Understand Legal, Risk and Compliance

6.1 - Articulate legal requirements and unique risks within the cloud environment

• Conflicting international legislation
• Evaluation of legal risks specific to cloud computing
• Legal framework and guidelines
• eDiscovery (e.g., International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 27050, Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Guidance)
• Forensics requirements

6.2 - Understanding privacy issues

• Difference between contractual and regulated private data (e.g., protected health information (PHI), personally identifiable information (PII))
• Country-specific legislation related to private data (e.g., protected health information (PHI), personally identifiable information (PII))
• Jurisdictional differences in data privacy
• Standard privacy requirements (e.g., International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 27018, Generally Accepted Privacy Principles (GAPP), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR))
• Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA)

6.3 - Learn the audit process, methodologies, and required adaptations for a cloud environment

• Internal and external audit controls
• Impact of audit requirements
• Identify assurance challenges of virtualization and cloud
• Types of audit reports (e.g., Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE), Service Organization Control (SOC), International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE))
• Restrictions of audit scope statements (e.g., Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE), International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE))
• Gap analysis (e.g., control analysis, baselines)
• Audit planning
• Internal information security management system
• Internal information security controls system
• Policies (e.g., organizational, functional, cloud computing)
• Identification and involvement of relevant stakeholders
• Specialized compliance requirements for highly-regulated industries (e.g., North American Electric Reliability Corporation / Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC / CIP), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, Payment Card Industry (PCI))
• Impact of distributed information technology (IT) model (e.g., diverse geographical locations and crossing over legal jurisdictions)

6.4 - Understanding implications of cloud to enterprise risk management

• Assess providers risk management programs (e.g., controls, methodologies, policies, risk profile, risk appetite)
• Difference between data owner/controller vs. data custodian/processor
• Regulatory transparency requirements (e.g., breach notification, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR))
• Risk treatment (i.e., avoid, mitigate, transfer, share, acceptance)
• Different risk frameworks
• Metrics for risk management
• Assessment of risk environment (e.g., service, vendor, infrastructure, business)

6.5 - Learn about outsourcing and cloud contract design

• Business requirements (e.g., service-level agreement (SLA), master service agreement (MSA), statement of work (SOW))
• Vendor management (e.g., vendor assessments, vendor lock-in risks, vendor viability, escrow)
• Contract management (e.g., right to audit, metrics, definitions, termination, litigation, assurance, compliance, access to cloud/data, cyber risk insurance)
• Supply-chain management (e.g., International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 27036)