CDPSE Sample Questions for ISACA Data Privacy Certification Success

Ace your ISACA Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer (CDPSE) exam with these expertly crafted CDPSE sample questions and practice test resources. Designed to match the latest exam objectives, these questions cover key domains such as privacy governance, architecture, and data lifecycle. Whether you're a privacy analyst, security consultant, or compliance officer, this collection of scenario-based and knowledge-based questions helps reinforce your understanding of CDPSE concepts. Ideal for identifying weak areas, assessing exam readiness, and boosting your confidence, these CDPSE practice tests bring you closer to achieving your data privacy certification goals.

CDPSE Sample Questions List :

1. Which key stakeholder within an organization should be responsible for approving the outcomes of a privacy impact assessment (PIA)?

1. Data owner

2. Privacy data analyst

3. Data processor

4. Data custodian

2. Which of the following is the BEST indication of a highly effective privacy training program?

1. Members of the workforce understand their roles in protecting data privacy

2. Recent audits have no findings or recommendations related to data privacy

3. No privacy incidents have been reported in the last year

4. HR has made privacy training an annual mandate for the organization

3. Which of the following statements BEST differentiates sensitive personal data from other types of confidential data?

1. Sensitive personal data merits a higher level of protection

2. The legal department is accountable for protecting sensitive personal data

3. Sensitive personal data requires deletion beyond the retention period by law

4. Masking techniques are only applicable to the protection of sensitive personal data

4. Which of the following is the PRIMARY reason that regulatory authorities would require permission for corporate use of drones with mounted video cameras for visual surveillance?

1. To provide sufficient notice to the public

2. To prevent compromise of network security

3. To minimize disruption in wireless networks

4. To facilitate investigation of privacy incidents

5. Which of the following is the best way to reduce the risk of compromised credentials when an organization allows employees to have remote access?

1. Implement multi-factor authentication

2. Deploy single sign-on with complex password requirements

3. Enable whole disk encryption on remote devices

4. Purchase an endpoint detection and response (EDR) tool

6. Which of the following zones within a data lake requires sensitive data to be encrypted or tokenized?

1. Clean zone

2. Raw zone

3. Trusted zone

4. Temporal zone

7. Which of the following is the PRIMARY objective of privacy incident response?

1. To ensure data subjects impacted by privacy incidents are notified

2. To mitigate the impact of privacy incidents

3. To reduce privacy risk to the lowest possible level

4. To optimize the costs associated with privacy incidents

8. An online business has implemented cookies in its retail website to track customer shopping behavior. Which of the following is the MOST important process to ensure customers’ privacy rights are not compromised?

1. Updating the privacy risk profile to include the use of cookies

2. Removing tracked customer data from the website

3. Obtaining customer consent to accept cookies

4. Designing metrics to monitor performance of cookies

9. Which of the following BEST represents privacy threat modeling methodology?

1. Mitigating inherent risks and threats associated with privacy control weaknesses

2. Systematically eliciting and mitigating privacy threats in a software architecture

3. Reliably estimating a threat actor’s ability to exploit privacy vulnerabilities

4. Replicating privacy scenarios that reflect representative software usage

10. Which of the following is the BEST example of risk-based data protection?

1. Transit-layer encryption

2. Data segmentation

3. Data encryption

4. Data partitioning

11. Which of the following is the MOST important consideration when using advanced data sanitization methods to ensure privacy data will be unrecoverable?

1. Location of data

2. Subject matter expertise

3. Type of media

4. Regulatory compliance requirements

12. What should be the PRIMARY consideration of a multinational organization deploying a user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) tool to centralize the monitoring of anomalous employee behavior?

1. Global public interest

2. Support staff availability and skill set

3. Cross-border data transfer

4. User notification

13. A project manager for a new data collection system had a privacy impact assessment (PIA) completed before the solution was designed. Once the system was released into production, an audit revealed personal data was being collected that was not part of the PIA. What is the BEST way to avoid this situation in the future?

1. Require management approval of changes to system architecture design

2. Incorporate privacy checkpoints into the secure development life cycle

3. Document personal data workflows in the product life cycle

4. Conduct a privacy post-implementation review

14. A global financial institution is implementing data masking technology to protect personal data used for testing purposes in non-production environments. Which of the following is the GREATEST challenge in this situation?

1. Personal data across the various interconnected systems cannot be easily identified

2. Data masking tools are complex and difficult to implement

3. Complex relationships within and across systems must be retained for testing

4. Access to personal data is not strictly controlled in development and testing environments

15. Which of the following is MOST important to review before using an application programming interface (API) to help mitigate related privacy risk?

1. Data taxonomy

2. Data flows

3. Data classification

4. Data collection

16. Which of the following BEST ensures an organization takes a consistent approach to handling data subject rights requests?

1. Establish a dedicated team to log all requests and responses

2. Provide regular privacy awareness training to employees

3. Create and track metrics related to data processing preferences and requests

4. Develop policies to govern the management of data processing preferences and requests

17. Which of the following is a PRIMARY consideration to protect against privacy violations when utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) driven business decisions?

1. Ensuring proper data sets are used to train the models

2. Defining the intended objectives

3. De-identifying the data to be analyzed

4. Verifying the data subjects have consented to the processing

18. Which of the following is the BEST way to distinguish between a privacy risk and compliance risk?

1. Conduct a privacy risk assessment

2. Validate a privacy risk attestation

3. Perform a privacy risk audit

4. Conduct a privacy risk remediation exercise

19. A data processor that handles personal data for multiple customers has decided to migrate its data warehouse to a third-party provider. What is the processor obligated to do prior to implementation?

1. Obtain assurance that data subject requests will continue to be handled appropriately

2. Ensure data retention periods are documented

3. Implement comparable industry-standard data encryption in the new data warehouse

4. Seek approval from all in-scope data controllers

20. Which of the following is the BEST way to validate that privacy practices align to the published enterprise privacy management program?

1. Report performance metrics

2. Conduct an audit

3. Conduct a benchmarking analysis

4. Perform a control self-assessment (CSA)

21. What is the BEST way for an organization to maintain the effectiveness of its privacy breach incident response plan?

1. Conduct annual data privacy tabletop exercises

2. Require security management to validate data privacy security practices

3. Hire a third party to perform a review of data privacy processes

4. Involve the privacy office in an organizational review of the incident response plan

22. Which of the following BEST prevents users from sending out customers’ personal data without encryption?

1. Automatic email blocking

2. De-identification of data

3. User behavior monitoring

4. Data loss prevention (DLP) tools

23. Which of the following should an IT privacy practitioner do FIRST following a decision to expand remote working capability to all employees due to a global pandemic?

1. Revisit the current remote working policies

2. Evaluate the impact resulting from this change

3. Implement a virtual private network (VPN) tool

4. Enforce multi-factor authentication for remote access

24. A bug has been identified in a third-party video library that could expose sensitive user data. Which of the following is the BEST recommendation to address this issue?

1. Require authentication to access the library

2. Patch the vulnerability before using the library

3. Sanitize any sensitive data in the library

4. Perform a full antivirus scan before using the library

25. Which of the following is the MOST effective remote access model for reducing the likelihood of attacks originating from connecting devices?

1. Thick client desktop with virtual private network (VPN) connection

2. Remote wide area network (WAN) links

3. Site-to-site virtual private network (VPN)

4. Thin client remote desktop protocol (RDP)

26. Which of the following should be the PRIMARY consideration when evaluating transaction-based cloud solutions?

1. Elasticity of the service offerings

2. Service level agreements (SLAs)

3. Joint data protection responsibilities

4. Data protection capabilities

27. Which of the following needs to be identified FIRST to define the privacy requirements to use when assessing the selection of IT systems?

1. Available technology platforms

2. Type of data being processed

3. Applicable control frameworks

4. Applicable privacy legislation

28. An organization is planning a new implementation for tracking consumer web browser activity. Which of the following should be done FIRST?

1. Obtain consent from the organization’s clients

2. Review and update the cookie policy

3. Seek approval from regulatory authorities

4. Conduct a privacy impact assessment (PIA)

29. Which of the following should be done FIRST to address privacy risk when migrating customer relationship management (CRM) data to a new system?

1. Conduct a legitimate interest analysis (LIA)

2. Obtain consent from data subjects

3. Develop a data migration plan

4. Perform a privacy impact assessment (PIA)

30. Which of the following should be done FIRST before an organization migrates data from an on-premise solution to a cloud-hosted solution that spans more than one jurisdiction?

1. Ensure data loss prevention (DLP) alerts are turned on

2. Encrypt the data while it is being migrated

3. Conduct a penetration test of the hosted solution

4. Assess the organization’s exposure related to the migration

31. Which of the following should an IT privacy practitioner review FIRST to understand where personal data is coming from and how it is used within the organization?

1. Data collection standards

2. Data classification

3. Data process flow diagrams

4. Data inventory

32. An organization’s data destruction guidelines should require hard drives containing personal data to go through which of the following processes prior to being crushed?

1. Hammer strike

2. Degaussing

3. Low-level formatting

4. Remote partitioning

33. A visitor approaches the security desk of a global bank to gain access to attend a meeting. The security desk personnel ask for an official form of identity. Which of the following is the BEST practice with regard to documentation for company record-keeping?

1. Ask the visitor to send a copy of the ID document directly to the meeting host

2. Ask for the visitor’s consent to make a copy of the ID document

3. Maintain a record of identity verification but not a copy of the ID document itself

4. Post a written notice that explains copies of IDs are stored in a secure system

34. Which of the following is MOST important to help determine the controls required to secure the servers that support a customer portal?

1. Configuration management tool

2. Control self-assessments (CSAs)

3. Patch management software

4. Data classification policy

35. An organization is designing a new human resources (HR) system. Which of the following should be implemented to BEST enable detection of unauthorized access to personal data?

1. Web application firewall (WAF)

2. Data loss prevention (DLP) solution

3. Security information and event management (SIEM) solution

4. Vulnerability scanning and management software

36. Which of the following should be the FIRST consideration when conducting a privacy impact assessment (PIA)?

1. The applicable privacy legislation

2. The systems in which privacy-related data is stored

3. The quantity of information within the scope of the assessment

4. The organizational security risk profile

37. A technology company has just launched a mobile application for tracking health symptoms. This application is built on a mobile device technology stack that allows users to share their location and details of their symptoms. Which of the following is the GREATEST privacy concern with collecting this data via mobile devices?

1. Encryption of key data elements

2. Data usage without consent

3. Client-side device ID

4. Data storage requirements

38. Which of the following is the PRIMARY benefit of implementing policies and procedures for system hardening?

1. It reduces external threats to data

2. It increases system resiliency

3. It eliminates attack motivation for data

4. It reduces exposure of data

39. Which of the following is the MOST important topic to cover in privacy awareness training customized for an organization's IT security staff?

1. Roles and responsibilities in responding to privacy-related incidents

2. Applicable privacy laws, regulations, and policies

3. Requirements for usage and distribution of personal information

4. Sanctions for misuse of personal information

40. During which stage of the software development life cycle (SDLC) is it MOST critical to conduct a privacy impact assessment (PIA)?

1. Planning

2. Testing

3. Implementation

4. Development

41. Which of the following is the BEST way to protect personal data in the custody of a third party?

1. Have corporate counsel monitor privacy compliance

2. Require the third party to provide periodic documentation of its privacy management program

3. Include requirements to comply with the organization’s privacy policies in the contract

4. Add privacy-related controls to the vendor audit plan

42. As part of network hardening it is MOST important to set up thresholds to trigger privacy alerts for:

1. excessive network connection length

2. Internet Protocol (IP) masquerading

3. unsuccessful access requests

4. data exfiltration

43. Which of the following techniques BEST protects the privacy of personal data accessed via system endpoints?

1. Encryption

2. Normalization

3. Intrusion detection system (IDS)

4. Endpoint detection and response (EDR)

44. Which of the following should FIRST be established before a privacy office starts to develop a data protection and privacy awareness campaign?

1. Contract requirements for independent oversight

2. Strategic goals of the organization

3. Detailed documentation of data privacy processes

4. Business objectives of senior leaders

45. Which of the following is MOST likely to be considered confidential data as opposed to personal information'?

1. Internet Protocol (IP) address

2. Government identification number

3. Customer income level

4. Driver's license number

46. Which of the following is the BEST way to mitigate privacy risk associated with application programming interfaces (APIs)?

1. Use only APIs that are developed internally by the organization

2. Active monitoring of API schema changes

3. Document dependency usage of all APIs

4. Ensure APIs are included in the scope of the vulnerability management program

47. It is MOST important to consider privacy by design principles during which phase of the software development life cycle (SDLC)?

1. Application design

2. Requirements definition

3. Testing

4. Implementation

48. Which of the following system architectures BEST supports anonymity for data transmission?

1. Front-end

2. Plug-in-based

3. Peer-to-peer

4. Client-server

49. Which of the following poses the GREATEST privacy risk for users of an application that collects their geolocation information?

1. Complex legal disclosures

2. Use of the location data for user profiling

3. Inaccurate cell tower triangulation

4. Third-party access to aggregated location data

50. Which of the following is the BEST way to protect the confidentiality of the information returned by a new application programming interface (API) integration?

1. Update the privacy policy to include use of the API

2. Require all API requests to be monitored

3. Ensure all API traffic is encrypted in transit

4. Use only APIs with de-identified data

FAQs

1. What is the ISACA Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer (CDPSE) certification?

The ISACA CDPSE certification validates your expertise in implementing privacy solutions and ensuring that data privacy is integrated into IT systems and processes.

2. How do I become ISACA Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer (CDPSE) certified?

You must pass the CDPSE exam and have relevant work experience in privacy governance, architecture, and data lifecycle management.

3. What are the prerequisites for the ISACA CDPSE certification exam?

You need at least three years of work experience in data privacy or related domains such as data governance or information security.

4. How much does the ISACA CDPSE certification cost?

The exam fee is $575 USD for ISACA members and $760 USD for non-members.

5. How many questions are in the ISACA CDPSE certification exam?

The exam includes 120 multiple-choice questions to be completed within 3.5 hours.

6. What topics are covered in the ISACA Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer exam?

It covers Privacy Governance, Privacy Architecture, and Data Lifecycle Management.

7. How difficult is the ISACA CDPSE certification exam?

The exam is considered moderately difficult, focusing on both technical and regulatory aspects of data privacy.

8. How long does it take to prepare for the ISACA CDPSE certification exam?

Most candidates prepare in 8–10 weeks, depending on their experience with privacy frameworks and technologies.

9. What jobs can I get after earning the ISACA Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer certification?

You can work as a Privacy Engineer, Data Protection Officer, Compliance Manager, or Security Consultant.

10. How much salary can I earn with the ISACA Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer certification?

Certified professionals typically earn between $100,000–$140,000 per year, depending on their role and experience.