(ISC)2 Certified in Cybersecurity Practice Exam

True or False: The vendor is responsible for the hardware, OS, application, and data center in a SaaS model.

1. True

2. False

3. Not applicable

4. Depends on the contract

The correct answer is: True

In a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, the vendor holds the responsibility for managing a wide range of IT resources. This includes the hardware, operating system, application software, and the physical data center infrastructure that supports the delivery of the service. The essence of SaaS is that it provides a complete software solution that is hosted in the cloud. Users typically access the software over the internet and do not need to worry about the underlying infrastructure or maintenance, as it is all handled by the vendor. This allows businesses to focus on using the application rather than managing IT resources, leading to cost efficiency and ease of use. In contrast, other models such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) or Platform as a Service (PaaS) may assign varying degrees of responsibility to the customer regarding the management of software and infrastructure. Hence, the assertion that the vendor is responsible for all components in a SaaS model is indeed accurate.