Isaca CISA Practice Test 17
Question 160
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: A vendor incident triggers a temporary exception but the residual risk is never reconsidered after six months. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Recommend reassessing impact and escalating acceptance above delegated limits.
- Recommend a documented deployment and review cycle for the revised standard.
- Recommend current entitlement reconciliation before renewal commitments.
- Recommend expiry, risk reassessment and owner approval for continued exceptions.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Recommend expiry, risk reassessment and owner approval for continued exceptions. The relevant control principle is: Risk exceptions require periodic review against changing exposure and acceptance authority. A meaningful follow-up should establish: Expired exceptions close or are explicitly renewed with current evidence and risk ownership.
Incorrect Answers
A:Recommend reassessing impact and escalating acceptance above delegated limits. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A department labels a customer outage risk acceptable because its probability is low without evaluating financial impact. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend expiry, risk reassessment and owner approval for continued exceptions. The governing distinction is: Risk exceptions require periodic review against changing exposure and acceptance authority.
B:Recommend a documented deployment and review cycle for the revised standard. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A new corporate service standard is rolled out without training, version control or effectiveness reviews. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend expiry, risk reassessment and owner approval for continued exceptions. The governing distinction is: Risk exceptions require periodic review against changing exposure and acceptance authority.
C:Recommend current entitlement reconciliation before renewal commitments. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Software licenses are renewed using last year's device counts despite major decommissioning. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend expiry, risk reassessment and owner approval for continued exceptions. The governing distinction is: Risk exceptions require periodic review against changing exposure and acceptance authority.
Question 161
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A monitoring alert is generated for suspicious transfers, but no owner is assigned to investigate or close it. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Compare approved charter, new testing requests, risk justification and effort forecast.
- Sample alert queues, closure timestamps, escalation rules and staff assignments.
- Review the policy exception, applicable requirement, exposure evidence and management response.
- Inspect identity binding, approval logs and whether one person can trigger both approvals.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Sample alert queues, closure timestamps, escalation rules and staff assignments. The governing principle is: A detective control must include timely response and accountability to reduce exposure.
Incorrect Answers
A:Compare approved charter, new testing requests, risk justification and effort forecast. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Fieldwork expands to a new subsidiary without updating the approved engagement scope or communicating budget impact. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Sample alert queues, closure timestamps, escalation rules and staff assignments. The governing distinction is: A detective control must include timely response and accountability to reduce exposure.
C:Review the policy exception, applicable requirement, exposure evidence and management response. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A report calls a firewall exception critical but provides no business impact, cause or responsible owner. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Sample alert queues, closure timestamps, escalation rules and staff assignments. The governing distinction is: A detective control must include timely response and accountability to reduce exposure.
D:Inspect identity binding, approval logs and whether one person can trigger both approvals. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A new security control requires two operators to approve destructive data deletion, but both approvals can use one shared account. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Sample alert queues, closure timestamps, escalation rules and staff assignments. The governing distinction is: A detective control must include timely response and accountability to reduce exposure.
Question 162
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: A bank converts 20 years of loan records into a new core system and reconciles only total record counts. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Recommend risk-based detailed conversion reconciliation and resolution before acceptance.
- Recommend a proof of feasibility against critical clinical and regulatory criteria.
- Recommend controlled cutover sequencing, idempotency and monitoring for duplicate events.
- Recommend distinct least-privileged release identities and controlled promotion rights.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Recommend risk-based detailed conversion reconciliation and resolution before acceptance. The relevant control principle is: Migration accuracy requires field-level validity, completeness and financial reconciliation. A meaningful follow-up should establish: Target balances, exceptions and sampled loan histories reconcile to source records.
Incorrect Answers
B:Recommend a proof of feasibility against critical clinical and regulatory criteria. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A hospital chooses a cloud imaging service without confirming network reliability or clinical response needs. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend risk-based detailed conversion reconciliation and resolution before acceptance. The governing distinction is: Migration accuracy requires field-level validity, completeness and financial reconciliation.
C:Recommend controlled cutover sequencing, idempotency and monitoring for duplicate events. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An ERP cutover leaves the old interface running and duplicates orders in both systems. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend risk-based detailed conversion reconciliation and resolution before acceptance. The governing distinction is: Migration accuracy requires field-level validity, completeness and financial reconciliation.
D:Recommend distinct least-privileged release identities and controlled promotion rights. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A team uses the same deployment credentials for development, test and production systems. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend risk-based detailed conversion reconciliation and resolution before acceptance. The governing distinction is: Migration accuracy requires field-level validity, completeness and financial reconciliation.
Question 163
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: An audit manager signs the report although a junior tester's exceptions have not received independent review. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Reconcile the full transaction population by day, channel and risk characteristics.
- Review required technical tests, skill inventory, schedules and critical-path tasks.
- Inspect review notes, exception disposition, supervisor sign-offs and unresolved procedures.
- Separate audit-period evidence, remediation date and independent retest results.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Inspect review notes, exception disposition, supervisor sign-offs and unresolved procedures. It is more reliable than assuming the claimed control state from discussion alone. The governing principle is: Quality supervision requires sufficient review before relying on engagement conclusions.
Incorrect Answers
A:Reconcile the full transaction population by day, channel and risk characteristics. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An auditor samples only Monday transactions to conclude that weekend payments were controlled effectively. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Inspect review notes, exception disposition, supervisor sign-offs and unresolved procedures. The governing distinction is: Quality supervision requires sufficient review before relying on engagement conclusions.
B:Review required technical tests, skill inventory, schedules and critical-path tasks. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A compliance audit is due in four weeks but its only database specialist is assigned to an unrelated engagement. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Inspect review notes, exception disposition, supervisor sign-offs and unresolved procedures. The governing distinction is: Quality supervision requires sufficient review before relying on engagement conclusions.
D:Separate audit-period evidence, remediation date and independent retest results. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An auditee disputes an audit exception by supplying a later control fix, then asks to erase the historical finding. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Inspect review notes, exception disposition, supervisor sign-offs and unresolved procedures. The governing distinction is: Quality supervision requires sufficient review before relying on engagement conclusions.
Question 164
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: An internal auditor helped configure the privileged-access system now scheduled for an assurance review. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Auditor objectivity is impaired by assessing one's own recent design work.
- Audit quality programs should evaluate consistency, methodology and continuous improvement.
- Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences.
- Audit scope must be based on independent assessment of relevant risk rather than auditee preference.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Auditor objectivity is impaired by assessing one's own recent design work. The corresponding audit procedure is: Inspect project participation records, audit assignments and independence declarations before fieldwork.
Incorrect Answers
B:Audit quality programs should evaluate consistency, methodology and continuous improvement. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An audit team changes sampling procedures each quarter without documenting why results are no longer comparable. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Auditor objectivity is impaired by assessing one's own recent design work. The governing distinction is: Auditor objectivity is impaired by assessing one's own recent design work.
C:Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A chief information officer asks the audit lead to remove a supported high-risk finding before it reaches the audit committee. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Auditor objectivity is impaired by assessing one's own recent design work. The governing distinction is: Auditor objectivity is impaired by assessing one's own recent design work.
D:Audit scope must be based on independent assessment of relevant risk rather than auditee preference. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A business unit requests that internal audit review only controls selected by its system owner. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Auditor objectivity is impaired by assessing one's own recent design work. The governing distinction is: Auditor objectivity is impaired by assessing one's own recent design work.
Question 165
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: An anomaly model ranks high-value payments as suspicious but the auditor cannot explain its scoring or false-positive rate. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Known test events appear and processing totals reconcile after ingestion recovery.
- Selected items reconcile to the inventory and any gaps are reflected in the final conclusion.
- A reviewer uninvolved in the original configuration signs off on workpapers and the conflict disposition.
- Reported exceptions are reproducible and supported by transaction evidence rather than model scores alone.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Reported exceptions are reproducible and supported by transaction evidence rather than model scores alone. It addresses audit data analytics. Underlying audit concern: Analytics-assisted findings still require understandable criteria and independent validation.
Incorrect Answers
A:Known test events appear and processing totals reconcile after ingestion recovery. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A continuous monitoring dashboard reports zero failed access attempts because its collection job stopped three days ago. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Reported exceptions are reproducible and supported by transaction evidence rather than model scores alone. The governing distinction is: Analytics-assisted findings still require understandable criteria and independent validation.
B:Selected items reconcile to the inventory and any gaps are reflected in the final conclusion. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Management offers ten handpicked successful failover demonstrations as evidence that every critical service has tested recovery. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Reported exceptions are reproducible and supported by transaction evidence rather than model scores alone. The governing distinction is: Analytics-assisted findings still require understandable criteria and independent validation.
C:A reviewer uninvolved in the original configuration signs off on workpapers and the conflict disposition. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An internal auditor helped configure the privileged-access system now scheduled for an assurance review. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Reported exceptions are reproducible and supported by transaction evidence rather than model scores alone. The governing distinction is: Analytics-assisted findings still require understandable criteria and independent validation.
Question 166
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: An application uses TLS for client sessions but disables certificate validation when connecting to its payment processor. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- A backup-copy compromise does not grant unauthorized access to the decryption keys.
- The application rejects a known revoked test certificate while accepting valid trusted peers.
- Image hashes match and each custody transfer is attributable and time-stamped.
- Connections to an untrusted endpoint fail while approved processor sessions work.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Connections to an untrusted endpoint fail while approved processor sessions work. It addresses data encryption. Underlying audit concern: Encryption without authenticating the peer can permit interception or impersonation.
Incorrect Answers
A:A backup-copy compromise does not grant unauthorized access to the decryption keys. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A team stores database encryption keys in the same unrestricted repository as encrypted backups. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Connections to an untrusted endpoint fail while approved processor sessions work. The governing distinction is: Encryption without authenticating the peer can permit interception or impersonation.
B:The application rejects a known revoked test certificate while accepting valid trusted peers. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A revoked supplier certificate remains trusted by an application because revocation checks are disabled. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Connections to an untrusted endpoint fail while approved processor sessions work. The governing distinction is: Encryption without authenticating the peer can permit interception or impersonation.
C:Image hashes match and each custody transfer is attributable and time-stamped. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An investigator copies a suspect laptop disk without recording who handled it or whether the image changed. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Connections to an untrusted endpoint fail while approved processor sessions work. The governing distinction is: Encryption without authenticating the peer can permit interception or impersonation.
Question 167
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: A disaster recovery runbook lists server boot order but omits database integrity and application acceptance tests. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- A simulated severe incident reaches designated decision-makers within defined thresholds.
- A recovery test completes reconciled business transactions within required limits.
- A restore exercise measures actual data currency against the approved loss limit.
- A site-loss simulation processes representative payments through the recovery location.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:A recovery test completes reconciled business transactions within required limits. It addresses disaster recovery plans. Underlying audit concern: DR plans must restore usable business capabilities, not merely power on infrastructure.
Incorrect Answers
A:A simulated severe incident reaches designated decision-makers within defined thresholds. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A major cyber outage is escalated only after normal helpdesk response times expire. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: A recovery test completes reconciled business transactions within required limits. The governing distinction is: DR plans must restore usable business capabilities, not merely power on infrastructure.
C:A restore exercise measures actual data currency against the approved loss limit. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A sales system's backup schedule is chosen before the business determines acceptable data loss. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: A recovery test completes reconciled business transactions within required limits. The governing distinction is: DR plans must restore usable business capabilities, not merely power on infrastructure.
D:A site-loss simulation processes representative payments through the recovery location. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A recovery site has servers but no validated link to the payment network after a facility loss. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: A recovery test completes reconciled business transactions within required limits. The governing distinction is: DR plans must restore usable business capabilities, not merely power on infrastructure.
Question 168
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: Post-audit follow-up marks a critical password weakness closed solely because management sent a completion email. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- A reviewer uninvolved in the original configuration signs off on workpapers and the conflict disposition.
- Closure is supported by test evidence; failed or partial fixes remain open with escalation.
- Confirmed duplicates and legitimate reversals are separately documented and reproducible.
- Later engagements show consistent method application and explain justified departures.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Closure is supported by test evidence; failed or partial fixes remain open with escalation. It addresses quality assurance and improvement of audit process. Underlying audit concern: Follow-up must evaluate whether remediation controls are effectively implemented, not just promised.
Incorrect Answers
A:A reviewer uninvolved in the original configuration signs off on workpapers and the conflict disposition. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An internal auditor helped configure the privileged-access system now scheduled for an assurance review. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Closure is supported by test evidence; failed or partial fixes remain open with escalation. The governing distinction is: Follow-up must evaluate whether remediation controls are effectively implemented, not just promised.
C:Confirmed duplicates and legitimate reversals are separately documented and reproducible. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An auditor flags duplicated supplier invoices by invoice number alone and ignores vendor identifiers and credit notes. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Closure is supported by test evidence; failed or partial fixes remain open with escalation. The governing distinction is: Follow-up must evaluate whether remediation controls are effectively implemented, not just promised.
D:Later engagements show consistent method application and explain justified departures. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An audit team changes sampling procedures each quarter without documenting why results are no longer comparable. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Closure is supported by test evidence; failed or partial fixes remain open with escalation. The governing distinction is: Follow-up must evaluate whether remediation controls are effectively implemented, not just promised.
Question 169
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A container orchestration platform admits unverified public images into a payment workload namespace. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Review identity telemetry, privilege events, alert correlation and analyst disposition.
- Inspect one-line diagrams, panel dependencies, generator capacity and test history.
- Inspect bucket ACLs, public access settings, deployment templates and audit events.
- Review image registries, provenance verification, admission controls and runtime exceptions.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Review image registries, provenance verification, admission controls and runtime exceptions. The governing principle is: Cloud-native workloads require source integrity, runtime policy and supply-chain governance.
Incorrect Answers
A:Review identity telemetry, privilege events, alert correlation and analyst disposition. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A SOC receives repeated login alerts but does not correlate them with high-value account privilege changes. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review image registries, provenance verification, admission controls and runtime exceptions. The governing distinction is: Cloud-native workloads require source integrity, runtime policy and supply-chain governance.
B:Inspect one-line diagrams, panel dependencies, generator capacity and test history. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A data center's redundant power feeds terminate at the same upstream distribution panel. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review image registries, provenance verification, admission controls and runtime exceptions. The governing distinction is: Cloud-native workloads require source integrity, runtime policy and supply-chain governance.
C:Inspect bucket ACLs, public access settings, deployment templates and audit events. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A cloud storage bucket used for personnel data becomes publicly readable after a template change. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review image registries, provenance verification, admission controls and runtime exceptions. The governing distinction is: Cloud-native workloads require source integrity, runtime policy and supply-chain governance.
Question 170
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: A chief information officer asks the audit lead to remove a supported high-risk finding before it reaches the audit committee. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Relevant events match across trusted sources and retention controls prevent undetected alteration.
- The issued report contains an evidence-grounded assessment and documented management response.
- A reviewer uninvolved in the original configuration signs off on workpapers and the conflict disposition.
- Known test events appear and processing totals reconcile after ingestion recovery.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:The issued report contains an evidence-grounded assessment and documented management response. It addresses is audit standards, guidelines, and codes of ethics. Underlying audit concern: Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences.
Incorrect Answers
A:Relevant events match across trusted sources and retention controls prevent undetected alteration. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A vendor's audit log is editable by the same administrator whose changes are under investigation. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: The issued report contains an evidence-grounded assessment and documented management response. The governing distinction is: Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences.
C:A reviewer uninvolved in the original configuration signs off on workpapers and the conflict disposition. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An internal auditor helped configure the privileged-access system now scheduled for an assurance review. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: The issued report contains an evidence-grounded assessment and documented management response. The governing distinction is: Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences.
D:Known test events appear and processing totals reconcile after ingestion recovery. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A continuous monitoring dashboard reports zero failed access attempts because its collection job stopped three days ago. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: The issued report contains an evidence-grounded assessment and documented management response. The governing distinction is: Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences.