Cloud Security Questionnaire: 15 Common Questions and How to Answer Them

Enterprise buyers ask the same cloud security questions in almost every vendor assessment. Here are the 15 most common, with guidance on how to answer each one.

1. Where is customer data stored (region/country)? Name your cloud provider and regions. For example: "Customer data is stored in AWS us-east-1 (Virginia) and us-west-2 (Oregon). Data does not leave the United States by default."

2. Is data encrypted at rest? State your encryption standard and key management. "Customer data at rest is encrypted using AES-256. Encryption keys are managed by AWS KMS and rotated annually."

3. Is data encrypted in transit? State the protocol and minimum version. "All data in transit is encrypted using TLS 1.2 or higher."

4. Do you support multi-factor authentication? State whether MFA is available, required, or enforced for specific roles. "MFA is supported for all user accounts and required for administrator access."

5. Do you have a SOC 2 report? State the type (I or II), scope, date, and availability. "We hold a SOC 2 Type II report covering the Trust Services Criteria for Security. The most recent report covers the period [date range]. An NDA is required before sharing."

6. Who are your subprocessors? Reference your subprocessors list and its availability. "Our current subprocessors list is maintained at [URL or 'available on request']. All subprocessors are bound by data processing agreements."

7. How do you handle data deletion requests? State your deletion process and timeline. "Upon contract termination or written request, we delete customer data within [N] days and provide written confirmation."

8. What is your mean time to patch critical vulnerabilities? State your SLA for critical, high, medium, and low severity findings. "Critical vulnerabilities are remediated within 72 hours of identification. High severity within 7 days."

9. Do you conduct penetration testing? State frequency, scope, and provider type. "We conduct annual third-party penetration tests of our application and infrastructure. Executive summaries are available under NDA."

10. What is your incident response notification timeline? State your contractual and regulatory commitments. "We notify affected customers of confirmed security incidents within 72 hours. Our DPA specifies notification obligations."

11. Do you have business continuity and disaster recovery plans? State that plans exist, your tested RTO and RPO, and when they were last tested. "Our BCP and DRP are reviewed annually. Our target RTO is [N hours] and RPO is [N hours], validated by our most recent DR test in [month/year]."

12. How do you vet employees who access customer data? State your background check policy and access provisioning process. "All employees with access to production systems undergo background checks before hire. Access is provisioned on least-privilege principles and reviewed quarterly."

13. Do you have a bug bounty program? State whether you run one and through which platform, or describe your responsible disclosure policy if you do not.

14. What cloud infrastructure do you use? Name your primary providers and note any secondary or backup infrastructure.

15. Are you ISO 27001 certified? Answer directly — yes (with certificate details) or no (with an explanation of your current security posture and any alternative certifications).

Automate your cloud security questionnaire responses

Upload your security policy, DPA, and subprocessors list to SecureFlow. The AI will draft accurate answers to all 15 of these questions — and the other 800+ questions in a full SIG — grounded in your actual documents.

Start free at secureflow.tech.

Not legal advice. Answers require review by your security and legal teams before submission.