ISC CCSP - Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)

Enveloping is a nonsense term, unrelated to risk management. The rest are not.

Data masking does not support authentication in any way. All the others are excellent use cases for data masking.

The jurisdictions where data is being stored, processed, or consumed are the ones that dictate the regulatory frameworks and compliance requirements, regardless of who the data owner or custodian might be. The other concepts for protecting data would all play a prominent role in regulatory compliance with a move to the cloud environment. Each concept needs to be evaluated based on the new configurations as well as any potential changes in jurisdiction or requirements introduced with the move to a cloud.

Regardless of the particular cloud service used, physical security of hardware and facilities is always the sole responsibility of the cloud provider. The cloud provider may release information about their physical security policies and procedures to ensure any particular requirements of potential customers will meet their regulatory obligations. Personal security of developers and regulatory compliance are always the responsibility of the cloud customer. Responsibility for operating systems, and the auditing of them, will differ based on the cloud service category used.

A network-based IDS has the advantage of being segregated from host systems, and as such, it would not be open to compromise in the same manner a host-based system would be. Although a network-based IDS would be external to system patching, this is not the best answer here because it is a minor concern compared to segregation due to possible host compromise. Scalability is also not the best answer because, although a network-based IDS does remove processing from the host system, it is not a primary security concern. Network access is not a consideration because both a host-based IDS and a network-based IDS would have access to network resources.

A limit puts a maximum value on the amount of resources that may be consumed by either a system, a service, or a cloud customer. It is commonly used to prevent one entity from consuming enormous amounts of resources and having an operational impact on other tenants within the same cloud system. Limits can either be hard or somewhat flexible, meaning a customer can borrow from other customers while still having their actual limit preserved. A reservation is a guarantee to a cloud customer that a certain level of resources will always be available to them, regardless of what operational demands are currently placed on the cloud environment. Both cap and throttle are terms that sound similar to limit, but they are not the correct terms in this case.

The management plane uses APIs to execute remote calls across the cloud environment to various management systems, especially hypervisors. This allows a centralized administrative interface, often a web portal, to orchestrate tasks throughout an enterprise. Scripts may be utilized to execute API calls, but they are not used directly to interact with systems. XML is used for data encoding and transmission, but not for executing remote calls. TLS is used to encrypt communications and may be used with API calls, but it is not the actual process for executing commands.

A reservation guarantees to a cloud customer that they will have access to a minimal level of resources to run their systems, which will help mitigate against DoS attacks or systems that consume high levels of resources. A limit refers to the enforcement of a maximum level of resources that can be consumed by or allocated to a cloud customer, service, or system. Both guarantee and assurance are terms that sound similar to reservation, but they are not correct choices.

To monitor data at rest appropriately, the DLP solution would be installed on the host system where the data resides. A database server, in some situations, may be an appropriate answer, but the host system is the best answer because a database server is only one example of where data could reside. An application server processes data and typically sits between the data and presentation zones, and as such, does not store data at rest. A network firewall would be more appropriate for data in transit because it is not a place where data would reside.

Multitenancy is the aspect of cloud computing that involves having multiple customers and applications running within the same system and sharing the same resources. Although considerable mechanisms are in place to ensure isolation and separation, the data and applications are ultimately using shared resources. Broad network access refers to the ability to access cloud services from any location or client. Portability refers to the ability to easily move cloud services between different cloud providers, whereas elasticity refers to the capabilities of a cloud environment to add or remove services, as needed, to meet current demand.

Fault tolerance allows a system to continue functioning, even with degraded performance, if portions of it fail or degrade, without the entire system or service being taken down. It can detect problems within a service and invoke compensating systems or functions to keep functionality going. Although redundancy is similar to fault tolerance, it is more focused on having additional copies of systems available, either active or passive, that can take up services if one system goes down. Elasticity pertains to the ability of a system to resize to meet demands, but it is not focused on system failures. Automation, and its role in maintaining large systems with minimal intervention, is not directly related to fault tolerance.

The create phase encompasses any time data is created, imported, or modified. With any change in the content or value of data, the classification may also change. It must be continually reevaluated to ensure proper security. During the use, share, and archive phases, the data is not modified in any way, so the original classification is still relevant.

The question is describing the Platform as a Service (PaaS) cloud offering, and as such, structured and unstructured storage types will be available to the customer. Volume and object are storage types associated with IaaS, and although the other answers present similar-sounding storage types, they are a mix of real and fake names.

A reservation guarantees to a cloud customer that they will have access to a minimal level of resources to run their systems, which will help mitigate against DoS attacks or systems that consume high levels of resources. A reservation pertains to memory and CPU resources. Under the concept of a reservation, memory and CPU are the guaranteed resources, but storage and networking are not included even though they are core components of cloud computing. Software would be out of scope for a guarantee and doesn't really pertain to the concept.

Within a SaaS implementation, the cloud customer licenses the use of the software from the cloud provider because SaaS delivers a fully functional application to the customer. With SaaS, the cloud provider is responsible for the entire software application and any necessary infrastructure to develop, run, and maintain it. The purchasing, development, and maintenance are fully the responsibility of the cloud provider.