Perform Architectural Risk Assessment and Design Reviews CSSLP Practice Questions (Page 4)

Questions 16–20

1. 16application · medium

   A retail company is designing a new e-commerce platform that will handle customer orders and payments. The architecture includes a web application, a payment processing service, and a legacy inventory system. The team is performing an architectural risk assessment and is examining the data flows between components. They notice that the payment processing service sends transaction data to the legacy inventory system over an unencrypted internal network. What is the most appropriate way to categorize this risk?

   • AA trust boundary violation because the data crosses from a secure zone to a less secure zone without protection.
   • BA low-priority risk because the internal network is trusted.
   • CA compliance issue only, since the data is on an internal network and not exposed to the internet.
   • DA denial of service risk because the legacy system may not handle the load.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
2. 17application · medium

   A financial services company is designing a new customer-facing web application that will process loan applications. The architecture uses a microservices approach with an API gateway, a set of internal services, and a shared relational database. During the architectural risk assessment, the team identifies that the API gateway authenticates users but does not enforce fine-grained authorization, allowing any authenticated user to invoke any internal service endpoint. What is the most appropriate next step in the risk assessment process?

   • AAccept the risk because the application is new and the vulnerability may not be exploited.
   • BDocument the risk and assign a likelihood and impact score to prioritize it for mitigation.
   • CRedesign the architecture to remove the API gateway and have each service handle its own authentication.
   • DImmediately implement a new authorization mechanism at the API gateway to close the vulnerability.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
4. 18application · medium

   A team is conducting a design review of a new online banking application. The architecture includes a web server, an application server, and a database. The reviewer notices that the application server directly accesses the database using a highly privileged account. Which security best practice is being violated?

   • AFail secure
   • BLeast privilege
   • CDefense in depth
   • DSeparation of duties
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
5. 19application · medium

   A company is integrating architectural risk assessment and design review activities into its SDLC. The security team wants to ensure that security is considered throughout the design phase. Which approach best integrates these activities?

   • AConduct the risk assessment only after the design is complete to avoid bias.
   • BConduct a design review after the risk assessment to validate that identified risks have been addressed.
   • CUse the design review as a replacement for the risk assessment to save time.
   • DPerform a risk assessment and design review iteratively, using findings from each to inform the other.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
6. 20application · medium

   A team is threat modeling a new social media application. They are using the STRIDE methodology and are analyzing the threat of an attacker spoofing a user's identity to post unauthorized content. Which STRIDE category does this threat fall under?

   • ATampering
   • BSpoofing
   • CInformation Disclosure
   • DRepudiation
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first