ISC CISSP Practice Test 59
Question 580
A previous security situation was: An employee signs out of a SaaS platform but long-lived API tokens still allow continued account access. Now the requirement changes: A legitimate background job now requires unattended access under a service account. Which NEW action BEST answers the changed need?
- Separate machine credentials with scoped expiration and explicit owner.
- Revoke relevant sessions and refresh tokens on sign-out or critical risk events according to policy.
- Assume closing the browser invalidates every server-issued token.
- Revocation tests fail for previously issued refresh and access paths after the defined propagation window.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Noninteractive workload authorization should not depend on a person's terminated session. The revised action is Separate machine credentials with scoped expiration and explicit owner.
Incorrect Answers
B:This is the appropriate response to the original situation: Logout and account revocation controls must address all active authorization artifacts. It does not directly meet the new condition.
C:This remains inappropriate: Browser closure does not automatically revoke remote bearer credentials.
D:This is a record of how the initial safeguard would be checked, not an action implementing the newly requested condition: Revocation tests fail for previously issued refresh and access paths after the defined propagation window.
Question 581
A user from an unfamiliar country makes a high-value transaction immediately after an impossible-travel sign-in anomaly. What should the security manager recommend as the MOST appropriate response to the current requirement?
- Allow every high-value payment when the password is correct.
- Support controlled verification and policy-adjusted recovery without disabling anomaly controls globally.
- Revoke relevant sessions and refresh tokens on sign-out or critical risk events according to policy.
- Apply risk-based step-up, transaction limits or denial according to verified policy.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Contextual anomalies justify additional assurance before high-impact operations. This directly addresses the stated situation.
Incorrect Answers
A:Single-factor success does not resolve anomalous high-risk session conditions. The proposal would not be defensible for this case.
B:This is appropriate for a later condition (A customer legitimately travels and needs account availability after successful strong verification.), but it does not directly resolve the initial need. Adaptive access should balance risk and legitimate exceptions after stronger evidence.
C:This response addresses a different condition: An employee signs out of a SaaS platform but long-lived API tokens still allow continued account access. The present case requires the measure described by Apply risk-based step-up, transaction limits or denial according to verified policy.
Question 582
A user from an unfamiliar country makes a high-value transaction immediately after an impossible-travel sign-in anomaly. A designer proposes: Allow every high-value payment when the password is correct. What is the MOST significant security deficiency in this proposal?
- Longer codes remain transferable to a live attacker session and do not bind an origin.
- Adaptive access should balance risk and legitimate exceptions after stronger evidence.
- Origin binding prevents a captured code from authenticating to an unrelated relying party.
- Single-factor success does not resolve anomalous high-risk session conditions.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Single-factor success does not resolve anomalous high-risk session conditions. This is the direct weakness in the proposed action.
Incorrect Answers
A:This is a limitation elsewhere: A privileged portal uses SMS codes that users often enter into attacker-operated lookalike sign-in pages. It does not explain the deficiency of the specified proposed approach.
B:This explains a later shift in requirements (A customer legitimately travels and needs account availability after successful strong verification.), not the failure of the current proposal.
C:This is an advantage of another design (Replace phishable factors with origin-bound passkeys or equivalent phishing-resistant authentication.), not the particular flaw of Allow every high-value payment when the password is correct.
Question 583
A user from an unfamiliar country makes a high-value transaction immediately after an impossible-travel sign-in anomaly. The organization has now implemented this response: Apply risk-based step-up, transaction limits or denial according to verified policy. Which observation would MOST directly demonstrate that the security objective was met?
- Impostor recovery attempts fail and approved recovery has an accountable audit trail.
- Revocation tests fail for previously issued refresh and access paths after the defined propagation window.
- An approved change ticket for Apply risk-based step-up, transaction limits or denial according to verified policy. without a completed verification result.
- Fraud simulations trigger step-up or denial while ordinary low-risk payments proceed.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Fraud simulations trigger step-up or denial while ordinary low-risk payments proceed. This validates that contextual anomalies justify additional assurance before high-impact operations.
Incorrect Answers
A:This demonstrates controls in another circumstance: A bank's help desk lets anyone reset an administrator's MFA factor after answering two publicly known personal questions.
B:This other observation is relevant to: An employee signs out of a SaaS platform but long-lived API tokens still allow continued account access.
C:An approved change without an executed test cannot prove operating effectiveness. The needed evidence is Fraud simulations trigger step-up or denial while ordinary low-risk payments proceed.
Question 584
A previous security situation was: A user from an unfamiliar country makes a high-value transaction immediately after an impossible-travel sign-in anomaly. Now the requirement changes: A customer legitimately travels and needs account availability after successful strong verification. Which NEW action BEST answers the changed need?
- Apply risk-based step-up, transaction limits or denial according to verified policy.
- Allow every high-value payment when the password is correct.
- Fraud simulations trigger step-up or denial while ordinary low-risk payments proceed.
- Support controlled verification and policy-adjusted recovery without disabling anomaly controls globally.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Adaptive access should balance risk and legitimate exceptions after stronger evidence. The revised action is Support controlled verification and policy-adjusted recovery without disabling anomaly controls globally.
Incorrect Answers
A:This is the appropriate response to the original situation: Contextual anomalies justify additional assurance before high-impact operations. It does not directly meet the new condition.
B:This remains inappropriate: Single-factor success does not resolve anomalous high-risk session conditions.
C:This is a record of how the initial safeguard would be checked, not an action implementing the newly requested condition: Fraud simulations trigger step-up or denial while ordinary low-risk payments proceed.
Question 585
A privileged portal uses SMS codes that users often enter into attacker-operated lookalike sign-in pages. The team must implement a defensible safeguard AND demonstrate that it works. Which TWO entries form that control-and-evidence pair? (Select TWO.)
- Replace phishable factors with origin-bound passkeys or equivalent phishing-resistant authentication.
- Reverse-proxy phishing tests fail for properly registered and enforced authenticators.
- Increase SMS code digits and treat credential phishing as eliminated.
- Use pretested identity-proofed recovery and emergency access with controlled revocation.
- Apply risk-based step-up, transaction limits or denial according to verified policy.
Explanation
Correct Answers
A:Correct control. Origin binding prevents a captured code from authenticating to an unrelated relying party.
B:Correct verification. The specific evidence is: Reverse-proxy phishing tests fail for properly registered and enforced authenticators.
Incorrect Answers
C:Longer codes remain transferable to a live attacker session and do not bind an origin.
D:This concerns a later and different need: Security staff lose their passkeys during a regional hardware issue. Phishing resistance still depends on safe recovery and continuity procedures.
E:The proposed control fits another scenario: A user from an unfamiliar country makes a high-value transaction immediately after an impossible-travel sign-in anomaly. It does not directly address this scenario's primary requirement.
Question 586
A board wants defensible assurance over privileged cloud access, but the security team proposes running unspecified scans. Which recommendation should the security leader make FIRST to address the stated objective?
- A documented plan maps sampled identities and controls to tests, owners, evidence and review findings.
- Commission a carefully authorized penetration exercise with defined rules and protections.
- Define a risk-based assessment scope, test objectives, independence expectations and evidence criteria.
- Run whatever scanner is available and declare compliance from the number of findings.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:An assessment strategy must say which controls, environments and risks the tests will evaluate. The scenario is: A board wants defensible assurance over privileged cloud access, but the security team proposes running unspecified scans.
Incorrect Answers
A:This is useful evidence after implementation, rather than the FIRST recommended decision for this objective. A documented plan maps sampled identities and controls to tests, owners, evidence and review findings.
B:This addresses a distinct subsequent requirement: Management then asks whether the same privileged-access design can resist adversarial misuse. An adversarial effectiveness test differs from the initial broad assurance planning activity.
D:Tool output without criteria and coverage cannot support a meaningful assurance conclusion. The rejected action is: Run whatever scanner is available and declare compliance from the number of findings.
Question 587
A board wants defensible assurance over privileged cloud access, but the security team proposes running unspecified scans. A colleague instead proposes: "Run whatever scanner is available and declare compliance from the number of findings." Which finding BEST explains why the proposal should be rejected?
- It is inadequate only because of a different later condition: Management then asks whether the same privileged-access design can resist adversarial misuse.
- No evidence or governance records should be retained when evaluating this 6.1 decision.
- Tool output without criteria and coverage cannot support a meaningful assurance conclusion.
- Its only deficiency is a missing executive signature, even if the design still fails the stated requirement.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Tool output without criteria and coverage cannot support a meaningful assurance conclusion. This directly invalidates the proposed action: Run whatever scanner is available and declare compliance from the number of findings.
Incorrect Answers
A:The subsequent circumstance is separate and does not explain why this proposed action fails the initial case. An adversarial effectiveness test differs from the initial broad assurance planning activity.
B:Destroying records would weaken oversight and cannot remedy the immediate technical or governance flaw: Tool output without criteria and coverage cannot support a meaningful assurance conclusion.
D:Approval alone cannot fix the specific weakness: Tool output without criteria and coverage cannot support a meaningful assurance conclusion.
Question 588
A board wants defensible assurance over privileged cloud access, but the security team proposes running unspecified scans. After implementing "Define a risk-based assessment scope, test objectives, independence expectations and evidence criteria.", what evidence BEST demonstrates that the intended security outcome is functioning?
- A declaration that no incident has been reported, without exercising the relevant control.
- A meeting record that the alternate design "Commission a carefully authorized penetration exercise with defined rules and protections." was discussed but never tested.
- A documented plan maps sampled identities and controls to tests, owners, evidence and review findings.
- A note proposing to test this exact 6.1 measure in a future quarter.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:A documented plan maps sampled identities and controls to tests, owners, evidence and review findings. This verifies the original requirement because an assessment strategy must say which controls, environments and risks the tests will evaluate.
Incorrect Answers
A:Absence of reported incidents is not a controlled validation of the requirement. A stronger proof is: A documented plan maps sampled identities and controls to tests, owners, evidence and review findings.
B:Discussion of a different design does not demonstrate the deployed control. An adversarial effectiveness test differs from the initial broad assurance planning activity.
D:An unexecuted future plan does not prove current effectiveness for the stated 6.1 objective. The evidence should include: A documented plan maps sampled identities and controls to tests, owners, evidence and review findings.
Question 589
The organization previously faced this problem: A board wants defensible assurance over privileged cloud access, but the security team proposes running unspecified scans. Its requirement then changes: Management then asks whether the same privileged-access design can resist adversarial misuse. Which revised action BEST meets the new requirement?
- Run whatever scanner is available and declare compliance from the number of findings.
- Keep the original 6.1 policy unchanged, and defer the newly identified requirement without a risk decision.
- Commission a carefully authorized penetration exercise with defined rules and protections.
- Define a risk-based assessment scope, test objectives, independence expectations and evidence criteria.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:An adversarial effectiveness test differs from the initial broad assurance planning activity. The appropriate revised action is: Commission a carefully authorized penetration exercise with defined rules and protections.
Incorrect Answers
A:The earlier rejected approach remains inappropriate. Tool output without criteria and coverage cannot support a meaningful assurance conclusion.
B:The new requirement needs an accountable response, not automatic deferral. An adversarial effectiveness test differs from the initial broad assurance planning activity.
D:This addresses the original situation: An assessment strategy must say which controls, environments and risks the tests will evaluate. It does not directly meet the changed requirement: Management then asks whether the same privileged-access design can resist adversarial misuse.
Question 590
A company wants to audit cryptographic key management but has not defined which keys, teams or services are in scope. What should the security manager recommend as the MOST appropriate response to the current requirement?
- Define control objectives, populations, risk-based samples and independent evidence requirements before testing.
- Run random scans against public websites and declare key-management compliance.
- Execute an authorized incident simulation of key compromise and recovery.
- Design tests of recoverability, dependencies and business recovery objectives with acceptable disruption limits.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:A defined assurance strategy makes findings relevant to material key risks. This directly addresses the stated situation.
Incorrect Answers
B:An unrelated scan does not evaluate key creation, custody or revocation. The proposal would not be defensible for this case.
C:This is appropriate for a later condition (Management now asks whether a stolen key can be revoked quickly in practice.), but it does not directly resolve the initial need. Operational response exercise tests a different outcome from initial assurance design.
D:This response addresses a different condition: A board requests proof that a disaster recovery program works, while the operations team submits only policy documents. The present case requires the measure described by Define control objectives, populations, risk-based samples and independent evidence requirements before testing.