CISSP Software Development Security — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary benefit of version control in software development security for CISSP?
- It makes files larger
- It tracks changes and enables collaboration (Correct answer)
- It replaces testing
- It eliminates the need for documentation
Correct answer: It tracks changes and enables collaboration
Version control systems track all changes to code and configurations, enabling collaboration, rollback, and audit trails.
Question 2: Which principle is fundamental to good software development security practice?
- Writing as much code as possible
- Separation of concerns and modularity (Correct answer)
- Avoiding all abstraction
- Never refactoring code
Correct answer: Separation of concerns and modularity
Separation of concerns and modularity make code easier to understand, test, maintain, and extend over time.
Question 3: In CISSP certification, what is the purpose of automated testing?
- To replace manual code review entirely
- To catch regressions and verify functionality continuously (Correct answer)
- To slow down development
- To increase server costs
Correct answer: To catch regressions and verify functionality continuously
Automated testing catches regressions early and verifies that functionality works as expected, providing confidence in code changes.
Question 4: What is the recommended approach for handling errors in software development security?
- Suppress all error messages
- Implement structured error handling with meaningful messages (Correct answer)
- Let errors crash the application
- Log errors but never handle them
Correct answer: Implement structured error handling with meaningful messages
Structured error handling with meaningful messages helps diagnose problems quickly while maintaining application stability and user experience.
Question 5: Which practice improves the security of software development security implementations?
- Using default credentials
- Input validation and principle of least privilege (Correct answer)
- Disabling all logging
- Granting maximum permissions to all users
Correct answer: Input validation and principle of least privilege
Input validation prevents injection attacks while the principle of least privilege limits the damage potential of any compromised component.
Question 6: What is the benefit of continuous integration in CISSP workflows?
- It eliminates the need for development environments
- It detects integration issues early through frequent builds and tests (Correct answer)
- It removes the need for code review
- It automatically fixes all bugs
Correct answer: It detects integration issues early through frequent builds and tests
Continuous integration detects integration issues early by automatically building and testing code whenever changes are committed.
What is the primary benefit of version control in software development security for CISSP?