ITPEC FE Subject B October 2025 Question 17

Principle of Least Privilege / Backup Recovery — identifying the correct recovery method after data loss and the access control principle to prevent privilege escalation.

The scenario describes a junior analyst who received unnecessary superuser privileges and accidentally dropped critical tables.

Blank A — Recovery method:
- The database uses a synchronous (real-time) mirror, meaning the DROP command replicated instantly to the mirror — the mirror has the same damage.
- A simple server restart does not recover dropped tables — the data is gone from both primary and mirror.
- Restoring from backups is the only way to recover deleted data when both the primary and mirror are affected.

Blank B — Preventive measure:
- The root cause is excessive privileges: a junior analyst had superuser access they didn't need.
- Principle of least privilege means granting users only the minimum permissions required for their tasks — the analyst should have had read/query access, not superuser rights.
- Database encryption protects data at rest/in transit but does not prevent authorized users from running destructive commands.
- Multi-factor authentication verifies identity, not permission level — the analyst was a legitimate user, so MFA would not have helped.

Why not others:
- (a, b, c) Restarting the server does not recover dropped tables
- (d) Encryption doesn't prevent accidental data destruction by authorized users
- (e) MFA addresses identity verification, not excessive permissions
- (g, h, i) The synchronous mirror replicates the DROP instantly, so switching to it gives the same damaged state

Key rule: When a synchronous mirror replicates destructive changes instantly, only backups can restore lost data. When the root cause is excessive permissions, the fix is principle of least privilege.

AI-generated — may contain errors