Ch.9 Resilience and Physical Security Flashcards
Naomi wants to handle increasing load by scaling cloud-hosted resources as needed while having the change remain transparent to users. She also wants to allow for upgrades and system replacements transparently. What solution should she select?
A. Load balancing
B. Clustering
C. Geographic diversity
D. A hot site
✅ A. Load balancing
📄 Load balancing distributes traffic across multiple systems to ensure scalability and fault tolerance. It can also redirect users away from systems being upgraded.
❌ B. Clustering is for redundancy but doesn’t manage load distribution or traffic direction.
❌ C. Geographic diversity is for disaster recovery, not load handling.
❌ D. A hot site is a backup site, not a scaling method.
✅ Security+ Tip: If a question focuses on transparent scaling, the answer is almost always load balancing.
Rick performs a backup that captures the changes since the last full backup. What type of backup has he performed?
A. A new full backup
B. A snapshot
C. An incremental backup
D. A differential backup
✅ D. A differential backup
📄 Differential backups copy everything that changed since the last full backup.
❌ C. Incremental backups copy changes since the last backup of any type (incremental or full).
✅ Security+ Tip: “Since last full” = differential. “Since last backup” = incremental.
What type of recovery site has some or most systems in place but does not have the data needed to take over operations?
A. A hot site
B. A warm site
C. A cloud site
D. A cold site
✅ B. A warm site
📄 A warm site has infrastructure ready but lacks current data.
❌ A. Hot site has systems and live data.
❌ D. Cold site has power/network but no systems or data.
✅ Security+ Tip: Warm = mid-cost, mid-speed. Know the difference between hot, warm, and cold sites.
Ben wants to test his warm site to verify that it will take over operations successfully. What type of testing is this?
A. Parallel processing
B. Simulation
C. Failover
D. A tabletop exercise
✅ C. Failover
📄 Failover testing involves switching operations entirely to the backup site (in this case, the warm site) to validate that it can fully operate on its own.
❌ A. Parallel processing runs both primary and backup simultaneously but does not involve switching over.
❌ B. Simulation and ❌ D. Tabletop exercises are theoretical/planning methods and do not execute the actual system change.
✅ Security+ Tip:
If the test involves actually switching to the backup or secondary site — even temporarily — that is a failover.
Felix wants to clone a virtual machine. What should he do to capture a live machine, including the machine state?
A. A full backup
B. A snapshot
C. A differential backup
D. Live boot media
✅ B. A snapshot
📄 Snapshots capture the exact state of a system or VM, allowing cloning or rollback.
❌ A. Full backups don’t include live system memory/state
✅ Security+ Tip: Snapshots are best for cloning or quick rollback in virtual environments.
Mike wants to stop vehicles from traveling toward the entrance of his building. What physical security control should he implement?
A. An air gap
B. A hot aisle
C. A robotic sentry
D. A bollard
✅ D. A bollard
📄 Bollards are sturdy posts that block vehicles from crashing into structures.
✅ Security+ Tip: Vehicles = bollards. People = fences, doors, guards.
Sally is working to restore her organization’s operations after a disaster took her datacenter offline. What critical document should she refer to as she restarts systems?
A. The restoration order documentation
B. The TOTP documentation
C. The HOTP documentation
D. The last-known good configuration documentation
✅ A. The restoration order documentation
📄 This doc lists critical services and systems in recovery order.
❌ D. Last-known good config is used during patch rollback, not full disaster recovery.
❌ B,C. TOTP and HOTP are types of one-time password technology
✅ Security+ Tip: Restoration order is crucial when recovering from site-wide or datacenter failure.
Alecia wants to ensure that her backups cannot be accessed by third parties while stored in an offsite storage location. What should she do to secure her backups?
A. Hash the backup data.
B. Avoid the use of offsite storage locations.
C. Employ security guards.
D. Encrypt the backup data.
✅ D. Encrypt the backup data
📄 Encryption protects data at rest and in transit.
❌ A. Hashing ensures integrity, not confidentiality.
✅ Security+ Tip: Offsite + secure = encrypt your backups.
Fred wants to be able to recover his database transactions at any point in time if a physical disaster occurs involving his datacenter. His organization uses daily backups. What additional solution should he select to support this need?
A. Onsite journaling
B. Onsite snapshots
C. Offsite journaling
D. Offsite snapshots
✅ C. Offsite journaling
📄 Journaling logs every transaction, allowing point-in-time recovery even if the primary site is lost.
✅ Security+ Tip: Journaling = continuous log for granular recovery. Backups are not enough alone.
Ellen is concerned about her company’s resilience and wants to ensure it can handle either changing loads or support disaster recovery and business continuity efforts if a primary location or datacenter were taken offline. Which of the following should she primarily focus on during her capacity planning?
A. People, technology, and infrastructure
B. A generator and a UPS
C. RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10
D. Incremental, differential, and full backups
✅ A. People, technology, and infrastructure
📄 Resilience requires capacity planning to ensure that capacity—including staff, technology, and infrastructure—is available when is needed.
❌ B, C, D. Although a generator, UPS, various RAID levels, and backups have their place in disaster recovery and contingency planning, they are not the primary focus of resiliency and capacity planning.
✅ Security+ Tip: People, tech, and infra = the three pillars of resilience planning.
Madhuri has deployed a replication tool that copies data over to a secondary hot site in real time. What type of replication has she deployed?
A. Synchronous replication
B. Journaled replication
C. Asynchronous replication
D. Snapshot-based replication
✅ A. Synchronous replication
📄 Synchronous = real-time mirror. Asynchronous has slight delays.
✅ Security+ Tip: Real-time sync = synchronous replication.
Asynchronous = eventual consistency.
What factor is a major reason organizations do not use security guards?
A. Reliability
B. Training
C. Cost
D. Social engineering
✅ C. Cost
📄 Security guards can be one of the costliest physical security controls over time, making the cost of guards one of the most important deciding factors guiding when and where they will be employed.
❌ A, B, D. Reliability, training, and the potential for social engineering are all possible issues with security guards, but none of these is the major driver in the decision process.
✅ Security+ Tip: Guards = high effectiveness, high cost.
Megan wants to deploy a sensor that is inexpensive, yet will allow her to detect humans entering and moving in a secured room. Which of the following should she select?
A. An infrared sensor
B. A microwave sensor
C. An ultrasonic sensor
D. A pressure sensor
✅ A. An infrared sensor
📄 Infrared detects heat/motion, is affordable, and good for indoor security.
❌ B. Microwave sensors are more expensive but can provide better coverage, including traveling through some barriers.
❌ C. Ultrasonic sensors are rarely used for this purpose
❌ D. Pressure sensors are limited to the pad where they are deployed, making them expensive and challenging to use for rooms or larger spaces.
✅ Security+ Tip: Cheap + motion detection = infrared.
Kathleen wants to discourage potential attackers from entering the facility she is responsible for. Which of the following is not a common control used for this type of preventive defense?
A. Fences
B. Lighting
C. Platform diversity
D. Video surveillance
✅ C. Platform diversity
📄 Platform diversity is a technical control used in cybersecurity to limit risk from software or vendor failures. It is not a physical deterrent.
❌ A. Fences are physical barriers used to prevent or deter unauthorized entry.
❌ B. Lighting increases visibility and discourages unauthorized activity.
❌ D. Video surveillance acts as both a deterrent and a detection control.
✅ Security+ Tip: If the question asks for a physical deterrent, eliminate answers related to technical architecture like platform diversity.
How does technology diversity help ensure cybersecurity resilience?
A. It ensures that a vulnerability in a single company’s product will not impact the entire infrastructure.
B. If a single vendor goes out of business, the company does not need to replace its entire infrastructure.
C. It means that a misconfiguration will not impact the company’s entire infrastructure.
D. All of the above.
✅ D. All of the above
📄 Technology diversity reduces reliance on a single vendor or platform, helping organizations maintain operations if:
A vendor product has a vulnerability (A)
A vendor shuts down or is unavailable (B)
One system is misconfigured (C)
❌ A–C are all correct individually, so D is the best choice.
✅ Security+ Tip: “All of the above” is often the correct answer when multiple options are independently valid — especially with terms like resilience or redundancy.
Scott sends his backups to a company that keeps them in a secure vault. What type of backup solution has he implemented?
A. Nearline
B. Safe
C. Onsite
D. Offsite
✅ D. Offsite
📄 Offsite backups are stored away from the primary site and are critical for disaster recovery and geographic redundancy.
❌ A. Nearline storage is slower than online but still available quickly (e.g., tape libraries).
❌ B. Safe is not a defined Security+ term for backup storage.
❌ C. Onsite means backups stored at the primary location, which wouldn’t be in a secure external vault.
✅ Security+ Tip: If a question mentions remote vaults or geographic separation, it’s referring to offsite backups.
Gabby wants to detect physical brute-force attempts against her organization. What solution is best suited to this?
A. Security guards
B. Locks
C. Access badges
D. An intrusion detection system (IDS)
✅ A. Security guards
📄 A. Security guards who can monitor for and understand the signs of a physical brute-force attempt are the most useful control listed.
❌ B. Locks may show signs of attempts but require careful inspection
❌ C. Access badges would require log review and additional information to detect brute-force attacks
❌ D. IDS is useful for network attacks, not physical ones
✅ Security+ Tip: For physical brute-force detection, always consider human-based solutions like guards or cameras.
Florian wants to test his high-availability designs but does not want to interrupt his organization’s normal work. Which of the following is the least disruptive testing scenario?
A. A failover exercise
B. A tabletop exercise
C. A partial failover exercise
D. A simulation
✅ B. A tabletop exercise
📄 A tabletop exercise is discussion-based, involves no live systems, and is the least disruptive test type.
❌ A. Failover tests real failover to a backup — highly disruptive.
❌ C. Partial failover still redirects some services and can affect users.
❌ D. Simulation involves practicing real actions and could still disrupt services.
✅ Security+ Tip: For non-disruptive testing, look for tabletop. For realism, look for failover.
An organization wants to prevent piggybacking by requiring individuals to authenticate twice before entering a secured area. Each person must first enter a chamber, wait for the first door to close, and then authenticate again to unlock the second door. What physical security control is being implemented?
A. A Faraday cage
B. An access control vestibule
C. A bollard
D. An air gap
✅ B. An access control vestibule
📄 Also known as a mantrap, this prevents tailgating or piggybacking by only allowing one person at a time to authenticate and enter.
❌ A. Faraday cage blocks electromagnetic signals; unrelated to entry control.
❌ C. Bollard protects from vehicles, not people.
❌ D. Air gap refers to electronic isolation, not physical access control.
✅ Security+ Tip: If the question describes two doors and anti-tailgating, it’s testing your knowledge of mantraps or vestibules.
Gurvinder identifies a third-party datacenter provider over 90 miles away to run his redundant datacenter operations. Why has he placed the datacenter that far away?
A. Because it is required by law
B. Network traffic latency concerns
C. Geographic dispersion
D. Geographic tax reasons
✅ C. Geographic dispersion
📄 Keeping backup datacenters geographically distant reduces the risk that a single regional disaster will affect both sites.
❌ A. Required by law – Not typically a legal requirement (except in some regulated industries).
❌ B. Network latency would increase at 90+ miles, not decrease.
❌ D. Geographic tax reasons aren’t related to resiliency planning.
✅ Security+ Tip: 90+ miles is the benchmark often cited for effective disaster separation and is tied to geographic dispersion.
Your organization uses firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and endpoint protection tools from multiple vendors. Which of the following best explains this design decision?
A. It simplifies management and support
B. It avoids single points of failure due to vendor compromise
C. It ensures all systems are patched by the same vendor
D. It guarantees compliance with all security frameworks
Correct Answer: B
Platform diversity reduces risk from a single point of compromise—if one vendor’s solution is breached, others may not be affected.
What is a disadvantage of implementing platform diversity across security controls?
A. Increased vendor lock-in
B. Decreased system availability
C. Higher complexity and training requirements
D. Inability to apply any cryptographic solutions
Correct Answer: C
Using tools from multiple vendors increases complexity, training needs, and integration challenges.
A financial services company needs to ensure that critical systems stay online AT ALL TIMES, even during hardware failure. Which of the following technologies best supports this goal?
A. Full backup
B. Snapshot
C. Replication
D. Journaling
Correct Answer: C. Replication
🧠 Explanation: Replication keeps data and systems synchronized in real time, ensuring immediate failover and high availability. Backups and snapshots help with restoration, not live availability.
✅ Security+ Tip:
If the question is about keeping systems running right now, no to little delay, the answer is likely replication — not backup or journaling.
An administrator needs to recover a system to the state it was in just before a failed software update that corrupted several files. Which of the following provides the FASTEST METHOD of restoring the system to a known-good state?
A. Journaling
B. Replication
C. Incremental backup
D. Snapshot
Correct Answer: D. Snapshot
🧠 Explanation: A snapshot captures the entire system state at a point in time, allowing quick rollback. Journaling replays changes (slower), replication just mirrors corruption, and incremental backups require multiple layers to rebuild.
✅ Security+ Tip:
If the question asks for quick rollback to a known state, go with snapshot. Journaling is slower and replication copies corruption instantly.
