CCAK Exam Dumps : Certificate of Cloud Auditing Knowledge

In the context of cloud operationalization, “below the waterline” refers to the aspects of cloud services that are managed and controlled by the cloud service provider (CSP) rather than the customer. This analogy is often used to describe the shared responsibility model in cloud computing, where the CSP is responsible for the infrastructure’s security and stability, akin to the submerged part of an iceberg that supports the structure above water. The customer, on the other hand, is responsible for managing the controls and security measures “above the waterline,” which include the applications, data, and access management they deploy in the cloud environment.

References = The information provided is based on standard cloud computing models and the shared responsibility concept, which is a fundamental principle discussed in cloud auditing and security literature, including the CCAK curriculum and related resources1.

Role-based access controls (RBAC) are a method of restricting access to resources based on the roles of individual users within an organization. RBAC allows administrators to assign permissions to roles, rather than to specific users, and then assign users to those roles. This simplifies the management of access rights and reduces the risk of unauthorized or excessive access. RBAC is especially important for ensuring adequate restriction on the number of people who can access the pipeline production environment, which is the final stage of the continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) process where code is deployed to the end-users. Access to the production environment should be limited to only those who are responsible for deploying, monitoring, and maintaining the code, such as production engineers, release managers, or site reliability engineers. Developers, testers, or other stakeholders should not have access to the production environment, as this could compromise the security, quality, and performance of the code. RBAC can help enforce this separation of duties and responsibilities by defining different roles for different pipeline stages and granting appropriate permissions to each role. For example, developers may have permission to create, edit, and test code in the development pipeline, but not to deploy or modify code in the production pipeline. Conversely, production engineers may have permission to deploy, monitor, and troubleshoot code in the production pipeline, but not to create or edit code in the development pipeline. RBAC can also help implement the principle of least privilege, which states that users should only have the minimum level of access required to perform their tasks. This reduces the attack surface and minimizes the potential damage in case of a breach or misuse. RBAC can be configured at different levels of granularity, such as at the organization, project, or object level, depending on the needs and complexity of the organization. RBAC can also leverage existing identity and access management (IAM) solutions, such as Azure Active Directory or AWS IAM, to integrate with cloud services and applications.

References:

Set pipeline permissions - Azure Pipelines

Azure DevOps: Access, Roles and Permissions

Cloud Computing — What IT Auditors Should Really Know

When applying the Top Threats Analysis methodology following an incident, the scope of the technical impact identification step is to determine the impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the information system. The Top Threats Analysis methodology is a framework developed by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) to help organizations identify, analyze, and mitigate the most critical threats to cloud computing. The methodology consists of six steps: threat identification, threat analysis, technical impact identification, business impact analysis, risk assessment, and risk treatment12.

The technical impact identification step is the third step of the methodology, and it aims to assess how the incident affected the security properties of the information system, namely confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Confidentiality refers to the protection of data from unauthorized access or disclosure. Integrity refers to the protection of data from unauthorized modification or deletion. Availability refers to the protection of data and services from disruption or denial. The technical impact identification step can help organizations to understand the severity and extent of the incident and its consequences on the information system12.

The other options are not within the scope of the technical impact identification step. Option A, determine the impact on the controls that were selected by the organization to respond to identified risks, is not within the scope because it is part of the risk treatment step, which is the sixth and final step of the methodology. Option C, determine the impact on the physical and environmental security of the organization, excluding informational assets, is not within the scope because it is not related to the information system or its security properties. Option D, determine the impact on the financial, operational, compliance, and reputation of the organization, is not within the scope because it is part of the business impact analysis step, which is the fourth step of the methodology. References :=

Top Threats Analysis Methodology - CSA1

Top Threats Analysis Methodology - Cloud Security Alliance