Isaca CISA Practice Test 33
Question 320
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: An IT strategy document lists new tools but has no targets for customer availability or service costs. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Recommend objective-linked strategic goals, budgets and measurable service outcomes.
- Recommend assigned regulatory monitoring and change approval for affected compliance procedures.
- Recommend balanced KPI and KRI reporting with explicit unresolved risk.
- Clarify accountable architecture decision rights and a formal escalation path.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Recommend objective-linked strategic goals, budgets and measurable service outcomes. The relevant control principle is: Technology strategy should translate enterprise value objectives into measurable performance outcomes. A meaningful follow-up should establish: IT performance reports demonstrate progress toward business-approved goals.
Incorrect Answers
B:Recommend assigned regulatory monitoring and change approval for affected compliance procedures. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A bank's compliance register still lists a superseded regulatory reporting deadline after a rule change. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend objective-linked strategic goals, budgets and measurable service outcomes. The governing distinction is: Technology strategy should translate enterprise value objectives into measurable performance outcomes.
C:Recommend balanced KPI and KRI reporting with explicit unresolved risk. 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 recommendation is: Recommend objective-linked strategic goals, budgets and measurable service outcomes. The governing distinction is: Technology strategy should translate enterprise value objectives into measurable performance outcomes.
D:Clarify accountable architecture decision rights and a formal escalation path. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Two subsidiaries have overlapping IT decision boards with conflicting authority to approve enterprise architecture exceptions. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend objective-linked strategic goals, budgets and measurable service outcomes. The governing distinction is: Technology strategy should translate enterprise value objectives into measurable performance outcomes.
Question 321
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: A bank converts 20 years of loan records into a new core system and reconciles only total record counts. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Each order appears once in the target system with reconciled business totals.
- Restoration testing meets agreed data-loss and service-recovery objectives.
- Pilot data flows reconcile successfully against real-world mapping and exception requirements.
- Target balances, exceptions and sampled loan histories reconcile to source records.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Target balances, exceptions and sampled loan histories reconcile to source records. It addresses system migration, infrastructure deployment, and data conversion. Underlying audit concern: Migration accuracy requires field-level validity, completeness and financial reconciliation.
Incorrect Answers
A:Each order appears once in the target system with reconciled business totals. 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 verification is: Target balances, exceptions and sampled loan histories reconcile to source records. The governing distinction is: Migration accuracy requires field-level validity, completeness and financial reconciliation.
B:Restoration testing meets agreed data-loss and service-recovery objectives. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A new inventory system's disaster-recovery test is deferred because normal transaction testing passes. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Target balances, exceptions and sampled loan histories reconcile to source records. The governing distinction is: Migration accuracy requires field-level validity, completeness and financial reconciliation.
C:Pilot data flows reconcile successfully against real-world mapping and exception requirements. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A vendor's product demonstration uses sanitized sample data while the production workload needs complex legacy mappings. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Target balances, exceptions and sampled loan histories reconcile to source records. The governing distinction is: Migration accuracy requires field-level validity, completeness and financial reconciliation.
Question 322
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A call center continuity binder lists alternate desks but employees cannot access the customer service application from that location. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Compare procurement records, license contracts, application scans and disposal approvals.
- Examine invocation criteria, contact trees, authority matrix and availability assumptions.
- Review alternate site connectivity, authentication, software licensing and staff procedures.
- Quantify financial and operational consequences of lost transactions over time.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Review alternate site connectivity, authentication, software licensing and staff procedures. The governing principle is: Continuity plans must integrate people, facilities, technology and business processes.
Incorrect Answers
A: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: Review alternate site connectivity, authentication, software licensing and staff procedures. The governing distinction is: Continuity plans must integrate people, facilities, technology and business processes.
B:Examine invocation criteria, contact trees, authority matrix and availability assumptions. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A continuity plan lists the chief executive as the only emergency decision authority with no alternate. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review alternate site connectivity, authentication, software licensing and staff procedures. The governing distinction is: Continuity plans must integrate people, facilities, technology and business processes.
D:Quantify financial and operational consequences of lost transactions over time. 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 audit step is: Review alternate site connectivity, authentication, software licensing and staff procedures. The governing distinction is: Continuity plans must integrate people, facilities, technology and business processes.
Question 323
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: An auditor exports personally identifiable records to an unsecured laptop for analytics testing. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Obtain a reproducible system-generated extract and corroborate key entries independently.
- Write an evidence-based finding with risk impact and agreed accountable action owner.
- Expand the risk-based audit scope to include relevant customer controls and complementary provider assurances.
- Use approved minimal-data or masked analysis within a controlled audit environment.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Use approved minimal-data or masked analysis within a controlled audit environment. The relevant control principle is: Audit evidence collection must preserve confidentiality and authorized custody as well as usefulness. A meaningful follow-up should establish: The evidence trail shows authorized access, controlled storage and timely disposal or retention.
Incorrect Answers
A:Obtain a reproducible system-generated extract and corroborate key entries independently. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A system owner provides a screenshot of an access list without a timestamp or source-system identification. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Use approved minimal-data or masked analysis within a controlled audit environment. The governing distinction is: Audit evidence collection must preserve confidentiality and authorized custody as well as usefulness.
B:Write an evidence-based finding with risk impact and agreed accountable action owner. 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 recommendation is: Use approved minimal-data or masked analysis within a controlled audit environment. The governing distinction is: Audit evidence collection must preserve confidentiality and authorized custody as well as usefulness.
C:Expand the risk-based audit scope to include relevant customer controls and complementary provider assurances. 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 recommendation is: Use approved minimal-data or masked analysis within a controlled audit environment. The governing distinction is: Audit evidence collection must preserve confidentiality and authorized custody as well as usefulness.
Question 324
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: A routine database update causes outages because no dependency assessment included reporting services. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Recommend impact analysis and coordinated release testing for dependent services.
- Recommend idempotent processing or controlled reconciliation before restart.
- Recommend proactive log management and capacity alarms without impairing recovery.
- Recommend accountable patch SLAs, validated deployment and approved time-limited exceptions.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Recommend impact analysis and coordinated release testing for dependent services. The relevant control principle is: Change control should assess end-to-end service dependencies and rollback feasibility. A meaningful follow-up should establish: Subsequent database changes preserve required reporting functionality or roll back safely.
Incorrect Answers
B:Recommend idempotent processing or controlled reconciliation before restart. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A financial transfer job can be rerun after timeout and processes the same payment twice. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend impact analysis and coordinated release testing for dependent services. The governing distinction is: Change control should assess end-to-end service dependencies and rollback feasibility.
C:Recommend proactive log management and capacity alarms without impairing recovery. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Database transaction logs fill the only disk volume and cause a payment service outage. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend impact analysis and coordinated release testing for dependent services. The governing distinction is: Change control should assess end-to-end service dependencies and rollback feasibility.
D:Recommend accountable patch SLAs, validated deployment and approved time-limited exceptions. 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 recommendation is: Recommend impact analysis and coordinated release testing for dependent services. The governing distinction is: Change control should assess end-to-end service dependencies and rollback feasibility.
Question 325
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A chief information officer asks the audit lead to remove a supported high-risk finding before it reaches the audit committee. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Reconcile HR departures and access history against the access extract's coverage dates.
- Review the independence policy, gift register and relationship to the auditee before accepting anything.
- Check event forwarding, immutable storage controls, access logs and clock accuracy.
- Compare evidence, management comments and the proposed report changes with reporting standards.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Compare evidence, management comments and the proposed report changes with reporting standards. The governing principle is: Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences.
Incorrect Answers
A:Reconcile HR departures and access history against the access extract's coverage dates. 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 audit step is: Compare evidence, management comments and the proposed report changes with reporting standards. The governing distinction is: Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences.
B:Review the independence policy, gift register and relationship to the auditee before accepting anything. 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 audit step is: Compare evidence, management comments and the proposed report changes with reporting standards. The governing distinction is: Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences.
C:Check event forwarding, immutable storage controls, access logs and clock accuracy. 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 audit step is: Compare evidence, management comments and the proposed report changes with reporting standards. The governing distinction is: Professional independence requires reporting supported risk conclusions despite management preferences.
Question 326
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: A financial application retains operational logs for only a week although investigation rules require six months. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Required historical events can be retrieved with intact timestamps and provenance.
- Production inventory confirms patch coverage or properly governed mitigation.
- A controlled forwarding outage triggers timely alerting with identifiable ownership.
- Each retired device reconciles to approved erasure or destruction evidence and authorized release.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Required historical events can be retrieved with intact timestamps and provenance. It addresses operational log management. Underlying audit concern: Log retention should align with business, legal, incident and privacy requirements.
Incorrect Answers
B:Production inventory confirms patch coverage or properly governed mitigation. 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 verification is: Required historical events can be retrieved with intact timestamps and provenance. The governing distinction is: Log retention should align with business, legal, incident and privacy requirements.
C:A controlled forwarding outage triggers timely alerting with identifiable ownership. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Security logs are forwarded to a central platform but administrators can disable forwarding without generating an alert. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Required historical events can be retrieved with intact timestamps and provenance. The governing distinction is: Log retention should align with business, legal, incident and privacy requirements.
D: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: Required historical events can be retrieved with intact timestamps and provenance. The governing distinction is: Log retention should align with business, legal, incident and privacy requirements.
Question 327
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: A department labels a customer outage risk acceptable because its probability is low without evaluating financial impact. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Risk decisions must consider both likelihood and impact against appetite and tolerance.
- Compliance obligations vary by location, data activity, contract and regulatory scope.
- Risk aggregation requires consistent criteria and clear reporting of noncomparable dimensions.
- A quality management system needs controlled documentation and implementation monitoring.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Risk decisions must consider both likelihood and impact against appetite and tolerance. The corresponding audit procedure is: Review loss scenarios, duration estimates and board-approved risk limits.
Incorrect Answers
B:Compliance obligations vary by location, data activity, contract and regulatory scope. 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 principle is: Risk decisions must consider both likelihood and impact against appetite and tolerance. The governing distinction is: Risk decisions must consider both likelihood and impact against appetite and tolerance.
C:Risk aggregation requires consistent criteria and clear reporting of noncomparable dimensions. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An enterprise applies one numeric risk score to cyber, safety and privacy exposures despite different materiality definitions. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Risk decisions must consider both likelihood and impact against appetite and tolerance. The governing distinction is: Risk decisions must consider both likelihood and impact against appetite and tolerance.
D:A quality management system needs controlled documentation and implementation monitoring. 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 principle is: Risk decisions must consider both likelihood and impact against appetite and tolerance. The governing distinction is: Risk decisions must consider both likelihood and impact against appetite and tolerance.
Question 328
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A customer portal suffers repeated credential-stuffing attempts from rotating IP addresses. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Compare source inventory, tool scope exclusions, build artifacts and risk areas.
- Inspect failure patterns, compromised-account indicators, bot signals and MFA coverage.
- Review regulatory differences, baseline requirements, risk assessments and exception approvals.
- Correlate identity, endpoint, transaction logs, device history and session context.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Inspect failure patterns, compromised-account indicators, bot signals and MFA coverage. The governing principle is: Authentication attack risk should be evaluated beyond simple per-address blocking.
Incorrect Answers
A:Compare source inventory, tool scope exclusions, build artifacts and risk areas. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A code review tool shows no vulnerabilities after analysts exclude the main authentication module from scanning. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Inspect failure patterns, compromised-account indicators, bot signals and MFA coverage. The governing distinction is: Authentication attack risk should be evaluated beyond simple per-address blocking.
C:Review regulatory differences, baseline requirements, risk assessments and exception approvals. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A regional business copies a global security baseline but has no documented exceptions for local privacy restrictions. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Inspect failure patterns, compromised-account indicators, bot signals and MFA coverage. The governing distinction is: Authentication attack risk should be evaluated beyond simple per-address blocking.
D:Correlate identity, endpoint, transaction logs, device history and session context. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Repeated impossible-travel sign-ins occur before a finance account initiates unusual transfers. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Inspect failure patterns, compromised-account indicators, bot signals and MFA coverage. The governing distinction is: Authentication attack risk should be evaluated beyond simple per-address blocking.
Question 329
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: Two subsidiaries have overlapping IT decision boards with conflicting authority to approve enterprise architecture exceptions. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Sample requests locate applicable systems and receive complete timely disposition.
- Selected projects link to approved goals and post-investment benefit monitoring.
- Signed obligations and monitoring evidence cover the organization's critical service needs.
- Exception decisions show one approved authority, justification and stakeholder communication.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Exception decisions show one approved authority, justification and stakeholder communication. It addresses organizational structure, it governance, and it strategy. Underlying audit concern: Ambiguous governance rights can produce inconsistent and unowned technology decisions.
Incorrect Answers
A:Sample requests locate applicable systems and receive complete timely disposition. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An organization receives data subject requests but cannot locate personal records spread across cloud and on-premise systems. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Exception decisions show one approved authority, justification and stakeholder communication. The governing distinction is: Ambiguous governance rights can produce inconsistent and unowned technology decisions.
B:Selected projects link to approved goals and post-investment benefit monitoring. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A technology steering group approves projects without showing how they support the organization's strategic priorities. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Exception decisions show one approved authority, justification and stakeholder communication. The governing distinction is: Ambiguous governance rights can produce inconsistent and unowned technology decisions.
C:Signed obligations and monitoring evidence cover the organization's critical service needs. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A SaaS provider promises 99.9% uptime in a brochure but the signed agreement contains no measurable recovery commitment. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Exception decisions show one approved authority, justification and stakeholder communication. The governing distinction is: Ambiguous governance rights can produce inconsistent and unowned technology decisions.
Question 330
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A redundant web cluster shares one DNS resolver and becomes inaccessible when that resolver fails. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Compare discovery scans, inventory records, host ownership and vendor support status.
- Quantify financial and operational consequences of lost transactions over time.
- Review rack placement, power/cooling diagrams, recovery design and fault dependencies.
- Map DNS architecture, cache behavior, alternate paths and outage records.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Map DNS architecture, cache behavior, alternate paths and outage records. The governing principle is: Availability analysis must include upstream shared dependencies, not just redundant hosts.
Incorrect Answers
A:Compare discovery scans, inventory records, host ownership and vendor support status. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An IT inventory lists hundreds of production servers without owners or support end dates. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Map DNS architecture, cache behavior, alternate paths and outage records. The governing distinction is: Availability analysis must include upstream shared dependencies, not just redundant hosts.
B:Quantify financial and operational consequences of lost transactions over time. 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 audit step is: Map DNS architecture, cache behavior, alternate paths and outage records. The governing distinction is: Availability analysis must include upstream shared dependencies, not just redundant hosts.
C:Review rack placement, power/cooling diagrams, recovery design and fault dependencies. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A database is replicated across two racks but both racks depend on the same cooling circuit. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Map DNS architecture, cache behavior, alternate paths and outage records. The governing distinction is: Availability analysis must include upstream shared dependencies, not just redundant hosts.