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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?

  1. Recommend objective-linked strategic goals, budgets and measurable service outcomes.
  2. Recommend assigned regulatory monitoring and change approval for affected compliance procedures.
  3. Recommend balanced KPI and KRI reporting with explicit unresolved risk.
  4. 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 This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A bank's compliance register still lists a superseded regulatory reporting deadline after a rule change.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?

  1. Each order appears once in the target system with reconciled business totals.
  2. Restoration testing meets agreed data-loss and service-recovery objectives.
  3. Pilot data flows reconcile successfully against real-world mapping and exception requirements.
  4. 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?

  1. Compare procurement records, license contracts, application scans and disposal approvals.
  2. Examine invocation criteria, contact trees, authority matrix and availability assumptions.
  3. Review alternate site connectivity, authentication, software licensing and staff procedures.
  4. 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?

  1. Obtain a reproducible system-generated extract and corroborate key entries independently.
  2. Write an evidence-based finding with risk impact and agreed accountable action owner.
  3. Expand the risk-based audit scope to include relevant customer controls and complementary provider assurances.
  4. 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?

  1. Recommend impact analysis and coordinated release testing for dependent services.
  2. Recommend idempotent processing or controlled reconciliation before restart.
  3. Recommend proactive log management and capacity alarms without impairing recovery.
  4. 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?

  1. Reconcile HR departures and access history against the access extract's coverage dates.
  2. Review the independence policy, gift register and relationship to the auditee before accepting anything.
  3. Check event forwarding, immutable storage controls, access logs and clock accuracy.
  4. 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?

  1. Required historical events can be retrieved with intact timestamps and provenance.
  2. Production inventory confirms patch coverage or properly governed mitigation.
  3. A controlled forwarding outage triggers timely alerting with identifiable ownership.
  4. 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?

  1. Risk decisions must consider both likelihood and impact against appetite and tolerance.
  2. Compliance obligations vary by location, data activity, contract and regulatory scope.
  3. Risk aggregation requires consistent criteria and clear reporting of noncomparable dimensions.
  4. 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?

  1. Compare source inventory, tool scope exclusions, build artifacts and risk areas.
  2. Inspect failure patterns, compromised-account indicators, bot signals and MFA coverage.
  3. Review regulatory differences, baseline requirements, risk assessments and exception approvals.
  4. 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?

  1. Sample requests locate applicable systems and receive complete timely disposition.
  2. Selected projects link to approved goals and post-investment benefit monitoring.
  3. Signed obligations and monitoring evidence cover the organization's critical service needs.
  4. 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?

  1. Compare discovery scans, inventory records, host ownership and vendor support status.
  2. Quantify financial and operational consequences of lost transactions over time.
  3. Review rack placement, power/cooling diagrams, recovery design and fault dependencies.
  4. 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.

Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) Practice Tests