CCCS-203b CrowdStrike Certified Cloud Specialist Questions and Answers

The secure and recommended way to test whether firewall restrictions are causing CSPM operation failures is to verify that the required CrowdStrike IP addresses are allowlisted. Falcon Cloud Security relies on outbound API communication between CrowdStrike and the cloud provider. If firewall rules block this traffic, asset inventory collection and IOM detection can fail even though registration appears successful.

CrowdStrike publishes a list of IP addresses and endpoints that must be permitted for proper operation. Validating firewall allowlists against this documentation is a low-risk, best-practice troubleshooting step that preserves security controls while testing connectivity assumptions.

Temporarily opening firewalls to all inbound traffic is insecure and strongly discouraged. Dismissing firewall-related causes without validation can delay resolution. Therefore, the correct and secure approach is to check that the CrowdStrike IP addresses are allowlisted.

According to CrowdStrike Falcon documentation regardingFalcon Cloud Security (FCS)andContainer Security, the method used to deploy sensors significantly impacts how updates are managed. When Linux hosts are part of a Kubernetes cluster and the Falcon sensor is deployed as aDaemonSet, the standard "Sensor Update Policy" configured in the Falcon Console does not automatically trigger a version change in the same way it does for a standard Windows or Linux workstation.

In aDaemonSet deployment, the sensor version is typically tied to the specificcontainer image tagor the version defined in theHelm chartor YAML manifest used during deployment. If the manifest specifies a static version or if the orchestration layer (Kubernetes) is not instructed to pull a newer image and rollout a restart of the DaemonSet pods, the hosts will remain on their current version regardless of the "n-2" policy set in the console.

Furthermore, CrowdStrike documentation notes that forLinux Sensor Update Policies, the "n-2" setting dictates which version isassignedto the host, but the mechanism of delivery must be supported. In containerized environments, the "Auto-update" feature is often bypassed by the immutable nature of the deployment. To resolve this, the administrator must update the DaemonSet configuration to point to the newer sensor image, allowing Kubernetes to perform a rolling update across the nodes.

TheCloud Asset InventoryinCrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Securityprovides a centralized, normalized view ofall compute assetsacrossAWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, regardless of whether they aremanaged or unmanagedby the Falcon sensor.

This inventory aggregates metadata from cloud provider APIs and Falcon telemetry to present unified visibility into virtual machines, cloud instances, container hosts, and workloads. Security teams can filter assets by cloud provider, account, region, operating system, sensor status, and risk posture, making it essential for multi-cloud environments.

Other dashboards serve specialized purposes: the Image Assessment Dashboard focuses on container images, the Compliance Dashboard maps findings to regulatory frameworks, and Application Security Posture Inventory focuses on application-level risk. None of these provide thefull compute asset viewrequired for cross-cloud operational awareness.

Therefore,Cloud Asset Inventoryis the correct location for maintaining visibility across complex, multi-cloud environments.

In CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, exclusions for cloud scans are designed to be precise and scalable so that organizations can safely reduce noise without weakening overall security coverage. According to CrowdStrike best practices,tagsare the recommended and supported criterion for creating cloud scan exclusions.

Tags are metadata labels applied to cloud resources (such as AWS accounts, instances, or services) and are commonly used for ownership, environment classification (for example, dev, test, or prod), or application grouping. By using tags as exclusion criteria, security teams can dynamically control which resources are excluded from scans without relying on static identifiers. This is especially important in cloud environments where resources are frequently created, modified, or terminated.

Exclusions based onaccounts,regions, orservicesare broader in scope and can unintentionally exclude large portions of the environment, increasing the risk of blind spots. Tag-based exclusions allow CrowdStrike Falcon to maintain least-privilege security principles by excluding only explicitly labeled resources.

Because Falcon continuously evaluates cloud resources, tag-based exclusions automatically apply to newly created assets that inherit the same tag, ensuring consistent policy enforcement. For these reasons, CrowdStrike documentation and operational guidance identifyTagas the correct and most effective criterion for creating cloud scan exclusions.

In Falcon Cloud Security, theRegistry assessment statuswidget provides visibility into the current state of container image assessments for connected registries. This widget displaysaggregate totals of assessed and unassessed images, allowing analysts to quickly determine whether images are being successfully scanned.

When investigating unassessed images, this widget is the primary starting point because it reflects real-time assessment coverage across all configured registry connections. It helps identify gaps caused by authentication failures, network restrictions, throttling, or configuration limits such as assessment age thresholds.

Other widgets provide narrower views.Image processingfocuses on images currently being scanned,Assessed imagesonly shows completed scans without highlighting gaps, andConnection statusreflects connectivity health but not assessment coverage.

CrowdStrike documentation and UI design emphasize the Registry assessment status widget as the authoritative summary for image assessment completeness. Therefore, the correct answer isRegistry assessment status.

A valid and recommended reason for adding base images into Falcon Cloud Security is toreduce duplicate findings when a base image is used multiple times. Base images are commonly shared across many application images, meaning vulnerabilities, secrets, or detections present in the base layer can appear repeatedly across derived images.

By onboarding base images directly into Falcon Cloud Security, the platform can more efficiently track and correlate vulnerabilities at their source. This allows security teams to remediate issues once at the base image level rather than addressing the same findings across every downstream image. As a result, vulnerability management becomes more accurate, scalable, and operationally efficient.

The other options are incorrect and potentially dangerous assumptions. Base image CVEscan absolutely be exploitedby adversaries, and base image vulnerabilities are not inherently less risky than other CVEs. In many cases, unpatched base images are a primary attack vector in containerized environments.

CrowdStrike’s container image strategy emphasizes reducing noise, improving prioritization, and enabling faster remediation. Adding base images supports these goals by minimizing duplicate alerts and providing clearer insight into risk inheritance across image hierarchies. Therefore, the correct answer isReduce duplicates when a base image is used multiple times.

InFalcon Cloud Security Network Events, port states reflect how network connections are established and handled at runtime. The platform uses standardized connection state terminology to help analysts understand traffic behavior and intent.

The three valid port states are:

Connect: Indicates an outbound connection attempt initiated by a process or container.

Accept: Represents an inbound connection that was accepted by a listening process.

Listen: Shows that a process is actively listening on a port for incoming connections.

These states provide crucial context for detecting suspicious behavior such as unauthorized listeners, unexpected inbound access, or abnormal outbound communications. Other options include terms not used by Falcon to define port state semantics within Network Events.

Therefore,Connect, Accept, and Listenis the correct answer.

When creating animage groupin CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, valid attributes must align with how container images are uniquely identified and organized. The supported attributes includerepository and image tags, which together allow precise grouping of related images.

Therepositorydefines the image namespace or project within a registry, whileimage tagsrepresent versions or variants such as latest, prod, or semantic versions. Using these attributes enables security teams to target policies and assessments consistently across image versions without relying on static names.

Options involvingimage nameare incorrect because Falcon does not use a standalone image name field for grouping. Image identity is derived from registry, repository, and tag combinations. Registry can be used in some grouping contexts, but for image groups specifically, repository and tag are the valid selectable attributes.

Therefore, the correct answer isRepository and Image tags.

The secure and recommended approach to validate whether firewall restrictions are causing CSPM failures is toconfirm that CrowdStrike’s documented IP addresses are allowlisted. Falcon Cloud Security relies on outbound API connectivity to cloud providers, and blocked traffic can disrupt asset inventory collection and IOM detection even if registration succeeds.

CrowdStrike publishes required IP ranges and endpoints for each cloud region. Verifying firewall rules against this documentation is alow-risk, best-practice troubleshooting stepthat preserves security controls while validating connectivity assumptions.

Opening firewalls broadly is insecure and unnecessary, and dismissing firewall-related causes without verification can delay resolution. Therefore, the correct answer isCheck that you have allowlisted the IP addresses provided in the public-facing CrowdStrike documentation.

When creating an Image Assessment policy exclusion in CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, the recommended and most precise method to temporarily suppress a specific CVE isVulnerability ID & Exclude until 14 days.

This approach allows security teams to explicitly reference a known CVE (for example, CVE-2024-XXXX) and suppress enforcement for a defined time window. The 14-day exclusion period is commonly used to allow development teams time to rebuild images, validate patches, or address dependency constraints without permanently weakening security posture.

Broad exclusions based on recently published vulnerabilities or packages can unintentionally suppress unrelated risk and increase exposure. Indefinite exclusions are discouraged unless there is a strong, documented business justification.

CrowdStrike documentation and best practices emphasizetime-bound, CVE-specific exclusionsto balance operational flexibility with security rigor. Therefore, the correct and recommended option isVulnerability ID & Exclude until 14 days.

When protecting a Kubernetes endpoint that hosts container workloadswith access to the Linux kernel, CrowdStrike recommends deploying theFalcon Sensor for Linux as a DaemonSet.

This deployment model installs the full Falcon Linux sensor on each Kubernetes worker node using a DaemonSet, ensuring one sensor runs per node. Because the sensor has kernel-level access, it provides deep visibility into system calls, process execution, network activity, and container behavior—delivering robust runtime protection.

TheFalcon Container Sensor for Linuxis used when kernel access is not available (for example, in managed or restricted environments). TheFalcon Operator Container Imagesimplifies lifecycle management but is not itself the sensor. Deploying the standard Falcon Sensor for Linux outside a DaemonSet would not scale correctly in Kubernetes.

Therefore, for Kubernetes environments with kernel access, the correct and CrowdStrike-recommended installation isFalcon Sensor for Linux deployed as a DaemonSet.

InCrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, configuration policy breaches aligned to regulatory and security frameworks such asNISTare tracked asIndicators of Misconfiguration (IOMs). These findings represent deviations from best-practice configurations and compliance benchmarks.

To provide an auditable list of NIST-related configuration violations, the correct location isExport Cloud Posture – Indicators of misconfiguration. This export includes detailed records of misconfigured resources, associated benchmarks (NIST, CIS, etc.), affected cloud accounts, severity, and remediation guidance. It is specifically designed to support internal and external audit requirements.

Cloud Indicators of Attack focus on threat activity, not compliance. Remediation status reports focus on fix progress rather than raw policy violations. The Cloud Posture dashboard provides a high-level summary but does not deliver the detailed, exportable list required for audits.

Therefore,Export Cloud Posture – Indicators of misconfigurationis the correct and documented source.

To confirm whether malware exists within a container image, CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security directs investigators to reviewImage detection findings. These findings are generated during container image assessments, where Falcon performs deep inspection of image layers, binaries, and embedded artifacts.

Image detection findings include indicators of known malware, suspicious executables, malicious scripts, and other threats identified through CrowdStrike’s threat intelligence and detection engines. Because container images are often reused across environments, identifying malware at the image level is critical to preventing widespread propagation.

Other options do not directly confirm malware within an image.Drift indicatorsrelate to changes in a running container compared to its original image, not malware embedded in the image itself.Container alertsare typically runtime detections triggered by behavior during execution.Container misconfigurationsfocus on insecure settings rather than malicious code.

By reviewing image detection findings, security teams can identify infected images early, remediate by rebuilding clean images, and prevent deployment through policy enforcement mechanisms such as the Kubernetes Admission Controller. Therefore, the correct investigation path for suspected malware in a container image isImage detection findings.

During thecloud inventory phase of image assessmentinCrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, the platform performs a deep, non-runtime analysis of container images to establish a complete software and binary inventory. This phase is designed to build visibility and context before vulnerability analysis or enforcement occurs.

Falcon expandsall container image layersto inspect their contents individually. This layered expansion is critical because vulnerabilities and malicious artifacts can exist in any layer, including inherited base images. During this process, Falcon collectscryptographic hashes for all binary objectsfound within the image. These hashes allow Falcon to uniquely identify binaries, correlate them with known threats, and support future detection and investigation workflows.

In addition to binary hashing, Falcon enumerates andlists operating system (OS) packagesinstalled in the image. This includes system libraries and dependencies provided by the base operating system, which are essential for accurate vulnerability mapping and exposure analysis later in the assessment lifecycle.

Importantly,vulnerability identification does not occur during the inventory phase. That activity is handled in subsequent analysis stages. The inventory phase focuses exclusively onexpansion, identification, and catalogingof image contents to ensure complete visibility and accuracy.

Therefore, the correct answer isOption C, as it precisely reflects the documented activities performed during the cloud inventory phase of image assessment in CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security.