CCT 129: Practice CISSP Questions – Deprovisioning and Role Definitions (D5.5.2-3)

Cybersecurity isn't just a buzzword—it's the fortress between your data and a barrage of cyber threats. I'm Sean Gerber, and in this deep-dive session, we confront the stark reality of a world where ransomware attacks have soared, as per a Scottish non-profit's alarming statistics. Doubling down on the urgency for cyber resilience, we underscore the critical need for skilled professionals in this high-stakes domain. Prepare to navigate through the gritty nuances of user account provisioning, from the pivotal inception of user data collection to the often-overlooked, yet crucial final steps in deprovisioning. This isn't just theory; it's the practical know-how that fortifies businesses against the ever-present specter of cybercrime.

Shift gears and join the frontline of digital defense as we dissect identity governance and access management—pillars of a secure online infrastructure. Drawing from the CISSP playbook, we unravel the sophisticated layers of multi-factor authentication, the streamlined efficiency of single sign-on solutions, and the wisdom in wielding the principle of least privilege. Whether you're gunning for CISSP certification or just have a vested interest in cybersecurity, our conversation is the ammunition you need to guard against the human errors that often lay organizations bare to attacks. Tune in for a session that promises to arm you with the insights and strategies to safeguard our digital world.

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TRANSCRIPT

Speaker 1: 0:00 

Welcome to the CISSP Cyber Training Podcast, where we provide you the training and tools you need to pass the CISSP exam the first time. Hi, my name is Sean Gerber and I'm your host for this action-packed, informative podcast. Join me each week as I provide the information you need to pass the CISSP exam and grow your cybersecurity knowledge. All right, let's get started. Let's go cybersecurity knowledge.

Speaker 2: 0:28 

All right, let's get started. Hey all, it's Sean Gerber with CISSP Cyber Training, and today is CISSP Question Thursday and we're going to be talking about some of the questions that came from our last podcast that occurred on Monday, as it relates to domain five of the CISSP exam. So we're going to get into some questions that you may anticipate to potentially see for the exam. Obviously, we going to get into some questions that you may anticipate to potentially see for the exam. Obviously, we talk about this routinely. These are not questions that would be found on the exam per se. These are questions that you may see that are similar to that on the test. But the bottom line is we're trying to teach you how can you respond, how can you understand these questions as you go to get ready to take the test.

Speaker 2: 1:03 

Before we get started, I wanted to bring up an article that I saw while I was getting ready to do this podcast, and this comes out of a Scottish non-profit incident response center that has indicating they've had a uptick in ransomware attacks, and these from 123 instances to 263 in 23 and 24. So they're seeing a massive increase. So basically, 100% increase over the period of one year and that's substantial in the fact that you're now dealing with these cyber crimes and it's directly impacting businesses in a very substantial way. I read an article yesterday where it was talking about the business resiliency for overall companies in general has actually gone down from the year prior. So what it's saying is that attacks are going up and people feel like in the past they felt somewhat resilient, that they could withstand these, but actually that sentiment is now going down because there's just more attacks and people don't feel like they're properly prepared. It talks about here where in this article that they confirmed some patient data has been obviously taken over and was by a ransom group. They've been having a lot of different ransom groups hit them, but one of the main ones that have actually been is black basta lock bit and akira were the most commonly reported ones in this past year.

Speaker 2: 2:26 

Now the fraud case is expected over $33 million and, as we know, that's a pretty substantial amount of money, especially when you're dealing with a smaller country that maybe doesn't have the same level of funds or the same amount of people that can manage all of that. So $33 million is a lot of money and I come back to the point of it's all this money for nothing. You're basically paying money for your data that you had before that unfortunately now is unavailable to you, and the sad part is is you can't guarantee that these individuals have left your organization, even though they give you the keys to unencrypt your data. So this nonprofit is dealing with right now they said over 153 cases, most of which are dealing with investment fraud and business email compromises, impersonation fraud and then obviously, redirect and safe account scams. So you're seeing more of this stuff coming down and it's just going to continue to grow.

Speaker 2: 3:19 

So I bring all this up to be to the fact that you, as cybersecurity professionals whether you're in your beginning in your journey or you are further along, it really comes down to you you owe a responsibility to people to help them understand this risk and to work through this risk. What I'm realizing more and more is that there's so many people out there they don't understand the technology and they're looking to someone to come help. I say, with a cape on, come save them. But in reality, we need more security professionals that really truly understand the risk but can convey that in a way that helps these individuals better, make their systems and their businesses more resilient, because at the end of all of this, if we don't do that, these businesses are going to close up. They're going to close shop because they can't operate, and it's a bad thing for everyone when fraudsters are taking advantage of businesses. I'm owning a business myself. It's very challenging just to be able to make a profit, let alone even just pay the bills. So you have these situations that come up where your entire environment is encrypted and you've done nothing other than potentially clicking on a link that you maybe shouldn't have but maybe didn't even know. So, again, you, as cybersecurity professionals, it's important for you to get your CISSP, get out there in the market and help people with these situations, to help protect them from the bad guys and gals and the evil hacker horde. All right, so let's get started on what we're going to be talking about today with domain five CISSP questions.

Speaker 2: 4:50 

Okay, question one what is the first step in a user account provisioning process? A assign roles based on job function. B creating login credentials. C collecting user information. Or. D granting access to resources. So question one what is the first step in the user account provisioning process? And the answer is C collecting user information. Right, you want to be able to get the information you need that is set especially, I can't even speak, I don't know. It's important, yeah, to establish your digital identity for the organization, so you want to be able to get the user's information for that Did that just recently. You have to have name, date of birth, all those fun things has to be accomplished, so you want to get that account provisioning done as soon as possible.

Speaker 2: 5:38 

Question two during the deprovisioning process, which action is generally performed last disabling user access? B archiving user data, c notifying the user or d logging the d provisioning action. So during the deep provisioning process, which action is generally performed last and your disabling user access isn't last? Archiving the user data might be last. Notifying the user was usually on the front end of it and then the back end is logging the deprovisioning action, right. So logging when you're done is typically the last step in maintaining an audit trail for compliance and security monitoring purposes. So you want to be able to log it that the deprovisioning did occur.

Speaker 2: 6:19 

Question three which of the following is least important when determining roles and access requirements? So which of the following is least important when determining roles and access requirements A the user's job title. B the user's personal preferences. C the principle of least privilege or. D the user's responsibilities. So which of the following is least important when determining roles and access requirements? And obviously it's B. Their personal preferences are usually the last on any of that. I don't think anybody ever really cared too much about my personal preferences as it relates to these accounts. So access should be based on your job responsibilities and the principle of least privilege, not your personal preferences.

Speaker 2: 7:03 

Question four in the context of offboarding, what is a primary concern? So, in the context of offboarding, what is a primary concern? So, in the context of off-boarding, what is the primary concern? A the users complete all pending work. B revoking access to all company resources. C conducting an exit interview or. C providing a farewell party. Okay, I just left my company and no one gave me a party. That's terrible. They said they're going to. We'll see if they do Now. Question four in the context of off-boarding, what is the primary concern? And the answer is B revoking access to all company resources, right? So once a person leaves a company, you want to revoke those resources as soon as possible. Again, you want to be able to revoke them so that they cannot potentially have access back into your network once they leave the company. Question five Regular account maintenance activities include all of the following, except what A Updating user roles, b Changing user passwords, c Monitoring user behavior or. D Increasing access privileges regularly. So question five is regular account maintenance activities include all of the following except D increasing access privileges regularly. Again, you want to basically ensure that you're not going to keep increasing them on a regular basis unless it's absolutely needed. The ultimate goal is you actually want to go in and remove access more regularly than actually granting access more regularly.

Speaker 2: 8:32 

Question six which of the following best describes identity governance? A a framework for managing user identities and access rights. B a tool for monitoring network activity or network traffic. C a database for storing user credentials or. D a protocol for encrypting data transmissions. Which of the following best describes identity governance? And the answer is A a framework for managing user identities and access rights. So identity governance is an important part of any organization and these would include your policies, your processes, technologies and so forth, and that was helped to manage and secure the identities of individuals within your company. So you really want to follow some sort of framework, and the framework's important because if you have that already established, you now can just go through and go step A, step B, step C, and you don't have to be guessing. What should you do from an identity standpoint?

Speaker 2: 9:23 

Question seven privileged access management or PAM tools are a primary use for what? Okay, so not the spray for your cooking. It is a tool. What is it? What is a PAM? A privileged access management tool? What are they used for? A managing public Wi-Fi networks. B securing and monitoring privileged accounts. C implementing email encryption. Or. D facilitating single sign-on for social media platforms facilitating single sign-on for social media platforms. So what is a PAM? Basically, a PAM is a really cool password management tool password management vault per se. So it would be B securing your, monitoring, your privileged accounts. You should have a PAM-type solution for all of your elevated accounts within your organization.

Speaker 2: 10:06 

I highly recommend that you shouldn't have your individuals have their own access to their admin accounts that are significant for your organization. I highly recommend that you shouldn't have your individuals have their own access to their admin accounts that are significant for your organization. Obviously, local admin is one thing, but when you have like domain admin for your organization, you wouldn't want that stored on a person's computer. You'd want that stored in a PAM and, again, the PAM would be something that would be very valuable for your organization. They're also very expensive, but they can be very valuable for your company. They're also very expensive, but they can be very valuable for your company.

Speaker 2: 10:31 

Multi-factor authentication enhances security by what? Requiring a single complex password. B requiring multiple forms of verification to authenticate a user. C encrypting user data at rest. Or D scanning for malware on user devices. So multi-factor authentication enhances security by what? And the answer is B requiring multiple forms of verification to authenticate a user. Again, the purpose of that is to ensure that something potentially you know, ie a password, something that you have would be like a security token. You may be something you are, such as biometric verifications. Again, these are all things that are in place that you would like to have them use for multi-factor. Now I read an article that were talking about multi-factors being abused more and more, just because I think there was a recent Apple hack where they're using something along those lines and people are just getting through MFA fatigue and they're just basically clicking, clicking, clicking and that's a problem as well. So it's the user. The user will get you in trouble almost every time. That's why you guys, as security professionals need to teach them and then be cognizant and understand and keep doing it all the time.

Speaker 2: 11:44 

Single sign-on is beneficial because what? Okay, so SSO or single sign-on is beneficial because of what? A it allows users to have different passwords for each application. B it reduces the number of passwords users need to remember. C it increases the complexity of the authentication process. And D it eliminates the need for passwords altogether. So Single sign-on is beneficial because it is B. Now it can increase the complexity. Obviously you can enforce that with single sign-on, but it's B reduces the number of passwords needed to remember. That's the ultimate purpose is that you don't have all those, because most people have reused these passwords over and over again, and so if you can limit the amount of passwords that people use, that'd be great. And then you can enforce a complex password on that overall process. Then you can also add some level of multi-factor authentication into it as well. And now you've done a good job of at least helping to protect yourself from your employees, at least a little bit.

Speaker 2: 12:40 

Which of the following is not a typical responsibility of identity governance solution? So question 10, which of the following is not a typical responsibility of an identity governance solution? A enforcing compliance with access policies. B managing the storage of physical files. C administering the user roles and access privileges or. D conducting access reviews and audits. So which of the following is not a typical responsibility of an identity governance solution? Okay, so all of those are typical kind of an identity governance solution, right, enforcing compliance, administrating user roles and then conducting access reviews and audits, except, obviously be managing the storage of physical files. That's typically not part of a identity governance solution because that's storing files. So you don't really want to worry about that. You want to focus on digital identities. Access policies, rules and compliance are part of your identity Governance solution.

Speaker 2: 13:36 

Sorry, question 11, principle of least privilege is important because it A allows users to perform a job without unnecessary restrictions. B it ensures users have access to all information they might need. C it minimizes the risk for data breaches by limiting user access to only what is necessary. Or, d it makes it easier for users to remember their passwords. So, again, the principle of least privilege is important because it does what? Okay, what does it do? It minimizes the risk of data breaches by limiting user access to only what is necessary and required for their job. Again, that is what we call least privilege the rest of the part. I mean, you just want to basically get down to the point where they don't have access to everything that they want. They have access to only the things they need.

Speaker 2: 14:25 

Question 12, which statement is most accurate regarding deprovisioning process? So which statement is the most accurate regarding the deprovisioning process? A it should be delayed until user has returned all company property. B it is the same as offboarding process. D it should be initiated as soon as user employment ends. Or D it only involves disabling the user email accounts. So the most accurate around deprovisioning is c it should be initiated as soon as the employee, user, employer, user's employment ends. Okay, again, this should be a happen immediately. Now, in the case of myself, I worked for a couple weeks after I left, but just the day that I I walked out the door, they then, in turn, turned off my account and I didn't really have access to anything cool, but it turned it all off.

Speaker 2: 15:13 

Question 13. In a privileged access management session, monitoring is used to do what? So in a PAM session, monitoring is used to do what? Okay, so if you have a PAM session, you're logging in, you're using the PAM tool. What's happening? A it provides users with remote access to company resources. B it tracks and record privileged sessions for auditing and forensic purposes. C it encrypts communication between the user's device and company servers. Or D it facilitates the sharing of user credentials among team members. So it does a lot of those, but what is it the session monitoring used for? And it is B to track and record privileged sessions for auditing and forensic purposes.

Speaker 2: 15:53 

Question 14, the main goal of single sign-on is to do what? A increase the number of passwords required for authentication. C to improve the user experience by simplifying the authentication process. C replace passwords with biometric authentication methods. Or D store all user passwords in a centralized database. Again, the main goal of a single sign-on is to do what? And it is to improve the user experience by simplifying the authentication process. Again, sso is to improve user experience by this simplification and it allows you to have access to multiple applications with one set of credentials. Question 15, the last melon.

Speaker 2: 16:35 

Which of the following is least likely to implement multi-factor authentication? Which of the following is the least likely reason for implementing multi-factor authentication A to comply with regulatory requirements. B to reduce the risk of unauthorized access. C to increase the speed of authentication process. Or. D, to add extra layer of security. So which of the following is the least likely reason for implementing multi-factor authentication? And it is C, to increase the speed of authentication process. Again, mfa. That is the least likely reason for MFA, probably, if anything, will probably slow down the authentication process because you have to go now, get to your phone and do the clicky clicky thing to make that happen. But at the end of it, it's a much more secure solution than just having usernames and passwords. Okay, that's all I have for you today.

Speaker 2: 17:26 

Head on over to CISSP Cyber Training.

Speaker 2: 17:28 

Check out my blueprint.

Speaker 2: 17:30 

It's amazing. You will be very happy with the blueprint. It's part of the packages that I offer on the site that you can gain access to. Watch out for any sort of sales that I have coming out. I have those out every once a month. Once every couple of months You'll see one that comes out. If you're interested in my product, you can purchase it there. Great product, you will be very, very happy with it, I guarantee. The other thing is is the fact that if you want just the free stuff, I have tons of free stuff on my site that's available to you, including the videos of these podcasts as well as the podcasts themselves. Those are all there and available to you at cisspcybertrainingcom and it'll help you walk you through this entire process. Again, go out to cisspcybertrainingcom, check it out. Again, I'm here to help you pass your CISSP exam. That's what I'm here for. It's why I want you to be successful and, again, we're excited to be part of this journey with you. Have a wonderful day and we will catch you on the flip side, see ya.

QUESTIONS

Question 1: What is the first step in the user account provisioning process?

1. Assigning roles based on job function
2. Creating login credentials
3. Collecting user information
4. Granting access to resources

Correct Answer: C. Collecting user information Explanation: The first step in the user account provisioning process is collecting user information. This is essential to establish a digital identity within the organization and to ensure that subsequent steps, such as assigning roles and creating credentials, are based on accurate data.

Question 2: During the deprovisioning process, which action is generally performed last?

1. Disabling user access
2. Archiving user data
3. Notifying the user
4. Logging the deprovisioning action

Correct Answer: D. Logging the deprovisioning action Explanation: Logging the deprovisioning action is typically the last step to maintain an audit trail for compliance and security monitoring purposes. It provides a record of when and how the user’s access was revoked.

Question 3: Which of the following is the least important when determining roles and access requirements?

1. The user’s job title
2. The user’s personal preferences
3. The principle of least privilege
4. The user’s job responsibilities

Correct Answer: B. The user’s personal preferences Explanation: When determining roles and access requirements, the user’s personal preferences are the least important. Access should be based on job responsibilities and the principle of least privilege, not personal preferences.

Question 4: In the context of offboarding, what is the primary concern?

1. Ensuring the user completes all pending work
2. Revoking access to all company resources
3. Conducting an exit interview
4. Providing a farewell party

Correct Answer: B. Revoking access to all company resources Explanation: The primary concern during offboarding is revoking access to all company resources to prevent unauthorized access or data breaches after the user’s departure.

Question 5: Regular account maintenance activities include all of the following EXCEPT:

1. Updating user roles
2. Changing user passwords
3. Monitoring user behavior
4. Increasing access privileges regularly

Correct Answer: D. Increasing access privileges regularly Explanation: Regular account maintenance does not typically include increasing access privileges regularly. Instead, it involves updating roles, changing passwords, and monitoring behavior to maintain security.

Question 6: Which of the following best describes Identity Governance?

1. A framework for managing user identities and access rights
2. A tool for monitoring network traffic
3. A database for storing user credentials
4. A protocol for encrypting data transmissions

Correct Answer: A. A framework for managing user identities and access rights Explanation: Identity Governance is a framework that includes policies, processes, and technologies to manage and secure user identities and access rights within an organization.

Question 7: Privileged Access Management (PAM) tools are primarily used for:

1. Managing public Wi-Fi networks
2. Securing and monitoring privileged accounts
3. Implementing email encryption
4. Facilitating SSO for social media platforms

Correct Answer: B. Securing and monitoring privileged accounts Explanation: PAM tools are used to secure and monitor privileged accounts, which have elevated access and pose a higher risk if compromised.

Question 8: Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) enhances security by:

1. Requiring a single, complex password
2. Requiring multiple forms of verification to authenticate a user
3. Encrypting user data at rest
4. Scanning for malware on user devices

Correct Answer: B. Requiring multiple forms of verification to authenticate a user Explanation: MFA enhances security by requiring multiple forms of verification, such as something the user knows (password), has (security token), and is (biometric verification), making unauthorized access more difficult.

Question 9: Single Sign-On (SSO) is beneficial because it:

1. Allows users to have different passwords for each application
2. Reduces the number of passwords users need to remember
3. Increases the complexity of the authentication process
4. Eliminates the need for passwords altogether

Correct Answer: B. Reduces the number of passwords users need to remember Explanation: SSO simplifies the authentication process by allowing users to access multiple applications with a single set of credentials, reducing the number of passwords they need to remember.

Question 10: Which of the following is NOT a typical responsibility of an Identity Governance solution?

1. Enforcing compliance with access policies
2. Managing the storage of physical files
3. Administering user roles and access privileges
4. Conducting access reviews and audits

Correct Answer: B. Managing the storage of physical files Explanation: Identity Governance solutions are not typically responsible for managing the storage of physical files. Their focus is on digital identities, access policies, roles, and compliance.

Question 11: The principle of least privilege is important because it:

1. Allows users to perform their job without unnecessary restrictions
2. Ensures that users have access to all the information they might need
3. Minimizes the risk of data breaches by limiting user access to only what is necessary
4. Makes it easier for users to remember their passwords

Correct Answer: C. Minimizes the risk of data breaches by limiting user access to only what is necessary Explanation: The principle of least privilege is important for security because it limits user access to only the resources necessary for their job, reducing the potential impact of a compromise.

Question 12: Which statement is most accurate regarding the deprovisioning process?

1. It should be delayed until the user has returned all company property
2. It is the same as the offboarding process
3. It should be initiated as soon as the user’s employment ends
4. It only involves disabling the user’s email account

Correct Answer: C. It should be initiated as soon as the user’s employment ends Explanation: Deprovisioning should be initiated immediately when a user’s employment ends to ensure that access to company resources is revoked promptly to maintain security.

Question 13: In Privileged Access Management (PAM), session monitoring is used to:

1. Provide users with remote access to company resources
2. Track and record privileged sessions for auditing and forensic purposes
3. Encrypt communication between the user’s device and company servers
4. Facilitate the sharing of user credentials among team members

Correct Answer: B. Track and record privileged sessions for auditing and forensic purposes Explanation: Session monitoring in PAM is used to track and record privileged sessions, providing an audit trail and aiding in forensic analysis if a security incident occurs.

Question 14: The main goal of Single Sign-On (SSO) is to:

1. Increase the number of passwords required for authentication
2. Improve the user experience by simplifying the authentication process
3. Replace passwords with biometric authentication methods
4. Store all user passwords in a centralized database

Correct Answer: B. Improve the user experience by simplifying the authentication process Explanation: The main goal of SSO is to improve the user experience by simplifying the authentication process, allowing access to multiple applications with one set of credentials.

Question 15: Which of the following is the least likely reason for implementing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)?

1. To comply with regulatory requirements
2. To reduce the risk of unauthorized access
3. To increase the speed of the authentication process
4. To add an extra layer of security

Correct Answer: C. To increase the speed of the authentication process Explanation: MFA is not typically implemented to increase the speed of the authentication process; in fact, it may slightly slow it down. However, the added security and compliance benefits far outweigh this minor inconvenience.