Financial CMA Exam Prep
Certified Management Accountant (Page 92 )

• 10 TB with maximum I/O performance: Use EC2 instance store. It provides very high-throughput, low-latency local storage suitable for temporary video-processing data. The application must tolerate data loss because instance store is ephemeral.
• 300 TB of highly durable media: Use Amazon S3, which is designed for highly durable object storage and can scale to this size.
• 900 TB of inactive archival media: Use S3 Glacier, which provides lower-cost storage for data that is rarely accessed.

• A: Amazon EBS offers high performance but is not the best fit for the question’s “maximum possible I/O” requirement compared with local instance store.
• B: Amazon EFS is durable and shared, but is generally more expensive and less suitable for very large archival storage.
• C: Uses EC2 instance store for performance, but incorrectly uses EFS for the 300-TB durable tier and S3 rather than Glacier for archival data.

• CCTV system — Detective control: Cameras monitor and record activity, helping identify or investigate security incidents after—or while—they occur.
• Signs about being filmed — Deterrent control: The signs discourage people from attempting unauthorized or criminal activity because they know surveillance is present.

• Preventive: Stops an incident from occurring, such as a lock or access-control system.
• Corrective: Restores systems after an incident.
• Directive: Instructs people to behave in a certain way, such as a security policy.
• Compensating: Provides an alternative control when the preferred control cannot be implemented.

• Wireshark captures packets and allows you to examine their contents, potentially revealing usernames and passwords sent without encryption.
• Netcat creates network connections and can send or receive data, but it is not primarily a packet-analysis tool.
• Nessus scans for known vulnerabilities and configuration issues; it generally would not prove that credentials are visible in transit.
• Nmap performs network discovery and port/service scanning, not detailed packet-content inspection.

• Identity provider (IdP): Authenticates users and asserts their identity.
• Service provider (SP): The application being accessed—in this case, Salesforce/the employee portal.
• Identity store: A directory that stores user identities, such as Active Directory.
• Authentication store: A system used to validate credentials.

• Amazon EC2 instances — ???????? ?? ?? ??????? CPU, memory ??? instance size ???????? ???????
• AWS Lambda functions — memory configuration ?????????? ???????
• Amazon EBS volumes — volume type ?? size optimize ???? ???????
• ??????? ECS workloads — resource configuration ? cost optimization-?? ???????

• Memory ? compute usage ?????????? ???? custom code ????? ???? development ? maintenance ??????
• Cost allocation tags ???? ????? ??? ?????? ???? ??????? ???; inefficient resource ??????? ?? recommendation ???? ???
• CloudTrail resource ???? ?? API activity ??????, resource utilization ????

• Restrict a port to a defined number of MAC addresses
• Use statically assigned or “sticky” MAC addresses
• Shut down or restrict the port when violations occur

• Load balancer: Distributes application traffic; it does not protect switch MAC tables.
• IPS: May detect suspicious network activity, but is not the primary control for limiting switch MAC entries.
• NGFW: Filters traffic at the network boundary; it does not directly prevent MAC table flooding on access switches.

• A valid input returns the expected result
• An invalid input raises an error
• Boundary values are handled correctly

• B: Copilot may help generate tests, but it does not automatically write all necessary tests.
• C: Writing the implementation does not verify that it works correctly.
• D: Copilot can suggest test commands or test code, but the developer or development environment must execute and validate the tests.

• Accept: Acknowledge the risk and take no additional action.
• Transfer: Shift the risk or financial impact to another party, such as through insurance or a contract.
• Mitigate: Reduce the likelihood or impact using controls, such as firewalls, training, or backups.
• Avoid: Eliminate the activity that creates the risk.

• A: Configure security groups — Customers define inbound and outbound rules for resources such as Amazon EC2 instances.
• B: Classify company assets — Customers decide how their data and assets should be classified and protected.

• C: Amazon S3 is a regional service; customers select a Region, not individual Availability Zones for buckets.
• D: AWS manages the infrastructure and patching for Amazon DynamoDB.
• E: AWS manages the infrastructure used by AWS Lambda; customers do not select EC2 instances for Lambda functions.

• Unfamiliar locations or IP addresses
• Anonymous or malicious IP addresses
• Leaked credentials
• Unusual sign-in behavior

• Training or coaching
• Mentoring
• Additional support or resources
• Targeted performance improvement plans

• A: Recognition may be appropriate, but awards do not address identified gaps.
• C: Rotating schedules does not necessarily improve the specific competencies that are missing.
• D: Assessment results should be handled sensitively, but keeping them entirely private prevents useful feedback and development discussions.

• Continuous deployment: Automates software releases; it does not specifically test input handling.
• Static code analysis: Examines source or compiled code without executing it. It can find coding flaws but does not directly stress the application with malformed inputs.
• Manual peer review: Developers inspect code or design manually. Useful, but not the best practice specifically for testing how a live product handles invalid input.

• The servers run different operating systems: Windows, Linux, and Unix.
• Containers generally share the host operating system’s kernel, so they cannot normally run workloads requiring unrelated kernels, such as Windows and Linux, on the same Linux host.
• A hypervisor can create separate virtual machines, allowing each VM to run its own guest OS.
• A Type 2 hypervisor runs on top of a host operating system and can support multiple guest operating systems.

• terraform apply
• terraform destroy

• A. IDS attack signatures: An IDS primarily detects suspicious network activity; it is not the best control for scanning uploaded documents for malware.
• C. Load balancer: Distributes traffic among servers and improves availability, but does not inspect files for malware.
• D. WAF: Protects web applications against attacks such as SQL injection and command injection. It may help secure the upload function, but malware scanning is the key requirement here.

• desktopwidth:i:1280
• desktopheight:i:1024

• Connection information: Controls connection-related settings, not the desktop resolution.
• Scaling plan: Controls when session hosts start, stop, or scale based on demand.
• Session behaviour: Controls behavior such as disconnect or logoff handling.
• Display settings: Specifically controls RDP display properties, making it the appropriate choice.

• Behavioral and anomaly detection
• Threat intelligence integration
• User and entity behavior analytics
• Automated response actions, often through SOAR integration

• Virus signatures: Associated primarily with antivirus or endpoint protection.
• Security agent deployment: Usually an endpoint-management or EDR function.
• Vulnerability scanning: Typically performed by vulnerability-management tools, though a SIEM may integrate their results.

• A. Microsoft 365 group with Assigned membership
• C. Microsoft 365 group with Dynamic User membership

Why?

• Assigned membership: You explicitly add User1, User2, and User3.
• Dynamic User membership: Membership is automatically determined by a rule based on user attributes.

Why the other options are incorrect

• B and D: Security groups do not support the Microsoft 365 group expiration policy.
• E: Dynamic Device groups are intended for devices, not these users, and are also security groups.

1. Define – establish the project’s objectives, scope, feasibility and requirements.
2. Design – plan how the project will be carried out, including resources, schedules and controls.
3. Deliver – execute the project and produce the required outputs.
4. Develop – close the project formally and capture learning for future projects.

• Filing documentation and records
• Closing project and accounting systems
• Settling costs
• Handing over the completed work and obtaining sign-off
• Reviewing performance and giving feedback

• Correct exam answer: A — HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
• The relevant location is associated with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM.
• The SAM does not store passwords in plain text; it stores password hashes.

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER contains settings for the currently logged-in user, not the account-password database.
• HKEY_USERS contains user profiles and settings loaded for users.
• HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIGURATION contains hardware/profile configuration information.

• Monitoring: Detects activity but does not remove the underlying risk.
• Patching: Useful for systems that must remain operational, but these desktops are unused.
• Isolating: Can be a temporary containment measure, but permanently removing unnecessary systems is more appropriate.

• A. IDS attack signatures: An IDS primarily detects suspicious network activity; it is not the best tool for scanning uploaded files.
• C. Load balancer: Improves availability and distributes traffic but does not inspect files for malware.
• D. WAF: Protects web applications against attacks such as SQL injection and command injection. It may inspect HTTP requests, but malware scanning of uploaded PDFs is the key requirement here.

• A script of cloud CLI commands: IaC because the commands can be saved, reviewed, versioned, and rerun consistently.
• Manually run curl commands: Not necessarily IaC; they are manual actions unless organized into an automated script.
• A sequence of REST requests passed to an API: Could represent automation, but the wording does not explicitly say they are stored and executed as reusable code.
• Commands entered into a cloud console: Manual operation, not IaC.

CIMA P3 topics

• IT governance and systems strategy
• Systems development and implementation
• Change and project governance
• Strategic and business risk

• A — Plan for new systems: The committee should help identify and prioritise systems requirements and ensure planned systems support organisational needs.
• D — Consider competitive issues: New information systems may affect Y’s competitive position, service quality and efficiency. These strategic implications should be considered.
• E — Ensure the system meets company goals: This is a key governance responsibility. The committee should ensure the project remains aligned with Y’s objectives and delivers business value.

• B — Develop new systems: Detailed system development should be performed by IT specialists and project teams, not the steering committee.
• C — Manage the project: The project manager should handle day-to-day project management. The steering committee should provide oversight, challenge and key decisions, rather than manage daily activities.

• Due diligence: Investigating and evaluating a third party before entering into or continuing a business relationship.
• Attestation: An independent party provides assurance about an organization’s claims or controls. A SOC 2 examination is an example of an attestation engagement, but the analyst requesting and reviewing the report is performing due diligence.
• Internal audit: Reviews the organization’s own internal controls.
• Penetration testing: Actively tests systems for exploitable vulnerabilities.

yaml 
clusterIP: None

• CronJob: Runs Jobs on a schedule and normally does not need stable networking.
• Deployment: Manages interchangeable, stateless replicas and usually uses a regular Service.
• DaemonSet: Runs a Pod on selected nodes but does not inherently require stable Pod identities.

• VLAN 10 for data
• VLAN 20 for voice

• A: Describes physical trunking or logical switch ports, not an SVI.
• B: An SVI can provide management access, but that is only one use—not the best description here.
• D: SVI use is not related to running out of physical ports.

• The message came from the claimed sender (authentication)
• The message was not altered in transit (integrity)
• The sender cannot easily deny having signed and sent it (non-repudiation)

• Compliance standards: May be a reason in some organizations, but it is not the primary security benefit.
• Increase delivery rates: Digital signatures do not generally improve email delivery.
• Block phishing attacks: Signatures can help recipients verify legitimate messages, but they do not block phishing by themselves.

• The audience and stakeholders
• The complexity and type of requirements
• The communication method and level of detail needed
• Whether to use diagrams, models, documents, demonstrations, or slides

• B: Authority to host the presentation is not the key preparation activity.
• C: Stakeholder sign-off may occur later; presenting requirements does not always require formal approval beforehand.
• D: A scribe may be useful in a meeting, but hiring one is not a core preparation requirement for presenting.

• A — Increasing the minimum password length to 14 characters: Longer passwords have more possible combinations, making them harder to guess or crack through brute force.
• F — Requiring at least one special character: This increases password complexity and expands the possible character combinations.

• MD5 to SHA-512: Improves password-hash resistance, but does not stop users from choosing easy-to-guess passwords. Also, modern systems should use a password-specific hashing algorithm such as bcrypt, scrypt, or Argon2.
• Increasing maximum age to 120 days: Leaves weak passwords in use longer.
• Reducing minimum length to 10: Makes guessing easier.
• Reducing minimum age to zero: Allows immediate password changes but does not make the password itself harder to guess.

• Existing measures
• Relationships
• Calculated columns
• Tables and fields
• Existing transformations in the model

• SharePoint folder: Reconnects to the source files. You would likely need to recreate the model and measures.
• Power BI dataflows: Primarily provide reusable data preparation and storage, but they do not automatically provide the existing semantic model and measures.
• Excel workbook: Connects directly to the source file and would also require rebuilding the model and measures.

• Reviewing security policies and standards checks whether controls are documented, not whether they work.
• Reviewing security logs may show that monitoring is occurring, but does not directly establish that preventive controls are effective.
• Analyzing technical security practices is broad and may assess implementation, but it is less objective than an actual controlled attack.

• Design/compliance effectiveness: policies, standards, and procedures
• Operational effectiveness: logs, records, and evidence that controls operate
• Technical security effectiveness: penetration testing or vulnerability testing

• Custom domain: miami.weyland.com requires a paid App Service tier; Free and Shared are unsuitable.
• Two instances: Standard supports scaling to multiple instances.
• SSL: Standard includes SSL support.
• 12 GB storage: Basic provides only about 10 GB, so it does not meet the requirement. Standard provides substantially more storage.
• Cost minimization: Standard is the lowest tier among the choices that satisfies all requirements.

• Crash cart: Provides local physical access, not remote access.
• Jump box: A secured intermediary used to reach devices over the normal network; it may be inaccessible if the appliance has not booted.
• Secure Shell (SSH): Requires the device’s operating system and network services to be running properly.

• Vulnerability scanner: Finds technical weaknesses in systems, applications, or devices. It does not usually analyze the entire supply chain.
• Penetration test: Simulates attacks against a defined target to identify exploitable weaknesses. Its scope is narrower.
• SCAP (Security Content Automation Protocol): Provides standardized formats and methods for automating security configuration and vulnerability checks, rather than mapping the full supply chain.

• CSIRT: A Computer Security Incident Response Team that handles and coordinates incident response.
• CVSS: A scoring system used to rate the severity of vulnerabilities.
• SOAR: Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response technology used to automate security workflows.

• Economy: Obtaining inputs at the lowest appropriate cost.
• Efficiency: Making the best use of resources, such as staff, money, and equipment.
• Effectiveness: Achieving the intended objectives or outcomes.

• Maintain head office control: Transfer pricing generally supports decentralisation rather than direct head-office control.
• Establish centralised decision making: This conflicts with divisional autonomy.
• Develop a top-down culture: Transfer pricing is intended to support empowered divisions and goal congruence, not impose purely top-down management.

• Create a CodeCommit repository in the secondary Region.
• Use CodeBuild to run a Git mirror operation from the primary repository to the secondary repository.
• Use EventBridge to detect relevant repository events, such as a pull request being merged.
• Invoke a Lambda function, which starts the CodeBuild project.

• B: Amazon S3 is object storage, not a Git repository that developers can use as a CodeCommit remote.
• C: CodeArtifact is intended for packages and artifacts, not source-code repository mirroring.
• D: An AWS Cloud9 environment is not an appropriate automated replication mechanism and would require manual or persistent infrastructure management.

• The listener uses a virtual IP address shared by the availability-group replicas.
• Floating IP, also called Direct Server Return (DSR), allows the SQL Server nodes to respond using the listener’s IP address rather than their individual VM IP addresses.
• This is required for the availability-group listener to function correctly with an Azure internal load balancer.

• Managerial: policies, standards, risk management, governance
• Operational: procedures carried out by people, such as training, incident response, and backups
• Technical: firewalls, encryption, access-control systems
• Physical: locks, guards, cameras

• An active relationship is used automatically when filters are evaluated. An inactive relationship does not propagate filters unless explicitly activated in DAX, so it would not reliably enforce the required security behavior.
• Apply security filter in both directions allows RLS filters to propagate across the relationship in both directions. This ensures that bidirectional filtering respects the RLS rules applied to both tables.
• Assume referential integrity is unrelated to RLS. It is mainly a DirectQuery optimization that allows Power BI to use an inner join when matching keys are guaranteed to exist.
• The relationship must therefore be active, with security filtering enabled in both directions.

• What information each stakeholder needs
• When and how often it should be communicated
• Which format or channel should be used
• Who is responsible for communicating it

• A: The team should not decide stakeholder communications without first checking the established plan and CEO’s needs.
• B: An executive summary may be appropriate, but choosing a solution before reviewing the plan is premature.
• D: The stakeholder engagement plan addresses how to engage stakeholders, but this is primarily a communication planning issue.

• IaaS: You deploy and manage virtual machines, including the operating system and installed software. Azure manages the physical datacenter, hosts, and networking infrastructure.
• PaaS: Azure manages the infrastructure and operating system, while you deploy and manage your application code. Examples include Azure App Service and Azure Functions.

• The S3 bucket as an origin for static content
• The Application Load Balancer (ALB) as an origin for dynamic content
• An Amazon Route 53 alias record pointing the application domain to CloudFront

Why this works

• Static data: CloudFront caches objects from S3 at edge locations, reducing latency for users worldwide.
• Dynamic data: CloudFront forwards requests that require application processing to the ALB. It can also maintain persistent connections and use the AWS global edge network to improve delivery performance.
• One domain: CloudFront behaviors can route different path patterns to different origins—for example, /static/* to S3 and other paths to the ALB.

Why the other options are incorrect

• Global Accelerator is designed primarily for accelerating traffic to applications with endpoints such as ALBs, not for caching S3 content.
• Using separate domains or splitting static and dynamic traffic adds unnecessary complexity.
• CloudFront already provides the required global edge distribution and caching, so combining it with Global Accelerator is unnecessary here.

• Suporta domínios personalizados.
• Oferece 50 GB de armazenamento — suficiente para os 10 GB de cada aplicação.
• Usa instâncias de computação dedicadas.
• Inclui balanceamento de carga entre instâncias.
• É o plano mais econômico entre as opções que atendem a todos esses requisitos.

• Maximum response and resolution times
• Expected uptime or availability
• Performance requirements
• Escalation procedures
• Consequences for failing to meet requirements

• SOW: Defines a project’s scope, tasks, deliverables, and schedule.
• MOA: Documents specific responsibilities agreed upon by two parties.
• MOU: Records a general understanding or intent to cooperate.

• Restarting the device: may fix software problems, but not a directional connection issue.
• Swollen battery: is a safety concern, but would not typically cause recognition only in one orientation.
• Failing cable: possible in general, but less likely because it works on other similar devices.
• Dirty or damaged port: best matches the symptoms. Inspect and carefully clean the port, or have it serviced if damaged.

• A password cracker would normally be identified by behavior such as loading password hashes or attempting dictionary/brute-force attacks.
• The question describes a routine audit, not password recovery.
• Simply encountering a protected file during an audit is characteristic of a misconfigured or insufficiently privileged FIM.

• The type of change: standard, normal, or emergency
• The risk, impact, and complexity
• The change model being used

• A standard change may be pre-authorized through its change model.
• A normal change may require assessment and approval by an appropriate change authority.
• An emergency change may be authorized by an emergency change authority, often using an expedited process.

• Change authorities are not only needed for emergency changes.
• They are not assigned only when a change is deployed.
• They are not only required for normal changes.