Which of the following is MOST likely to result from misunderstanding the cloud service shared responsibility model?

The shared responsibility model delineates security obligations between a cloud service provider (CSP) and its customer. A fundamental misunderstanding of this model leads a customer to incorrectly believe the CSP is managing a security control that is, in fact, the customer's duty. This creates a security gap, as the customer falsely assumes a risk (e.g., data encryption, identity and access management configuration) has been transferred to the vendor, leaving it unaddressed. This is the most direct and encompassing consequence of misunderstanding the model's boundaries.

B. Securing the cloud metastructure is almost universally the responsibility of the cloud provider, not the customer, making this an unlikely area of customer misunderstanding.
C. This is a specific example of a risk that might be mishandled, but the root cause is the false assumption (A) that the vendor is responsible for it.
D. Vendor lock-in relates to data portability, proprietary APIs, and contractual terms, which are distinct from the operational security duties in the shared responsibility model.

1. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). (2020). NIST Cloud Computing Security Reference Architecture (NIST SP 500-299). Section 4.2, "The shared responsibility model in the cloud means that security is a partnership between the cloud provider and the cloud consumer... Misunderstanding the model can lead to gaps in security coverage."

2. Microsoft Azure Documentation. (2023). Shared responsibility in the cloud. "You may be accustomed to your organization taking on all of these responsibilities... In the cloud, some of these responsibilities are transferred to a cloud provider... It's critical for you to understand the division of responsibilities."

3. Amazon Web Services (AWS) Documentation. (2023). Shared Responsibility Model. "This shared model can help relieve the customer’s operational burden as AWS operates, manages and controls the components from the host operating system and virtualization layer down to the physical security of the facilities in which the service operates."