CIPM Practice Exam Questions and Answers

What is the name for the privacy strategy model that describes delegated decision making?

When devising effective employee policies to address a particular issue, which of the following should be included in the first draft?

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which of the following situations would LEAST likely require a controller to notify a data subject?

Which is NOT an influence on the privacy environment external to an organization?

SCENARIO

Please use the following to answer the next QUESTION:

For 15 years, Albert has worked at Treasure Box – a mail order company in the United States (U.S.) that used to sell decorative candles around the world, but has recently decided to limit its shipments to customers in the 48 contiguous states. Despite his years of experience, Albert is often overlooked for managerial positions. His frustration about not being promoted, coupled with his recent interest in issues of privacy protection, have motivated Albert to be an agent of positive change.

He will soon interview for a newly advertised position, and during the interview, Albert plans on making executives aware of lapses in the company’s privacy program. He feels certain he will be rewarded with a promotion for preventing negative consequences resulting from the company’s outdated policies and procedures.

For example, Albert has learned about the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountans)/CICA (Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants) Privacy Maturity Model (PMM). Albert thinks the model is a useful way to measure Treasure Box’s ability to protect personal data. Albert has noticed that Treasure Box fails to meet the requirements of the highest level of maturity of this model; at his interview, Albert will pledge to assist the company with meeting this level in order to provide customers with the most rigorous security available.

Albert does want to show a positive outlook during his interview. He intends to praise the company’s commitment to the security of customer and employee personal data against external threats. However, Albert worries about the high turnover rate within the company, particularly in the area of direct phone marketing. He sees many unfamiliar faces every day who are hired to do the marketing, and he often hears complaints in the lunch room regarding long hours and low pay, as well as what seems to be flagrant disregard for company procedures.

In addition, Treasure Box has had two recent security incidents. The company has responded to the incidents with internal audits and updates to security safeguards. However, profits still seem to be affected and anecdotal evidence indicates that many people still harbor mistrust. Albert wants to help the company recover. He knows there is at least one incident the public in unaware of, although Albert does not know the details. He believes the company’s insistence on keeping the incident a secret could be a further detriment to its reputation. One further way that Albert wants to help Treasure Box regain its stature is by creating a toll-free number for customers, as well as a more efficient procedure for responding to customer concerns by postal mail.

In addition to his suggestions for improvement, Albert believes that his knowledge of the company’s recent business maneuvers will also impress the interviewers. For example, Albert is aware of the company’s intention to acquire a medical supply company in the coming weeks.

With his forward thinking, Albert hopes to convince the managers who will be interviewing him that he is right for the job.

Based on Albert’s observations regarding recent security incidents, which of the following should he suggest as a priority for Treasure Box?

SCENARIO

Please use the following to answer the next QUESTION:

Manasa is a product manager at Omnipresent Omnimedia, where she is responsible for leading the development of the company's flagship product, the Handy Helper. The Handy Helper is an application that can be used in the home to manage family calendars, do online shopping, and schedule doctor appointments. After having had a successful launch in the United States, the Handy Helper is about to be made available for purchase worldwide.

The packaging and user guide for the Handy Helper indicate that it is a "privacy friendly" product suitable for the whole family, including children, but does not provide any further detail or privacy notice. In order to use the application, a family creates a single account, and the primary user has access to all information about the other users. Upon start up, the primary user must check a box consenting to receive marketing emails from Omnipresent Omnimedia and selected marketing partners in order to be able to use the application.

Sanjay, the head of privacy at Omnipresent Omnimedia, was working on an agreement with a European distributor of Handy Helper when he fielded many Questions about the product from the distributor. Sanjay needed to look more closely at the product in order to be able to answer the Questions as he was not involved in the product development process.

In speaking with the product team, he learned that the Handy Helper collected and stored all of a user's sensitive medical information for the medical appointment scheduler. In fact, all of the user's information is stored by Handy Helper for the additional purpose of creating additional products and to analyze usage of the product. This data is all stored in the cloud and is encrypted both during transmission and at rest.

Consistent with the CEO's philosophy that great new product ideas can come from anyone, all Omnipresent Omnimedia employees have access to user data under a program called Eureka. Omnipresent Omnimedia is hoping that at some point in the future, the data will reveal insights that could be used to create a fully automated application that runs on artificial intelligence, but as of yet, Eureka is not well-defined and is considered a long-term goal.

What administrative safeguards should be implemented to protect the collected data while in use by Manasa and her product management team?

What should a privacy professional keep in mind when selecting which metrics to collect?

How do privacy audits differ from privacy assessments?

Which of the following is TRUE about the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) process as required under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?

SCENARIO

Please use the following to answer the next QUESTION:

Your organization, the Chicago (U.S.)-based Society for Urban Greenspace, has used the same vendor to operate all aspects of an online store for several years. As a small nonprofit, the Society cannot afford the higher-priced options, but you have been relatively satisfied with this budget vendor, Shopping Cart Saver (SCS). Yes, there have been some issues. Twice, people who purchased items from the store have had their credit card information used fraudulently subsequent to transactions on your site, but in neither case did the investigation reveal with certainty that the Society’s store had been hacked. The thefts could have been employee-related.

Just as disconcerting was an incident where the organization discovered that SCS had sold information it had collected from customers to third parties. However, as Jason Roland, your SCS account representative, points out, it took only a phone call from you to clarify expectations and the “misunderstanding” has not occurred again.

As an information-technology program manager with the Society, the role of the privacy professional is only one of many you play. In all matters, however, you must consider the financial bottom line. While these problems with privacy protection have been significant, the additional revenues of sales of items such as shirts and coffee cups from the store have been significant. The Society’s operating budget is slim, and all sources of revenue are essential.

Now a new challenge has arisen. Jason called to say that starting in two weeks, the customer data from the store would now be stored on a data cloud. “The good news,” he says, “is that we have found a low-cost provider in Finland, where the data would also be held. So, while there may be a small charge to pass through to you, it won’t be exorbitant, especially considering the advantages of a cloud.”

Lately, you have been hearing about cloud computing and you know it’s fast becoming the new paradigm for various applications. However, you have heard mixed reviews about the potential impacts on privacy protection. You begin to research and discover that a number of the leading cloud service providers have signed a letter of intent to work together on shared conventions and technologies for privacy protection. You make a note to find out if Jason’s Finnish provider is signing on.

After conducting research, you discover a primary data protection issue with cloud computing. Which of the following should be your biggest concern?

SCENARIO

Please use the following to answer the next QUESTION:

As they company’s new chief executive officer, Thomas Goddard wants to be known as a leader in data protection. Goddard recently served as the chief financial officer of Hoopy.com, a pioneer in online video viewing with millions of users around the world. Unfortunately, Hoopy is infamous within privacy protection circles for its ethically questionable practices, including unauthorized sales of personal data to marketers. Hoopy also was the target of credit card data theft that made headlines around the world, as at least two million credit card numbers were thought to have been pilfered despite the company’s claims that “appropriate” data protection safeguards were in place. The scandal affected the company’s business as competitors were quick to market an increased level of protection while offering similar entertainment and media content. Within three weeks after the scandal broke, Hoopy founder and CEO Maxwell Martin, Goddard’s mentor, was forced to step down.

Goddard, however, seems to have landed on his feet, securing the CEO position at your company, Medialite, which is just emerging from its start-up phase. He sold the company’s board and investors on his vision of Medialite building its brand partly on the basis of industry-leading data protection standards and procedures. He may have been a key part of a lapsed or even rogue organization in matters of privacy but now he claims to be reformed and a true believer in privacy protection. In his first week on the job, he calls you into his office and explains that your primary work responsibility is to bring his vision for privacy to life. But you also detect some reservations. “We want Medialite to have absolutely the highest standards,” he says. “In fact, I want us to be able to say that we are the clear industry leader in privacy and data protection. However, I also need to be a responsible steward of the company’s finances. So, while I want the best solutions across the board, they also need to be cost effective.”

You are told to report back in a week’s time with your recommendations. Charged with this ambiguous mission, you depart the executive suite, already considering your next steps.

You are charged with making sure that privacy safeguards are in place for new products and initiatives. What is the best way to do this?

SCENARIO

Please use the following to answer the next QUESTION:

As they company’s new chief executive officer, Thomas Goddard wants to be known as a leader in data protection. Goddard recently served as the chief financial officer of Hoopy.com, a pioneer in online video viewing with millions of users around the world. Unfortunately, Hoopy is infamous within privacy protection circles for its ethically Questionable practices, including unauthorized sales of personal data to marketers. Hoopy also was the target of credit card data theft that made headlines around the world, as at least two million credit card numbers were thought to have been pilfered despite the company’s claims that “appropriate” data protection safeguards were in place. The scandal affected the company’s business as competitors were quick to market an increased level of protection while offering similar entertainment and media content. Within three weeks after the scandal broke, Hoopy founder and CEO Maxwell Martin, Goddard’s mentor, was forced to step down.

Goddard, however, seems to have landed on his feet, securing the CEO position at your company, Medialite, which is just emerging from its start-up phase. He sold the company’s board and investors on his vision of Medialite building its brand partly on the basis of industry-leading data protection standards and procedures. He may have been a key part of a lapsed or even rogue organization in matters of privacy but now he claims to be reformed and a true believer in privacy protection. In his first week on the job, he calls you into his office and explains that your primary work responsibility is to bring his vision for privacy to life. But you also detect some reservations. “We want Medialite to have absolutely the highest standards,” he says. “In fact, I want us to be able to say that we are the clear industry leader in privacy and data protection. However, I also need to be a responsible steward of the company’s finances. So, while I want the best solutions across the board, they also need to be cost effective.”

You are told to report back in a week’s time with your recommendations. Charged with this ambiguous mission, you depart the executive suite, already considering your next steps.

The CEO likes what he’s seen of the company’s improved privacy program, but wants additional assurance that it is fully compliant with industry standards and reflects emerging best practices. What would best help accomplish this goal?

SCENARIO

Please use the following to answer the next QUESTION:

Your organization, the Chicago (U.S.)-based Society for Urban Greenspace, has used the same vendor to

operate all aspects of an online store for several years. As a small nonprofit, the Society cannot afford the higher-priced options, but you have been relatively satisfied with this budget vendor, Shopping Cart Saver (SCS). Yes, there have been some issues. Twice, people who purchased items from the store have had their credit card information used fraudulently subsequent to transactions on your site, but in neither case did the investigation reveal with certainty that the Society’s store had been hacked. The thefts could have been employee-related.

Just as disconcerting was an incident where the organization discovered that SCS had sold information it had collected from customers to third parties. However, as Jason Roland, your SCS account representative, points out, it took only a phone call from you to clarify expectations and the “misunderstanding” has not occurred again.

As an information-technology program manager with the Society, the role of the privacy professional is only one of many you play. In all matters, however, you must consider the financial bottom line. While these problems with privacy protection have been significant, the additional revenues of sales of items such as shirts and coffee cups from the store have been significant. The Society’s operating budget is slim, and all sources of revenue are essential.

Now a new challenge has arisen. Jason called to say that starting in two weeks, the customer data from the store would now be stored on a data cloud. “The good news,” he says, “is that we have found a low-cost provider in Finland, where the data would also be held. So, while there may be a small charge to pass through to you, it won’t be exorbitant, especially considering the advantages of a cloud.”

Lately, you have been hearing about cloud computing and you know it’s fast becoming the new paradigm for various applications. However, you have heard mixed reviews about the potential impacts on privacy protection. You begin to research and discover that a number of the leading cloud service providers have signed a letter of intent to work together on shared conventions and technologies for privacy protection. You make a note to find out if Jason’s Finnish provider is signing on.

What process can best answer your Questions about the vendor’s data security safeguards?

SCENARIO

Please use the following to answer the next QUESTION:

Penny has recently joined Ace Space, a company that sells homeware accessories online, as its new privacy officer. The company is based in California but thanks to some great publicity from a social media influencer last year, the company has received an influx of sales from the EU and has set up a regional office in Ireland to support this expansion. To become familiar with Ace Space’s practices and assess what her privacy priorities will be, Penny has set up meetings with a number of colleagues to hear about the work that they have been doing and their compliance efforts.

Penny’s colleague in Marketing is excited by the new sales and the company’s plans, but is also concerned that Penny may curtail some of the growth opportunities he has planned. He tells her “I heard someone in the breakroom talking about some new privacy laws but I really don’t think it affects us. We’re just a small company. I mean we just sell accessories online, so what’s the real risk?” He has also told her that he works with a number of small companies that help him get projects completed in a hurry. “We’ve got to meet our deadlines otherwise we lose money. I just sign the contracts and get Jim in finance to push through the payment. Reviewing the contracts takes time that we just don’t have.”

In her meeting with a member of the IT team, Penny has learned that although Ace Space has taken a number of precautions to protect its website from malicious activity, it has not taken the same level of care of its physical files or internal infrastructure. Penny’s colleague in IT has told her that a former employee lost an encrypted USB key with financial data on it when he left. The company nearly lost access to their customer database last year after they fell victim to a phishing attack. Penny is told by her IT colleague that the IT team “didn’t know what to do or who should do what. We hadn’t been trained on it but we’re a small team though, so it worked out OK in the end.” Penny is concerned that these issues will compromise Ace Space’s privacy and data protection.

Penny is aware that the company has solid plans to grow its international sales and will be working closely with the CEO to give the organization a data “shake up”. Her mission is to cultivate a strong privacy culture within the company.

Penny has a meeting with Ace Space’s CEO today and has been asked to give her first impressions and an overview of her next steps.

To help Penny and her CEO with their objectives, what would be the most helpful approach to address her IT concerns?

While trying to e-mail her manager, an employee has e-mailed a list of all the company's customers, including their bank details, to an employee with the same name at a different company. Which of the following would be the first stage in the incident response plan under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?

SCENARIO

Please use the following to answer the next QUESTION:

It's just what you were afraid of. Without consulting you, the information technology director at your organization launched a new initiative to encourage employees to use personal devices for conducting business. The initiative made purchasing a new, high-specification laptop computer an attractive option, with discounted laptops paid for as a payroll deduction spread over a year of paychecks. The organization is also paying the sales taxes. It's a great deal, and after a month, more than half the organization's employees have signed on and acquired new laptops. Walking through the facility, you see them happily customizing and comparing notes on their new computers, and at the end of the day, most take their laptops with them, potentially carrying personal data to their homes or other unknown locations. It's enough to give you data- protection nightmares, and you've pointed out to the information technology Director and many others in the organization the potential hazards of this new practice, including the inevitability of eventual data loss or theft.

Today you have in your office a representative of the organization's marketing department who shares with you, reluctantly, a story with potentially serious consequences. The night before, straight from work, with laptop in hand, he went to the Bull and Horn Pub to play billiards with his friends. A fine night of sport and socializing began, with the laptop "safely" tucked on a bench, beneath his jacket. Later that night, when it was time to depart, he retrieved the jacket, but the laptop was gone. It was not beneath the bench or on another bench nearby. The waitstaff had not seen it. His friends were not playing a joke on him. After a sleepless night, he confirmed it this morning, stopping by the pub to talk to the cleanup crew. They had not found it. The laptop was missing. Stolen, it seems. He looks at you, embarrassed and upset.

You ask him if the laptop contains any personal data from clients, and, sadly, he nods his head, yes. He believes it contains files on about 100 clients, including names, addresses and governmental identification numbers. He sighs and places his head in his hands in despair.

Which is the best way to ensure that data on personal equipment is protected?

All of the following changes will likely trigger a data inventory update EXCEPT?

Which of the following best supports implementing controls to bring privacy policies into effect?

SCENARIO

Please use the following to answer the next QUESTION:

Richard McAdams recently graduated law school and decided to return to the small town of Lexington, Virginia to help run his aging grandfather's law practice. The elder McAdams desired a limited, lighter role in the practice, with the hope that his grandson would eventually take over when he fully retires. In addition to hiring Richard, Mr. McAdams employs two paralegals, an administrative assistant, and a part-time IT specialist who handles all of their basic networking needs. He plans to hire more employees once Richard gets settled and assesses the office's strategies for growth.

Immediately upon arrival, Richard was amazed at the amount of work that needed to done in order to modernize the office, mostly in regard to the handling of clients' personal data. His first goal is to digitize all the records kept in file cabinets, as many of the documents contain personally identifiable financial and medical data. Also, Richard has noticed the massive amount of copying by the administrative assistant throughout the day, a practice that not only adds daily to the number of files in the file cabinets, but may create security issues unless a formal policy is firmly in place Richard is also concerned with the overuse of the communal copier/ printer located in plain view of clients who frequent the building. Yet another area of concern is the use of the same fax machine by all of the employees. Richard hopes to reduce its use dramatically in order to ensure that personal data receives the utmost security and protection, and eventually move toward a strict Internet faxing policy by the year's end.

Richard expressed his concerns to his grandfather, who agreed, that updating data storage, data security, and an overall approach to increasing the protection of personal data in all facets is necessary Mr. McAdams granted him the freedom and authority to do so. Now Richard is not only beginning a career as an attorney, but also functioning as the privacy officer of the small firm. Richard plans to meet with the IT employee the following day, to get insight into how the office computer system is currently set-up and managed.

As Richard begins to research more about Data Lifecycle Management (DLM), he discovers that the law office can lower the risk of a data breach by doing what?

For an organization that has just experienced a data breach, what might be the least relevant metric for a company's privacy and governance team?

If your organization has a recurring issue with colleagues not reporting personal data breaches, all of the following are advisable to do EXCEPT?

Which of the following indicates you have developed the right privacy framework for your organization?

SCENARIO

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Henry Home Furnishings has built high-end furniture for nearly forty years. However, the new owner, Anton, has found some degree of disorganization after touring the company headquarters. His uncle Henry had always focused on production – not data processing – and Anton is concerned. In several storage rooms, he has found paper files, disks, and old computers that appear to contain the personal data of current and former employees and customers. Anton knows that a single break-in could irrevocably damage the company's relationship with its loyal customers. He intends to set a goal of guaranteed zero loss of personal information.

To this end, Anton originally planned to place restrictions on who was admitted to the physical premises of the company. However, Kenneth – his uncle's vice president and longtime confidante – wants to hold off on Anton's idea in favor of converting any paper records held at the company to electronic storage. Kenneth believes this process would only take one or two years. Anton likes this idea; he envisions a password- protected system that only he and Kenneth can access.

Anton also plans to divest the company of most of its subsidiaries. Not only will this make his job easier, but it will simplify the management of the stored data. The heads of subsidiaries like the art gallery and kitchenware store down the street will be responsible for their own information management. Then, any unneeded subsidiary data still in Anton's possession can be destroyed within the next few years.

After learning of a recent security incident, Anton realizes that another crucial step will be notifying customers. Kenneth insists that two lost hard drives in Question are not cause for concern; all of the data was encrypted and not sensitive in nature. Anton does not want to take any chances, however. He intends on sending notice letters to all employees and customers to be safe.

Anton must also check for compliance with all legislative, regulatory, and market requirements related to privacy protection. Kenneth oversaw the development of the company's online presence about ten years ago, but Anton is not confident about his understanding of recent online marketing laws. Anton is assigning another trusted employee with a law background the task of the compliance assessment. After a thorough analysis, Anton knows the company should be safe for another five years, at which time he can order another check.

Documentation of this analysis will show auditors due diligence.

Anton has started down a long road toward improved management of the company, but he knows the effort is worth it. Anton wants his uncle's legacy to continue for many years to come.

Which of Anton's plans for improving the data management of the company is most unachievable?

What is the main purpose in notifying data subjects of a data breach?