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Difficulty: MediumAuthentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA)

A DevOps security engineer configures a CI/CD build pipeline to publish container images to a private registry. The registry uses mutual TLS (mTLS) to verify the build agent's identity and evaluates microservice access control lists (ACLs) to ensure the agent holds write permissions. However, an internal audit reveals that detailed logs of image tag modifications and timestamped service upload events are not being recorded or stored centrally. Which pillar of the AAA security framework is absent in this implementation?

  1. AccountingAnswer
  2. B
    Authentication
  3. C
    Authorization
  4. D
    Preventive access control

Answer

Accounting is the pillar of the AAA security framework missing from this deployment.
Accounting is responsible for tracking user and service activities, recording event metrics, and maintaining centralized audit trails. The failure to record image uploads and timestamped modifications directly indicates that Accounting is missing.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the active security components described in the scenario.
Mutual TLS (mTLS) validates system identity (Authentication) and ACLs restrict write actions (Authorization).
Identifying existing controls determines which components of AAA are already present.
2
Determine the unaddressed operational requirement.
The system fails to log timestamped upload events and configuration modifications centrally.
Identifying the gap isolates the unfulfilled security function.
3
Map the missing capability to AAA framework pillars.
Logging, monitoring, and audit logging correspond to Accounting.
Accounting specifically covers tracking activity and maintaining audit trails.

Key Concept

Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA)
Estimated Time:1m 15s
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Topics

Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA)

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