Isaca CISA Practice Test 28
Question 270
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: A database access audit receives a file containing only current active users although it must assess leavers over the last quarter. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Sampling from an incomplete population invalidates the intended terminated-user control test.
- Audit quality programs should evaluate consistency, methodology and continuous improvement.
- Judgmentally selected favorable examples cannot support a population-wide effectiveness conclusion.
- Risk-based communication should prioritize material implications and provide traceable support.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Sampling from an incomplete population invalidates the intended terminated-user control test. The corresponding audit procedure is: Reconcile HR departures and access history against the access extract's coverage dates.
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: Sampling from an incomplete population invalidates the intended terminated-user control test. The governing distinction is: Sampling from an incomplete population invalidates the intended terminated-user control test.
C:Judgmentally selected favorable examples cannot support a population-wide effectiveness 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 principle is: Sampling from an incomplete population invalidates the intended terminated-user control test. The governing distinction is: Sampling from an incomplete population invalidates the intended terminated-user control test.
D: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: Sampling from an incomplete population invalidates the intended terminated-user control test. The governing distinction is: Sampling from an incomplete population invalidates the intended terminated-user control test.
Question 271
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: A chief information officer asks the audit lead to remove a supported high-risk finding before it reaches the audit committee. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences.
- Quality monitoring should reveal overdue high-risk actions and escalation effectiveness.
- Perceived or actual conflicts undermine the credibility of objective audit judgment.
- Evidence integrity and independence are weakened when subjects can alter the only record.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences. The corresponding audit procedure is: Compare evidence, management comments and the proposed report changes with reporting standards.
Incorrect Answers
B:Quality monitoring should reveal overdue high-risk actions and escalation effectiveness. 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 principle is: Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences. The governing distinction is: Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences.
C:Perceived or actual conflicts undermine the credibility of objective audit judgment. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An external contractor offers the auditor a valuable gift while a supplier compliance assessment is being finalized. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences. The governing distinction is: Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences.
D:Evidence integrity and independence are weakened when subjects can alter the only record. 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 principle is: Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences. The governing distinction is: Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences.
Question 272
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: A research team labels every file confidential, generating excessive DLP false positives and routine overrides. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- The report links each claimed outcome to reproducible evidence and approved scope.
- An unapproved image fails deployment while approved images retain evidence of origin.
- DLP alerts retain useful coverage while confirmed legitimate workflows have fewer unjustified blocks.
- Approved staff retrieve only necessary records and excessive exports are flagged or blocked.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:DLP alerts retain useful coverage while confirmed legitimate workflows have fewer unjustified blocks. It addresses data loss prevention. Underlying audit concern: Overbroad classification can undermine effective enforcement and incident response.
Incorrect Answers
A:The report links each claimed outcome to reproducible evidence and approved scope. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A red-team exercise reports success based on one simulated phishing click without demonstrating access or business impact. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: DLP alerts retain useful coverage while confirmed legitimate workflows have fewer unjustified blocks. The governing distinction is: Overbroad classification can undermine effective enforcement and incident response.
B:An unapproved image fails deployment while approved images retain evidence of origin. 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 verification is: DLP alerts retain useful coverage while confirmed legitimate workflows have fewer unjustified blocks. The governing distinction is: Overbroad classification can undermine effective enforcement and incident response.
D:Approved staff retrieve only necessary records and excessive exports are flagged or blocked. 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 verification is: DLP alerts retain useful coverage while confirmed legitimate workflows have fewer unjustified blocks. The governing distinction is: Overbroad classification can undermine effective enforcement and incident response.
Question 273
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: An audit manager signs the report although a junior tester's exceptions have not received independent review. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Rebuild the population including historical departures before selecting test items.
- Complete and document supervisory review before finalizing the report.
- Recommend named ownership, response thresholds and tracked escalation for material alerts.
- Obtain documented authorization for the scope adjustment and rebaseline the plan.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Complete and document supervisory review before finalizing the report. The relevant control principle is: Quality supervision requires sufficient review before relying on engagement conclusions. A meaningful follow-up should establish: Each finding links to reviewed evidence and all material open review notes are resolved.
Incorrect Answers
A:Rebuild the population including historical departures before selecting test items. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A database access audit receives a file containing only current active users although it must assess leavers over the last quarter. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Complete and document supervisory review before finalizing the report. The governing distinction is: Quality supervision requires sufficient review before relying on engagement conclusions.
C:Recommend named ownership, response thresholds and tracked escalation for material alerts. 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 recommendation is: Complete and document supervisory review before finalizing the report. The governing distinction is: Quality supervision requires sufficient review before relying on engagement conclusions.
D:Obtain documented authorization for the scope adjustment and rebaseline the plan. 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 recommendation is: Complete and document supervisory review before finalizing the report. The governing distinction is: Quality supervision requires sufficient review before relying on engagement conclusions.
Question 274
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: An auditor samples only Monday transactions to conclude that weekend payments were controlled effectively. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- A detective control must include timely response and accountability to reduce exposure.
- Analytics-assisted findings still require understandable criteria and independent validation.
- Judgmentally selected favorable examples cannot support a population-wide effectiveness conclusion.
- A nonrepresentative selection can lead to unsupported conclusions about the entire population.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:A nonrepresentative selection can lead to unsupported conclusions about the entire population. The corresponding audit procedure is: Reconcile the full transaction population by day, channel and risk characteristics.
Incorrect Answers
A: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: A nonrepresentative selection can lead to unsupported conclusions about the entire population. The governing distinction is: A nonrepresentative selection can lead to unsupported conclusions about the entire population.
B:Analytics-assisted findings still require understandable criteria and independent validation. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An anomaly model ranks high-value payments as suspicious but the auditor cannot explain its scoring or false-positive rate. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: A nonrepresentative selection can lead to unsupported conclusions about the entire population. The governing distinction is: A nonrepresentative selection can lead to unsupported conclusions about the entire population.
C:Judgmentally selected favorable examples cannot support a population-wide effectiveness 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 principle is: A nonrepresentative selection can lead to unsupported conclusions about the entire population. The governing distinction is: A nonrepresentative selection can lead to unsupported conclusions about the entire population.
Question 275
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: A server room uses badge access but an unattended emergency door allows unrecorded entry. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- A controlled upstream power loss leaves essential services within continuity targets.
- The application rejects a known revoked test certificate while accepting valid trusted peers.
- An authorized test shows alarms and personnel response without preventing emergency egress.
- All in-scope devices either report healthy protection or have approved tracked exceptions.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:An authorized test shows alarms and personnel response without preventing emergency egress. It addresses physical and environmental controls. Underlying audit concern: Physical access controls must cover alternate entry points and generate reliable access evidence.
Incorrect Answers
A:A controlled upstream power loss leaves essential services within continuity targets. 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 verification is: An authorized test shows alarms and personnel response without preventing emergency egress. The governing distinction is: Physical access controls must cover alternate entry points and generate reliable access evidence.
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: An authorized test shows alarms and personnel response without preventing emergency egress. The governing distinction is: Physical access controls must cover alternate entry points and generate reliable access evidence.
D:All in-scope devices either report healthy protection or have approved tracked exceptions. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An endpoint protection console reports agents installed but several laptops have not checked in for months. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: An authorized test shows alarms and personnel response without preventing emergency egress. The governing distinction is: Physical access controls must cover alternate entry points and generate reliable access evidence.
Question 276
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: Management accepts monthly vendor summaries without independently checking service-level breaches. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Each data flow and regulated activity maps to approved obligations and demonstrated controls.
- Sample changes in each region follow the same mandatory authorization and evidence rules.
- Reported breaches and service credits reconcile to authoritative operations evidence.
- Executive dashboards disclose late security gates alongside spending status.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Reported breaches and service credits reconcile to authoritative operations evidence. It addresses it performance monitoring and reporting. Underlying audit concern: Oversight needs verified performance evidence and appropriate challenge of provider claims.
Incorrect Answers
A:Each data flow and regulated activity maps to approved obligations and demonstrated controls. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A multinational cloud project assumes a control compliant in one country automatically satisfies every jurisdiction in which data is processed. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Reported breaches and service credits reconcile to authoritative operations evidence. The governing distinction is: Oversight needs verified performance evidence and appropriate challenge of provider claims.
B:Sample changes in each region follow the same mandatory authorization and evidence rules. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Regional IT teams follow conflicting change-control procedures even though one enterprise policy applies. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Reported breaches and service credits reconcile to authoritative operations evidence. The governing distinction is: Oversight needs verified performance evidence and appropriate challenge of provider claims.
D:Executive dashboards disclose late security gates alongside spending status. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A change program reports all projects green by budget but ignores delayed security deliverables. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Reported breaches and service credits reconcile to authoritative operations evidence. The governing distinction is: Oversight needs verified performance evidence and appropriate challenge of provider claims.
Question 277
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: A service desk deletes incident attachments when tickets are closed, preventing later regulatory review. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Availability analysis must include upstream shared dependencies, not just redundant hosts.
- Incident evidence retention should match legal, audit and operational requirements.
- Incident closure should confirm restoration of the affected business service, not just infrastructure state.
- Log retention should align with business, legal, incident and privacy requirements.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Incident evidence retention should match legal, audit and operational requirements. The corresponding audit procedure is: Inspect ticket retention configuration, attachment lifecycle and regulatory obligations.
Incorrect Answers
A:Availability analysis must include upstream shared dependencies, not just redundant hosts. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A redundant web cluster shares one DNS resolver and becomes inaccessible when that resolver fails. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Incident evidence retention should match legal, audit and operational requirements. The governing distinction is: Incident evidence retention should match legal, audit and operational requirements.
C:Incident closure should confirm restoration of the affected business service, not just infrastructure state. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Operations declares an incident resolved because a server restarted, although business transactions remain stuck. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Incident evidence retention should match legal, audit and operational requirements. The governing distinction is: Incident evidence retention should match legal, audit and operational requirements.
D:Log retention should align with business, legal, incident and privacy requirements. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A financial application retains operational logs for only a week although investigation rules require six months. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Incident evidence retention should match legal, audit and operational requirements. The governing distinction is: Incident evidence retention should match legal, audit and operational requirements.
Question 278
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: An audit query joins employee and privilege tables but mistakenly duplicates rows for users with multiple roles. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Correct the query's grain and validate exceptions against original records.
- Perform a documented plan refresh with the audit committee's appropriate approval.
- Escalate persistently overdue material findings and improve risk-weighted follow-up reporting.
- Repair the approved monitoring feed and add completeness checks before reliance.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Correct the query's grain and validate exceptions against original records. The relevant control principle is: Join multiplicity can distort counts and audit conclusions even when query syntax succeeds. A meaningful follow-up should establish: Aggregate user counts and sampled privilege mappings agree with the source systems.
Incorrect Answers
B:Perform a documented plan refresh with the audit committee's appropriate approval. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A merger adds a regulated customer database after the audit plan was approved, but the plan is treated as unchangeable. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Correct the query's grain and validate exceptions against original records. The governing distinction is: Join multiplicity can distort counts and audit conclusions even when query syntax succeeds.
C:Escalate persistently overdue material findings and improve risk-weighted follow-up reporting. 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 recommendation is: Correct the query's grain and validate exceptions against original records. The governing distinction is: Join multiplicity can distort counts and audit conclusions even when query syntax succeeds.
D:Repair the approved monitoring feed and add completeness checks before reliance. 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 recommendation is: Correct the query's grain and validate exceptions against original records. The governing distinction is: Join multiplicity can distort counts and audit conclusions even when query syntax succeeds.
Question 279
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: A legacy security standard remains mandatory even though new approved cloud services cannot technically meet it. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Harmonize procedures or formally approve justified exceptions with assigned owners.
- Recommend a formally assessed update or compensating control with time-bound approval.
- Recommend a jurisdiction-specific obligation register and tested control mapping for the service.
- Recommend governed capacity reallocation or documented justification for new procurement.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Recommend a formally assessed update or compensating control with time-bound approval. The relevant control principle is: Standards must be reviewed and changed through formal governance without silently weakening policy. A meaningful follow-up should establish: Affected cloud deployments follow a documented approved standard or valid exception.
Incorrect Answers
A:Harmonize procedures or formally approve justified exceptions with assigned owners. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Regional IT teams follow conflicting change-control procedures even though one enterprise policy applies. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend a formally assessed update or compensating control with time-bound approval. The governing distinction is: Standards must be reviewed and changed through formal governance without silently weakening policy.
C:Recommend a jurisdiction-specific obligation register and tested control mapping for the service. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A multinational cloud project assumes a control compliant in one country automatically satisfies every jurisdiction in which data is processed. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend a formally assessed update or compensating control with time-bound approval. The governing distinction is: Standards must be reviewed and changed through formal governance without silently weakening policy.
D:Recommend governed capacity reallocation or documented justification for new procurement. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An infrastructure team buys additional servers while idle compatible capacity remains unallocated in another business unit. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend a formally assessed update or compensating control with time-bound approval. The governing distinction is: Standards must be reviewed and changed through formal governance without silently weakening policy.
Question 280
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: A sales team stores client contracts in an unapproved personal file-sharing account for convenience. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Confidential contracts reside only in approved managed repositories with appropriate access.
- Each retired device reconciles to approved erasure or destruction evidence and authorized release.
- Unauthorized formula changes are detected and regulatory calculations reconcile.
- Unauthorized script edits are denied and authorized revisions are traceable.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Confidential contracts reside only in approved managed repositories with appropriate access. It addresses shadow it and end-user computing. Underlying audit concern: Unsanctioned services can bypass enterprise security, retention and legal controls.
Incorrect Answers
B:Each retired device reconciles to approved erasure or destruction evidence and authorized release. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A retail chain replaces laptops but leaves decommissioned drives untracked with a disposal contractor. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Confidential contracts reside only in approved managed repositories with appropriate access. The governing distinction is: Unsanctioned services can bypass enterprise security, retention and legal controls.
C:Unauthorized formula changes are detected and regulatory calculations reconcile. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A spreadsheet with editable formulas calculates regulatory capital but has no validation or change history. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Confidential contracts reside only in approved managed repositories with appropriate access. The governing distinction is: Unsanctioned services can bypass enterprise security, retention and legal controls.
D:Unauthorized script edits are denied and authorized revisions are traceable. 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 verification is: Confidential contracts reside only in approved managed repositories with appropriate access. The governing distinction is: Unsanctioned services can bypass enterprise security, retention and legal controls.