312-40 Reviews Questions

In the context of forensic acquisition of a compromised Azure VM, it is crucial to maintain the integrity of the evidence. The backup copy of the snapshot should be taken before any operations that could potentially alter the data are performed. This means creating the backup copy in a blob container as a page blob before mounting the snapshot onto the forensic workstation.

Here’s the process:

Create Snapshot: First, a snapshot of the VM’s disk is created to capture the state of the VM at the point of compromise.

Backup Copy: Before the snapshot is mounted onto the forensic workstation for analysis, a backup copy of the snapshot should be taken and stored in a blob container as a page blob.

Maintain Integrity: This step ensures that the original snapshot remains unaltered and can be used as evidence, maintaining the chain of custody.

Forensic Analysis: After the backup copy is secured, the snapshot can be mounted onto the forensic workstation for detailed analysis.

Documentation: All steps taken during the forensic acquisition process should be thoroughly documented for legal and compliance purposes.

References:

Microsoft’s guidelines on the computer forensics chain of custody in Azure, which include the process of handling VM snapshots for forensic purposes1.

Azure Key Vault is a cloud service provided by Microsoft Azure. It is used for managing cryptographic keys and other secrets used in cloud applications and services. Chris Evans, as a cloud security engineer, would use Azure Key Vault for the following reasons:

Key Management: Azure Key Vault allows for the creation and control of encryption keys used to encrypt data.

Secrets Management: It can also manage other secrets such as tokens, passwords, certificates, and API keys.

Access Control: Key Vault provides secure access to keys and secrets based on Azure Active Directory identities.

Audit Logs: It offers monitoring and logging capabilities to track how and when keys and secrets are accessed.

Integration: Key Vault integrates with other Azure services, providing a seamless experience for securing application secrets.

References:

Azure’s official documentation on Key Vault, which outlines its capabilities for key management and security.

A guide on best practices for using Azure Key Vault for managing cryptographic keys and secrets.

To restrict access to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) resources to a specified IP range, the client can use VPC Service Controls. VPC Service Controls provide additional security for data by allowing the creation of security perimeters around GCP resources to help mitigate data exfiltration risks.

VPC Service Controls: This service allows the creation of secure perimeters to define and enforce security policies for GCP resources, restricting access to specific IP ranges.

Trust-List Implementation: By using VPC Service Controls, the client can configure access policies that only allow access from trusted IP ranges, ensuring that only users within the specified network can access the resources.

Granular Access Control: VPC Service Controls can be used in conjunction with Identity and Access Management (IAM) to provide fine-grained access controls based on IP addresses and other conditions.

References

Google Cloud VPC Service Controls Overview

VPC Service Controls enable clients to define a security perimeter around Google Cloud Platform resources to control communication to and from those resources. By using VPC Service Controls, the client can restrict access to GCP resources to a specified IP range.

Create a Service Perimeter: The client can create a service perimeter that includes the GCP resources they want to protect.

Define Access Levels: Within the service perimeter, the client can define access levels based on attributes such as IP address ranges.

Enforce Access Policies: Access policies are enforced, which restrict access to the resources within the service perimeter to only those requests that come from the specified IP range.

Grant Access to Auditors: The client can grant access to company auditors by including their IP addresses in the allowed range.

References:VPC Service Controls provide a way to secure sensitive data and enforce a perimeter around GCP resources. It is designed to prevent data exfiltration and manage access to services within the perimeter based on defined criteria, such as source IP address12. This makes it the appropriate service for the client’s requirement to restrict access to a specified IP range.