Isaca CISA Practice Test 24
Question 230
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: A payroll system uses post-payment anomaly reports but has no approval requirement for changing bank accounts. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Risk-based communication should prioritize material implications and provide traceable support.
- A detective control must include timely response and accountability to reduce exposure.
- Detective review does not automatically replace an effective preventive authorization control.
- Absence of reported incidents is not proof of low inherent or residual risk.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Detective review does not automatically replace an effective preventive authorization control. The corresponding audit procedure is: Inspect account-change workflow, approver segregation and exception follow-up records.
Incorrect Answers
A:Risk-based communication should prioritize material implications and provide traceable support. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A board report includes hundreds of raw test details but fails to distinguish enterprise-critical findings. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Detective review does not automatically replace an effective preventive authorization control. The governing distinction is: Detective review does not automatically replace an effective preventive authorization control.
B:A detective control must include timely response and accountability to reduce exposure. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A monitoring alert is generated for suspicious transfers, but no owner is assigned to investigate or close it. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Detective review does not automatically replace an effective preventive authorization control. The governing distinction is: Detective review does not automatically replace an effective preventive authorization control.
D:Absence of reported incidents is not proof of low inherent or residual risk. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An auditor cannot decide whether to review a high-impact legacy billing interface because no recent incidents are recorded. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Detective review does not automatically replace an effective preventive authorization control. The governing distinction is: Detective review does not automatically replace an effective preventive authorization control.
Question 231
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A DevOps team deploys from automated pipelines with no independent approval for sensitive production promotions. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Review requirements baseline, design revisions, test cases and change approvals.
- Inspect emergency approval, impact assessment, configuration snapshots and recovery steps.
- Review legal calculation scenarios, integration test results, unresolved defects and sign-offs.
- Inspect pipeline roles, protected branches, approvals and immutable deployment logs.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Inspect pipeline roles, protected branches, approvals and immutable deployment logs. The governing principle is: Automation should enforce appropriate separation of duties and production-release control.
Incorrect Answers
A:Review requirements baseline, design revisions, test cases and change approvals. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A waterfall project signs off design once, then production requirements change without design traceability. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Inspect pipeline roles, protected branches, approvals and immutable deployment logs. The governing distinction is: Automation should enforce appropriate separation of duties and production-release control.
B:Inspect emergency approval, impact assessment, configuration snapshots and recovery steps. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An emergency patch goes live without a rollback plan or verification of required interfaces. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Inspect pipeline roles, protected branches, approvals and immutable deployment logs. The governing distinction is: Automation should enforce appropriate separation of duties and production-release control.
C:Review legal calculation scenarios, integration test results, unresolved defects and sign-offs. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A payroll release passes developer unit tests but has never completed end-to-end statutory deduction testing. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Inspect pipeline roles, protected branches, approvals and immutable deployment logs. The governing distinction is: Automation should enforce appropriate separation of duties and production-release control.
Question 232
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: A firewall has a broad any-to-any allow rule placed ahead of new restrictions for a regulated application. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Policy order and scope determine the effective network control, not the existence of later rules.
- Detection requires an accountable response workflow to reduce business impact.
- Role-specific training and technical controls should address actual high-risk behaviors.
- Cloud-native workloads require source integrity, runtime policy and supply-chain governance.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Policy order and scope determine the effective network control, not the existence of later rules. The corresponding audit procedure is: Inspect actual rule-hit logs, order, matching conditions and business justifications.
Incorrect Answers
B:Detection requires an accountable response workflow to reduce business impact. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A company implements a network intrusion detector but does not assign anyone to triage severe alerts. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Policy order and scope determine the effective network control, not the existence of later rules. The governing distinction is: Policy order and scope determine the effective network control, not the existence of later rules.
C:Role-specific training and technical controls should address actual high-risk behaviors. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Developers complete general security videos but continue committing cloud keys into source repositories. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Policy order and scope determine the effective network control, not the existence of later rules. The governing distinction is: Policy order and scope determine the effective network control, not the existence of later rules.
D:Cloud-native workloads require source integrity, runtime policy and supply-chain governance. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A container orchestration platform admits unverified public images into a payment workload namespace. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Policy order and scope determine the effective network control, not the existence of later rules. The governing distinction is: Policy order and scope determine the effective network control, not the existence of later rules.
Question 233
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: An audit manager signs the report although a junior tester's exceptions have not received independent review. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Each finding links to reviewed evidence and all material open review notes are resolved.
- Audit oversight receives accurate aging, ownership and retest status for open actions.
- The reporting workpaper transparently reconciles exceptions to the supported conclusion.
- The engagement plan assigns qualified reviewers to every critical test before sign-off.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Each finding links to reviewed evidence and all material open review notes are resolved. It addresses audit project management. Underlying audit concern: Quality supervision requires sufficient review before relying on engagement conclusions.
Incorrect Answers
B:Audit oversight receives accurate aging, ownership and retest status for open actions. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Three departments repeatedly miss remediation dates but audit management reports closure rates without aging analysis. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Each finding links to reviewed evidence and all material open review notes are resolved. The governing distinction is: Quality supervision requires sufficient review before relying on engagement conclusions.
C:The reporting workpaper transparently reconciles exceptions to the supported conclusion. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A sample of authorized changes contains failures, yet the auditor extrapolates a zero-percent exception rate. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Each finding links to reviewed evidence and all material open review notes are resolved. The governing distinction is: Quality supervision requires sufficient review before relying on engagement conclusions.
D:The engagement plan assigns qualified reviewers to every critical test before sign-off. 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 verification is: Each finding links to reviewed evidence and all material open review notes are resolved. The governing distinction is: Quality supervision requires sufficient review before relying on engagement conclusions.
Question 234
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: A financial transfer job can be rerun after timeout and processes the same payment twice. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Recommend restricted promotion and controlled approved script deployment.
- Recommend severity-triggered rapid escalation and tested incident playbooks.
- Recommend periodic representative restoration tests with objective success criteria.
- Recommend idempotent processing or controlled reconciliation before restart.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Recommend idempotent processing or controlled reconciliation before restart. The relevant control principle is: Automated restart must avoid duplicate or incomplete business transactions. A meaningful follow-up should establish: Replayed requests create one authorized business transaction with consistent audit logs.
Incorrect Answers
A:Recommend restricted promotion and controlled approved script deployment. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An operator can edit scheduled payroll scripts directly in production without independent approval. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend idempotent processing or controlled reconciliation before restart. The governing distinction is: Automated restart must avoid duplicate or incomplete business transactions.
B:Recommend severity-triggered rapid escalation and tested incident playbooks. 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 recommendation is: Recommend idempotent processing or controlled reconciliation before restart. The governing distinction is: Automated restart must avoid duplicate or incomplete business transactions.
C:Recommend periodic representative restoration tests with objective success criteria. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An enterprise calls backups successful because jobs complete, but no recent restoration test has been performed. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend idempotent processing or controlled reconciliation before restart. The governing distinction is: Automated restart must avoid duplicate or incomplete business transactions.
Question 235
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A regional business copies a global security baseline but has no documented exceptions for local privacy restrictions. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Review regulatory differences, baseline requirements, risk assessments and exception approvals.
- Compare stated policies with access, vulnerability, incident and exception records.
- Inspect code scans, leaked-secret events, training scope and remediation quality.
- Review detection events, escalation thresholds, staffing and resolution histories.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Review regulatory differences, baseline requirements, risk assessments and exception approvals. The governing principle is: Framework implementation should address local constraints without unreviewed security gaps.
Incorrect Answers
B:Compare stated policies with access, vulnerability, incident and exception records. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A compliance dashboard reports all policies published but does not measure whether their security controls operate. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review regulatory differences, baseline requirements, risk assessments and exception approvals. The governing distinction is: Framework implementation should address local constraints without unreviewed security gaps.
C:Inspect code scans, leaked-secret events, training scope and remediation quality. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Developers complete general security videos but continue committing cloud keys into source repositories. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review regulatory differences, baseline requirements, risk assessments and exception approvals. The governing distinction is: Framework implementation should address local constraints without unreviewed security gaps.
D:Review detection events, escalation thresholds, staffing and resolution histories. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A company implements a network intrusion detector but does not assign anyone to triage severe alerts. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review regulatory differences, baseline requirements, risk assessments and exception approvals. The governing distinction is: Framework implementation should address local constraints without unreviewed security gaps.
Question 236
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: An urgent firewall change is deployed without a ticket and later cannot be attributed to an approver. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Compare firewall revision logs, emergency approval procedures and operational impact.
- Review vulnerability severity, exposed assets, patch schedules and documented deferrals.
- Inspect backup integrity, encryption keys, retention copies and last restore test.
- Compare procurement records, license contracts, application scans and disposal approvals.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Compare firewall revision logs, emergency approval procedures and operational impact. The governing principle is: Emergency changes need accelerated but documented authorization and retrospective review.
Incorrect Answers
B:Review vulnerability severity, exposed assets, patch schedules and documented deferrals. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A security patch is applied on test servers but production remains vulnerable for months without risk approval. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Compare firewall revision logs, emergency approval procedures and operational impact. The governing distinction is: Emergency changes need accelerated but documented authorization and retrospective review.
C:Inspect backup integrity, encryption keys, retention copies and last restore test. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An enterprise calls backups successful because jobs complete, but no recent restoration test has been performed. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Compare firewall revision logs, emergency approval procedures and operational impact. The governing distinction is: Emergency changes need accelerated but documented authorization and retrospective review.
D:Compare procurement records, license contracts, application scans and disposal approvals. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A company continues paying software maintenance for applications deleted during a consolidation. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Compare firewall revision logs, emergency approval procedures and operational impact. The governing distinction is: Emergency changes need accelerated but documented authorization and retrospective review.
Question 237
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: A malicious attachment launches a child process and connects to an unfamiliar command server. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Recommend incident handling and detection improvements for the observed attack chain.
- Recommend minimal export entitlements and monitoring or blocking of unauthorized bulk transfers.
- Recommend removing or narrowing the shadowing rule through approved change control.
- Recommend adaptive authentication, rate controls and account protection monitoring.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Recommend incident handling and detection improvements for the observed attack chain. The relevant control principle is: Attack analysis should connect execution, persistence and communications evidence. A meaningful follow-up should establish: Controlled simulations generate correlated alerts at the appropriate stages.
Incorrect Answers
B:Recommend minimal export entitlements and monitoring or blocking of unauthorized bulk transfers. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A customer service portal allows employees to export unrestricted copies of all customer identity documents. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend incident handling and detection improvements for the observed attack chain. The governing distinction is: Attack analysis should connect execution, persistence and communications evidence.
C:Recommend removing or narrowing the shadowing rule through approved change control. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A firewall has a broad any-to-any allow rule placed ahead of new restrictions for a regulated application. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend incident handling and detection improvements for the observed attack chain. The governing distinction is: Attack analysis should connect execution, persistence and communications evidence.
D:Recommend adaptive authentication, rate controls and account protection monitoring. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A customer portal suffers repeated credential-stuffing attempts from rotating IP addresses. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend incident handling and detection improvements for the observed attack chain. The governing distinction is: Attack analysis should connect execution, persistence and communications evidence.
Question 238
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: A system owner provides a screenshot of an access list without a timestamp or source-system identification. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Audit evidence reliability depends on source, integrity, relevance and timing.
- Independent workpaper review is undermined by self-approval.
- An audit must cover the controls relevant to the stated reporting objective across service-provider boundaries.
- Audit evidence collection must preserve confidentiality and authorized custody as well as usefulness.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Audit evidence reliability depends on source, integrity, relevance and timing. The corresponding audit procedure is: Inspect extraction provenance, timestamps, privileges used and original system records.
Incorrect Answers
B:Independent workpaper review is undermined by self-approval. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An audit director relies on peer sign-offs that were completed by the same person who prepared each working paper. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Audit evidence reliability depends on source, integrity, relevance and timing. The governing distinction is: Audit evidence reliability depends on source, integrity, relevance and timing.
C:An audit must cover the controls relevant to the stated reporting objective across service-provider boundaries. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A financial reporting controls audit tests only the cloud provider's availability status but ignores the customer's application controls. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Audit evidence reliability depends on source, integrity, relevance and timing. The governing distinction is: Audit evidence reliability depends on source, integrity, relevance and timing.
D:Audit evidence collection must preserve confidentiality and authorized custody as well as usefulness. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An auditor exports personally identifiable records to an unsecured laptop for analytics testing. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Audit evidence reliability depends on source, integrity, relevance and timing. The governing distinction is: Audit evidence reliability depends on source, integrity, relevance and timing.
Question 239
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: A branch wireless network uses a shared password disclosed to vendors and former employees. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Shared wireless credentials weaken accountability and reliable offboarding.
- Electrical resilience depends on independence of power paths and verified failure domains.
- Mobile management should enforce enrollment, encryption and revocation when devices are lost.
- Overbroad classification can undermine effective enforcement and incident response.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Shared wireless credentials weaken accountability and reliable offboarding. The corresponding audit procedure is: Inspect wireless authentication settings, credential distribution and access logs.
Incorrect Answers
B:Electrical resilience depends on independence of power paths and verified failure domains. 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 principle is: Shared wireless credentials weaken accountability and reliable offboarding. The governing distinction is: Shared wireless credentials weaken accountability and reliable offboarding.
C:Mobile management should enforce enrollment, encryption and revocation when devices are lost. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A lost employee phone still accesses confidential mail because device compliance and remote wipe were never enabled. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Shared wireless credentials weaken accountability and reliable offboarding. The governing distinction is: Shared wireless credentials weaken accountability and reliable offboarding.
D:Overbroad classification can undermine effective enforcement and incident response. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A research team labels every file confidential, generating excessive DLP false positives and routine overrides. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Shared wireless credentials weaken accountability and reliable offboarding. The governing distinction is: Shared wireless credentials weaken accountability and reliable offboarding.
Question 240
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A cloud incident investigator exports only the latest activity logs, omitting records from the suspected initial compromise. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Define incident window, available provider logs, retention limits and relevant account events.
- Review acquisition authorization, image hashes, timestamps and custody transfers.
- Review virtual infrastructure roles, snapshot events, datastore permissions and monitoring.
- Inspect privileged session logs, account ownership, vault configuration and duties.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Define incident window, available provider logs, retention limits and relevant account events. The governing principle is: Forensic collection scope should preserve a complete relevant timeline within lawful boundaries.
Incorrect Answers
B:Review acquisition authorization, image hashes, timestamps and custody transfers. 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 audit step is: Define incident window, available provider logs, retention limits and relevant account events. The governing distinction is: Forensic collection scope should preserve a complete relevant timeline within lawful boundaries.
C:Review virtual infrastructure roles, snapshot events, datastore permissions and monitoring. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A virtualization administrator can snapshot and download regulated production virtual machines without oversight. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Define incident window, available provider logs, retention limits and relevant account events. The governing distinction is: Forensic collection scope should preserve a complete relevant timeline within lawful boundaries.
D:Inspect privileged session logs, account ownership, vault configuration and duties. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Privileged database administrators routinely use shared root credentials without individual attribution. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Define incident window, available provider logs, retention limits and relevant account events. The governing distinction is: Forensic collection scope should preserve a complete relevant timeline within lawful boundaries.