View Full ISC CSSLP Exam Dumps and Practice Test Dumps

 

Question 221.

A software team is designing a new administrative API. Which requirement MOST directly supports accountability?

1. Use shared administrator credentials for convenience
2. Require unique administrator identities and record security-relevant actions
3. Disable audit logging to improve performance
4. Allow anonymous administrative requests from internal networks

Correct Answer: 2. Require unique administrator identities and record security-relevant actions

Explanation:

Accountability depends on being able to associate sensitive actions with a specific authenticated identity. Shared accounts make it difficult to determine who performed a change or approved an operation. Unique identities, strong authentication, protected audit logging, and reliable timestamps help establish a trustworthy record of administrative activity. Logs should also be protected from unauthorized modification and reviewed according to the risk of the system.

Question 222.

A secure development team wants to reduce the risk of time-of-check to time-of-use vulnerabilities. Which approach is BEST?

1. Assume a resource cannot change after validation
2. Minimize the interval between check and use and use atomic or transactional mechanisms where possible
3. Perform validation only on the client side
4. Disable concurrency controls

Correct Answer: 2. Minimize the interval between check and use and use atomic or transactional mechanisms where possible

Explanation:

Time-of-check to time-of-use vulnerabilities occur when security assumptions can change between validation and the actual operation. An attacker may alter a file, permission, or other resource during that interval. Atomic operations, transactions, locking, secure handles, and minimizing separate check-and-use steps can reduce the race window. Developers should consider concurrency explicitly when designing security-sensitive workflows.

Question 223.

A web application uses a content security policy. What is its PRIMARY security purpose?

1. Replace server-side authorization
2. Encrypt database records
3. Restrict the sources and types of browser content that may execute or load
4. Increase session lifetime

Correct Answer: 3. Restrict the sources and types of browser content that may execute or load

Explanation:

Content Security Policy can reduce the impact of certain cross-site scripting and content-injection weaknesses by limiting where scripts, styles, frames, and other resources may originate. It is a defense-in-depth control rather than a replacement for secure coding. Applications still need proper output encoding, input handling, authentication, and authorization. A carefully designed policy is more effective than a broad policy that allows unsafe inline or unrestricted content.

Question 224.

A production application unexpectedly starts using a dependency version that was not tested. Which control would BEST reduce this risk?

1. Allow unrestricted dependency updates during deployment
2. Disable package inventories
3. Always use the newest available package automatically
4. Pin or otherwise control dependency versions and build from reproducible definitions

Correct Answer: 4. Pin or otherwise control dependency versions and build from reproducible definitions

Explanation:

Uncontrolled dependency resolution can cause builds to include versions that were never reviewed or tested. Version pinning, lock files, controlled repositories, and reproducible build definitions help ensure that the same approved dependencies are used consistently. Teams must still monitor pinned versions for newly disclosed vulnerabilities and update them through a controlled process when necessary.

Question 225.

Which security property ensures that information is available only to authorized parties?

1. Confidentiality
2. Availability
3. Accountability
4. Nonrepudiation

Correct Answer: 1. Confidentiality

Explanation:

Confidentiality protects information against unauthorized disclosure. Typical controls include encryption, access control, data minimization, secure transport, and appropriate handling of sensitive records. Confidentiality is one of the traditional security objectives alongside integrity and availability. The appropriate controls depend on data sensitivity, business requirements, threats, and regulatory obligations.

Question 226.

A software team wants to protect a highly sensitive operation from compromise of a single credential. Which control is MOST appropriate?

1. Reuse one password across administrators
2. Require multifactor authentication or another independent verification factor
3. Extend session lifetime indefinitely
4. Disable access logging

Correct Answer: 2. Require multifactor authentication or another independent verification factor

Explanation:

Multifactor authentication reduces reliance on a single credential by requiring evidence from more than one independent factor category. If a password is compromised, the attacker may still be unable to complete authentication. The strength of MFA should match the risk of the application and operation. Sensitive actions may also require step-up verification even when the user already has an active session.

Question 227.

A team is evaluating whether a cached response might expose confidential information to another user. Which design concern is MOST relevant?

1. Compiler optimization
2. Database indexing
3. Cache-control behavior and separation of user-specific content
4. Source-code indentation

Correct Answer: 3. Cache-control behavior and separation of user-specific content

Explanation:

Sensitive or user-specific responses should not be cached in ways that allow another user or shared intermediary to retrieve them. Appropriate cache-control headers, authorization-aware caching, and separation of private content help prevent disclosure. Developers should understand how browsers, proxies, CDNs, and application caches handle authenticated responses and ensure that security-sensitive content is treated correctly.

Question 228.

A software system detects that its cryptographic key store has been corrupted. What is the safest response?

1. Generate random replacement values silently and continue
2. Ignore the corruption
3. Disable authentication but continue sensitive processing
4. Enter a controlled secure state and invoke key-recovery or incident procedures

Correct Answer: 4. Enter a controlled secure state and invoke key-recovery or incident procedures

Explanation:

Cryptographic keys underpin confidentiality, integrity, and authentication. If the key store is corrupted, the system should not silently continue as if the keys remain trustworthy. Secure recovery procedures should determine whether keys can be restored from protected backups, rotated, revoked, or replaced. The event should also be logged and assessed for possible compromise rather than treated solely as an operational failure.

Question 229.

Which practice BEST reduces the likelihood that a temporary security workaround becomes permanent?

1. Assign an owner, document the exception, and define an expiration or review date
2. Keep the workaround undocumented
3. Remove it from risk tracking
4. Allow it to remain indefinitely

Correct Answer: 1. Assign an owner, document the exception, and define an expiration or review date

Explanation:

Temporary exceptions frequently become long-lived if they are not governed. A formal record should identify the rationale, residual risk, compensating controls, responsible owner, approval, and a date for review or expiration. This ensures that the workaround remains visible and is reconsidered when conditions change. Security debt should be actively managed rather than silently accumulated.

Question 230.

A software application uses JSON Web Tokens for authorization. Which practice is MOST important when validating a token?

1. Trust any token containing a username
2. Verify the signature and required claims using an explicitly approved algorithm and key
3. Accept expired tokens for convenience
4. Ignore the intended audience

Correct Answer: 2. Verify the signature and required claims using an explicitly approved algorithm and key

Explanation:

Token validation should verify cryptographic integrity and security-relevant claims such as issuer, audience, expiration, and intended use. Implementations should explicitly constrain acceptable algorithms rather than blindly trusting token-provided choices. A correctly formatted token is not necessarily valid. Authorization decisions should also consider current user privileges and resource context rather than depending solely on token presence.

Question 231.

A team wants to reduce denial-of-service risk caused by expensive user-supplied queries. Which control is MOST appropriate?

1. Give each query unlimited processing time
2. Disable authentication
3. Apply resource limits, timeouts, quotas, and query complexity controls
4. Run all queries with administrator privileges

Correct Answer: 3. Apply resource limits, timeouts, quotas, and query complexity controls

Explanation:

Applications should protect finite resources from unbounded user-controlled workloads. Timeouts, quotas, concurrency limits, query complexity controls, and rate limiting help prevent one client from consuming excessive CPU, memory, threads, or database capacity. These controls should be designed carefully so legitimate users can still complete expected workloads. Monitoring can help tune thresholds and detect deliberate abuse.

Question 232.

A software team wants to ensure container images deployed to production come from an approved source. Which control is BEST?

1. Accept any image with a familiar name
2. Allow developers to pull arbitrary public images
3. Disable image scanning
4. Verify signed or otherwise trusted image provenance and enforce admission policy

Correct Answer: 4. Verify signed or otherwise trusted image provenance and enforce admission policy

Explanation:

Container image provenance helps establish whether an image was produced by an approved process and has not been substituted or modified. Admission controls can block unsigned, untrusted, vulnerable, or otherwise noncompliant images before deployment. Image scanning and trusted registries provide additional supply-chain protection. Naming conventions alone do not provide meaningful authenticity assurance.

Question 233.

Which security property is MOST directly concerned with preventing unauthorized modification of information?

1. Integrity
2. Availability
3. Privacy
4. Usability

Correct Answer: 1. Integrity

Explanation:

Integrity means information and systems are protected against unauthorized or improper modification. Controls can include access restrictions, cryptographic hashes, message authentication codes, digital signatures, transaction controls, and audit mechanisms. Integrity requirements are especially important for configuration, financial records, software artifacts, and security policies where unauthorized changes could cause substantial harm.

Question 234.

A secure software team wants to detect malicious packages with names similar to trusted dependencies. What risk is it addressing?

1. Buffer overflow
2. Typosquatting in the software supply chain
3. Cross-site request forgery
4. Race conditions

Correct Answer: 2. Typosquatting in the software supply chain

Explanation:

Typosquatting involves publishing malicious packages with names intentionally similar to legitimate ones in the hope that developers or automated systems install them by mistake. Approved repositories, dependency allowlists, package verification, careful review of names, and automated policy checks can reduce this risk. Developers should avoid casually adding unfamiliar packages directly from public registries.

Question 235.

A software team wants to know whether a security control is operating effectively in production. Which activity is MOST useful?

1. Rely solely on its design documentation
2. Assume successful testing means it will always work
3. Use monitoring and operational metrics tied to the control’s expected behavior
4. Disable telemetry after deployment

Correct Answer: 3. Use monitoring and operational metrics tied to the control’s expected behavior

Explanation:

Security controls can fail because of configuration drift, operational changes, dependency failures, or unexpected usage patterns. Production monitoring can provide evidence that important controls remain active and effective. Useful measurements should be tied to defined security objectives rather than collected without purpose. Monitoring complements pre-release testing and periodic review.

Question 236.

A secure update system receives a correctly signed package with a version number lower than the currently installed secure version. What should it do?

1. Install it automatically because the signature is valid
2. Ignore version information entirely
3. Let anonymous users decide
4. Enforce rollback policy and reject unauthorized downgrade attempts

Correct Answer: 4. Enforce rollback policy and reject unauthorized downgrade attempts

Explanation:

A valid signature may belong to an older release containing known vulnerabilities. Secure update mechanisms should therefore enforce version or rollback policy in addition to verifying signatures. Controlled rollback may be needed for operational recovery, but it should be explicitly authorized and assessed. Attackers should not be able to downgrade a system to a vulnerable version simply because that version was once legitimately signed.

Question 237.

Which practice BEST protects sensitive data used by developers for troubleshooting?

1. Provide only the minimum necessary data and mask sensitive fields when practical
2. Copy full production datasets to personal devices
3. Share customer credentials with developers
4. Disable data-access auditing

Correct Answer: 1. Provide only the minimum necessary data and mask sensitive fields when practical

Explanation:

Troubleshooting should follow the same data minimization and access-control principles as other activities. Developers should receive only the information necessary to diagnose the problem, with sensitive fields masked or tokenized where possible. Production data access should be controlled, temporary where practical, and auditable. Broad copies of real customer data create unnecessary privacy and security exposure.

Question 238.

A development team is considering a framework that automatically disables several dangerous features by default. Which security concept does this MOST directly support?

1. Open design
2. Fail-safe defaults
3. Maximum privilege
4. Least common mechanism

Correct Answer: 2. Fail-safe defaults

Explanation:

Fail-safe defaults favor denying or restricting access unless it is explicitly permitted. Frameworks that disable unnecessary or risky functionality by default reduce the chance that developers unintentionally deploy insecure configurations. Secure defaults are especially valuable because many users never change initial settings. Required features can be enabled deliberately after their risks and controls are understood.

Question 239.

A software organization uses outsourced developers for a critical application. Which practice is MOST important?

1. Assume the supplier follows the organization’s security standards
2. Allow unrestricted access to all internal systems
3. Define contractual security requirements, access controls, assurance activities, and acceptance criteria
4. Avoid reviewing delivered source code

Correct Answer: 3. Define contractual security requirements, access controls, assurance activities, and acceptance criteria

Explanation:

Outsourcing development does not transfer the organization’s software security risk. Contracts and statements of work should define security expectations, development practices, access restrictions, vulnerability handling, intellectual property requirements, assurance evidence, and acceptance criteria. Delivered software should still undergo appropriate review and testing. Supplier access should be limited to what is necessary for the engagement.

Question 240.

Which practice BEST demonstrates mature security ownership throughout the software lifecycle?

1. Assign security only to penetration testers
2. Address security only when a customer reports a problem
3. Treat security requirements as optional recommendations
4. Assign clear responsibilities for security decisions, controls, defects, and risk at every lifecycle stage

Correct Answer: 4. Assign clear responsibilities for security decisions, controls, defects, and risk at every lifecycle stage

Explanation:

Mature software security depends on clear ownership. Requirements need accountable stakeholders, design decisions need review, defects need assigned remediation owners, risk exceptions need authorized decision-makers, and operational vulnerabilities need defined response responsibilities. Shared responsibility does not mean unclear responsibility. Explicit ownership and governance help ensure that important security work is not overlooked as software moves through development, deployment, maintenance, and retirement.