Isaca Updated CISA Exam Questions and Answers by byron

 The answer B is correct because data minimization is the most important design consideration to mitigate the risk of exposing data through application programming interface (API) queries. An API is a set of rules and protocols that allows different software components or systems to communicate and exchange data. API queries are requests sent by users or applications to an API to retrieve or manipulate data. For example, a user may query an API to get information about a product, a service, or a location.

Data minimization is the principle of collecting, processing, and storing only the minimum amount of data that are necessary for a specific purpose. Data minimization can help to reduce the risk of exposing data through API queries by limiting the amount and type of data that are available oraccessible through the API. Data minimization can also help to protect the privacy and security of the data subjects and the data providers, as well as to comply with the relevant laws and regulations.

Some of the benefits of data minimization for API design are:

Privacy: Data minimization can enhance the privacy of the data subjects by ensuring that only the data that are relevant and essential for the API purpose are collected and processed. This can prevent unnecessary or excessive collection or disclosure of personal or sensitive data, such as names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, etc. Data minimization can also help to comply with the privacy laws and regulations that require data protection by design and by default, such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) or CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act).

Security: Data minimization can improve the security of the data providers by reducing the attack surface and the potential damage of a data breach. If less data are stored or transmitted through the API, there are fewer opportunities for attackers to access or compromise the data. Data minimization can also help to implement security controls such as encryption, access control, or logging more efficiently and effectively.

Performance: Data minimization can increase the performance of the API by optimizing the use of resources and bandwidth. If less data are stored or transmitted through the API, there are less storage space and network traffic required. Data minimization can also help to improve the speed and reliability of the API responses.

Some of the techniques for data minimization in API design are:

Define clear and specific purposes for the API and document them in the API specification or documentation.

Identify and classify the data that are needed for each purpose and assign them appropriate labels or levels, such as public, internal, confidential, or restricted.

Implement filters or parameters in the API queries that allow users or applications to specify or limit the data fields or attributes they want to retrieve or manipulate.

Use pagination or throttling in the API responses that limit the number or size of data items returned per request.

Use anonymization or pseudonymization techniques that remove or replace any identifying information from the data before sending them through the API.

Some examples of web resources that discuss data minimization in API design are:

Data Minimization in Web APIs - World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

Adding Privacy by Design in Secure Application Development

Chung-ju/Data-Minimization: A repository of related papers. - GitHub

The best way to prevent the misconfiguration from recurring is to grant user access using a role-based model. A role-based access control (RBAC) model is an access control method that assigns permissions to end-users based on their role within the organization1. RBAC provides fine-grained control, offering a simple, manageable approach to access management that is less error-prone than individually assigning permissions1. RBAC also enforces the principle of least privilege, which means that users only have the minimum access required to perform their tasks2.

A role-based model can help prevent segregation of duties (SoD) issues in an ERP system by restricting user access to conflicting activities within the application. SoD is a central issue for enterprises to ensure compliance with laws and regulations, and to reduce the risk of fraud and unauthorized transactions3. SoD requires that no single individual or group of individuals should havecontrol over two or more parts of a process or an asset3. For example, a user who can create and approve purchase orders should not be able to process payments or modify vendor records.

By using a role-based model, user access provisioning is based on the needs ofa group (e.g., accountingdepartment) based on common responsibilities and needs1. This means each role has a given set of permissions, and individuals can be assigned to one or more roles. For example, you may designate a user as an accounts payable clerk, an accounts receivable clerk, or a financial manager, and limit access to specific resources or tasks. The user-role and role-permissions relationships make it easy to perform role assignment because individual users no longer have unique access rights, rather they have privileges that conform to the permissions assigned to their specific role or job function1.

The other options are not the best way to prevent the misconfiguration from recurring. Monitoring access rights on a regular basis (option A) is a detective control that can help identify SoD issues after they occur, but it does not prevent them from happening in the first place. Referencing a standard user-access matrix (option B) is a tool that can help document and analyze user access rights, but it does not ensure that the user access rights are configured correctly or consistently. Correcting the segregation of duties conflicts (option D) is a corrective action that can resolve SoD issues once they are detected, but it does not prevent them from happening again.

References: 3: Implementing Segregation of Duties: A Practical Experience Based on Best Practices 1: What is Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)? Examples, Benefits, and More 2: What is Azure role-based access control (Azure RBAC)?

 The primary reason to perform a risk assessment is to determine the current risk profile of the organization, which is the level of risk exposure and the likelihood and impact of potential threats. This will help the organization to identify and prioritize the risks that need to be addressed and to align the risk management strategy with the business objectives. A risk assessment may also help to achieve compliance, support the BIA, and allocate budget, but these are not the primary reasons. References: ISACA Glossary of Terms, section “risk assessment”

The answer D is correct because the most important thing to determine when conducting an audit of an organization’s data privacy practices is whether the systems inventory containing personal data is maintained. A systems inventory is a list of all the systems, applications, databases, and devices that store, process, or transmit personal data within the organization. Maintaining a systems inventory is essential for data privacy because it helps the organization to identify, classify, and protect the personal data it holds, as well as to comply with the relevant privacy laws and regulations. A systems inventory also enables the organization to perform data protection impact assessments (DPIAs), data breach notifications, data subject access requests, and data retention and disposal policies.

The other options are not as important as option D. Whether a disciplinary process is established for data privacy violations (option A) is a policy issue that may deter or sanction the employees who violate the data privacy rules, but it does not directly affect the data privacy practices of the organization. Whether strong encryption algorithms are deployed for personal data protection (option B) is a technical issue that may enhance the security and confidentiality of the personal data, but it does not address the other aspects of data privacy, such as accuracy, consent, and purpose limitation.Whether privacy technologies are implemented for personal data protection (option C) is also a technical issue that may support the data privacy practices of the organization, but it does not guarantee that the organization follows the best practices or complies with the applicable laws and regulations.

References:

IS Audit Basics: Auditing Data Privacy

Best Practices for Privacy Audits

ISACA Produces New Audit and Assurance Programs for Data Privacy and Mobile Computing