Pass the WGU Courses and Certificates Managing-Cloud-Security Questions and answers with Dumpstech

A cloud-based DDoS protection strategy helps mitigate attacks by rerouting traffic to specialized mitigation services. Managing Cloud guidance explains that cloud providers leverage large-scale, distributed infrastructures capable of absorbing and filtering massive volumes of malicious traffic.

When an attack is detected, traffic is redirected to scrubbing centers or mitigation platforms that analyze and filter malicious packets before forwarding legitimate traffic to the target application. This prevents backend systems from becoming overwhelmed and ensures service availability.

The other options provide limited protection. Load balancing and multiple endpoints distribute traffic but do not filter attacks, and scaling applications may still fail under volumetric attacks. Therefore, rerouting traffic to mitigation services is the most effective strategy.

Key escrow is the management process that involves multiple key holders, where each party has access to a portion of the cryptographic information. Managing Cloud principles explain that key escrow is designed to ensure availability and recoverability of encrypted data while maintaining security controls.

In this model, encryption keys are stored securely with trusted third parties or divided among multiple custodians. No single individual has full access to the complete key, reducing the risk of misuse or compromise. Key escrow is often used to support compliance, lawful access requirements, and business continuity needs, ensuring that encrypted data can be recovered if the primary key holder is unavailable.

The other options do not fit this definition. Recovery refers to restoring keys or data, revocation disables compromised keys, and distribution focuses on delivering keys to authorized systems. Therefore, escrow is the correct answer.

A rollback is the safeguard that restores a system to its previous, stable state when a new code release introduces issues. In DevOps workflows, rollbacks provide a rapid recovery mechanism, reducing downtime and minimizing customer impact.

Staging, code review, and testing are preventive controls that reduce the likelihood of defects reaching production, but once a bug has already been deployed, rollback is the corrective control.

Rollback strategies often rely on version control systems, container orchestration, or infrastructure-as-code automation to quickly revert to earlier configurations. This practice is essential for maintaining reliability and availability, especially in cloud environments with continuous deployment pipelines.

The Stored Communications Act (SCA) restricts the government’s ability to force a cloud service provider to disclose customer data. Managing Cloud guidance explains that the SCA establishes legal protections for stored electronic communications and customer records held by service providers.

The act defines conditions under which government entities may request access to stored data, requiring appropriate legal processes such as warrants or court orders. This provides a level of privacy protection for cloud customers and limits unauthorized or excessive disclosure.

GLBA focuses on financial data, SOX addresses corporate governance, and ECPA is broader legislation that includes the SCA but does not directly define cloud disclosure limitations on its own. Therefore, SCA is the correct answer.

Backup generators are an appropriate countermeasure for mitigating the risk of a power outage at a cloud service provider. Managing Cloud principles explain that ensuring continuous power supply is a core responsibility of the provider’s physical infrastructure management.

Backup generators, along with redundant power feeds and uninterruptible power supplies, allow data centers to continue operating during power failures. This ensures availability, resilience, and continuity of cloud services.

Database replication and storage replication address data availability, while web application firewalls protect against application-layer attacks. They do not mitigate power loss. Therefore, backup generators are the correct countermeasure.

Information bleed is a risk associated with the Platform as a Service (PaaS) cloud model. Managing Cloud principles explain that PaaS environments are inherently multi-tenant, with multiple customers sharing the same underlying platform components such as runtimes, databases, and middleware.

If isolation controls are weak or misconfigured, data from one tenant may inadvertently become accessible to another. This unintended exposure is referred to as information bleed and represents a significant confidentiality risk in shared environments.

Guest escape is primarily related to virtualization at the infrastructure layer, software interoperability is a functional concern, and web application security applies across all service models. Therefore, information bleed is the most relevant PaaS-specific risk.

Retention periods define how long data must be stored to meet regulatory and compliance requirements. Managing Cloud guidance explains that laws and regulations often mandate minimum or maximum retention durations for specific types of data, such as financial records, health information, or audit logs.

A retention period policy ensures that data is kept for the required timeframe and securely disposed of once it is no longer needed. This helps organizations avoid legal penalties, reduce storage costs, and minimize risk exposure from retaining data longer than necessary.

The other options address different aspects of data management. Formats define how data is stored, classification categorizes data sensitivity, and retrieval focuses on access methods. None specify duration. Therefore, retention periods are the correct policy element.

Authentication is the access management process used to determine whether someone is a legitimate user. Managing Cloud documentation explains that authentication verifies identity by validating credentials such as passwords, certificates, tokens, or biometric data.

This process answers the question, “Who are you?” before granting access to systems or services. Strong authentication mechanisms are critical in cloud environments due to remote access, shared infrastructure, and internet exposure.

Authorization determines what an authenticated user is allowed to do, federation enables identity sharing across systems, and policy management defines rules. Therefore, authentication is the correct answer.

A Web Application Firewall (WAF) allows customers to redirect traffic as part of securing cloud-hosted applications. Managing Cloud principles explain that WAFs operate at the application layer and can inspect, filter, allow, block, or redirect HTTP and HTTPS traffic based on defined security rules.

Traffic redirection is commonly used to route suspicious or malicious requests away from protected applications, forward traffic to alternate services, or enforce secure communication paths. WAFs can also integrate with load balancers and content delivery networks to manage traffic flow efficiently while protecting applications from attacks such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and denial-of-service attempts.

The other options do not provide traffic redirection. SIEM systems aggregate and analyze logs, intrusion detection and prevention systems focus on detection and blocking, and cryptographic key management handles encryption keys. Therefore, a web application firewall is the correct answer.

The network is the component that enables customers to transfer data into and out of a cloud environment. It provides the connectivity through which data is uploaded, downloaded, and exchanged between customer systems and cloud infrastructure.

Firewalls protect the network by filtering traffic, load balancers distribute requests across resources, and virtual displays present interfaces, but none directly facilitate the transfer of data.

In cloud models, secure networking is critical. Protocols like TLS encrypt traffic, while VPNs and private links provide additional isolation. Reliable networking ensures availability, while strong controls safeguard confidentiality and integrity. Customers must ensure that the cloud provider offers secure, high-performance network services to support business needs.