Isaca CISA Practice Test 44
Question 430
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: A redundant web cluster shares one DNS resolver and becomes inaccessible when that resolver fails. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Recommend auditable emergency change controls with post-implementation oversight.
- Recommend capacity thresholds and a validated scale plan before peak season.
- Recommend resilient name resolution and failure testing for critical client access.
- Recommend severity-triggered rapid escalation and tested incident playbooks.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Recommend resilient name resolution and failure testing for critical client access. The relevant control principle is: Availability analysis must include upstream shared dependencies, not just redundant hosts. A meaningful follow-up should establish: A DNS component outage does not exceed the agreed service interruption target.
Incorrect Answers
A:Recommend auditable emergency change controls with post-implementation oversight. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An urgent firewall change is deployed without a ticket and later cannot be attributed to an approver. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend resilient name resolution and failure testing for critical client access. The governing distinction is: Availability analysis must include upstream shared dependencies, not just redundant hosts.
B:Recommend capacity thresholds and a validated scale plan before peak season. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A transaction platform runs at high average CPU and has no measured headroom for seasonal spikes. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend resilient name resolution and failure testing for critical client access. The governing distinction is: Availability analysis must include upstream shared dependencies, not just redundant hosts.
D: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 resilient name resolution and failure testing for critical client access. The governing distinction is: Availability analysis must include upstream shared dependencies, not just redundant hosts.
Question 431
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: A business owner specifies a one-hour RTO but has never identified which external dependencies must also be restored. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Recommend dependency register updates and tested risk-based failover procedures.
- Recommend an accurate component dependency inventory and risk review of single points of failure.
- Recommend business-approved RPO and matching protection technology.
- Recommend dependency-aware recovery requirements and feasible coordinated timelines.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Recommend dependency-aware recovery requirements and feasible coordinated timelines. The relevant control principle is: Recovery objectives must include process dependencies and end-to-end recovery viability. A meaningful follow-up should establish: A recovery rehearsal restores the complete service within the approved RTO.
Incorrect Answers
A:Recommend dependency register updates and tested risk-based failover procedures. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A supplier dependency map omits a critical cloud DNS service used by every customer-facing application. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend dependency-aware recovery requirements and feasible coordinated timelines. The governing distinction is: Recovery objectives must include process dependencies and end-to-end recovery viability.
B:Recommend an accurate component dependency inventory and risk review of single points of failure. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A payment service uses a load balancer, two application servers and one database but its diagram lists only the web servers as critical. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend dependency-aware recovery requirements and feasible coordinated timelines. The governing distinction is: Recovery objectives must include process dependencies and end-to-end recovery viability.
C:Recommend business-approved RPO and matching protection technology. 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 recommendation is: Recommend dependency-aware recovery requirements and feasible coordinated timelines. The governing distinction is: Recovery objectives must include process dependencies and end-to-end recovery viability.
Question 432
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: An organization discovers a reportable personal-data breach but no one knows who can authorize external notification. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Assess current threat activity, service dependencies and available containment alternatives.
- Map sensitive data flows, network egress methods and endpoint/browser policy enforcement.
- Compare renewed certificate inventory, deployed endpoints, validity dates and chain health.
- Review notification obligations, escalation matrix, incident classification and response records.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Review notification obligations, escalation matrix, incident classification and response records. The governing principle is: Incident governance should define regulatory communication and accountable legal decisions.
Incorrect Answers
A:Assess current threat activity, service dependencies and available containment alternatives. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A security team isolates a suspicious server without informing its critical care business owner, interrupting clinical operations. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review notification obligations, escalation matrix, incident classification and response records. The governing distinction is: Incident governance should define regulatory communication and accountable legal decisions.
B:Map sensitive data flows, network egress methods and endpoint/browser policy enforcement. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A DLP tool blocks confidential document attachments but ignores similar files uploaded through approved web browsers. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review notification obligations, escalation matrix, incident classification and response records. The governing distinction is: Incident governance should define regulatory communication and accountable legal decisions.
C:Compare renewed certificate inventory, deployed endpoints, validity dates and chain health. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An internal portal outage follows certificate expiration despite an automated renewal job that reported success. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review notification obligations, escalation matrix, incident classification and response records. The governing distinction is: Incident governance should define regulatory communication and accountable legal decisions.
Question 433
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: An enterprise applies one numeric risk score to cyber, safety and privacy exposures despite different materiality definitions. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Sample changes in each region follow the same mandatory authorization and evidence rules.
- Board risk views disclose significant exposures without misleading cross-category comparisons.
- Expired exceptions close or are explicitly renewed with current evidence and risk ownership.
- IT performance reports demonstrate progress toward business-approved goals.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Board risk views disclose significant exposures without misleading cross-category comparisons. It addresses enterprise risk management. Underlying audit concern: Risk aggregation requires consistent criteria and clear reporting of noncomparable dimensions.
Incorrect Answers
A: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: Board risk views disclose significant exposures without misleading cross-category comparisons. The governing distinction is: Risk aggregation requires consistent criteria and clear reporting of noncomparable dimensions.
C:Expired exceptions close or are explicitly renewed with current evidence and risk ownership. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A vendor incident triggers a temporary exception but the residual risk is never reconsidered after six months. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Board risk views disclose significant exposures without misleading cross-category comparisons. The governing distinction is: Risk aggregation requires consistent criteria and clear reporting of noncomparable dimensions.
D:IT performance reports demonstrate progress toward business-approved goals. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An IT strategy document lists new tools but has no targets for customer availability or service costs. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Board risk views disclose significant exposures without misleading cross-category comparisons. The governing distinction is: Risk aggregation requires consistent criteria and clear reporting of noncomparable dimensions.
Question 434
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: A new enterprise resource planning program frequently expands requirements without cost, risk or schedule review. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Migration accuracy requires field-level validity, completeness and financial reconciliation.
- Expedited release processes still require risk checks, fallback and post-change validation.
- Project change governance should assess baseline implications before approving scope changes.
- Project governance requires clear business ownership and formal acceptance of material risk.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Project change governance should assess baseline implications before approving scope changes. The corresponding audit procedure is: Compare original baseline, requested variations, impact estimates and approval records.
Incorrect Answers
A:Migration accuracy requires field-level validity, completeness and financial reconciliation. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A bank converts 20 years of loan records into a new core system and reconciles only total record counts. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Project change governance should assess baseline implications before approving scope changes. The governing distinction is: Project change governance should assess baseline implications before approving scope changes.
B:Expedited release processes still require risk checks, fallback and post-change validation. 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 principle is: Project change governance should assess baseline implications before approving scope changes. The governing distinction is: Project change governance should assess baseline implications before approving scope changes.
D:Project governance requires clear business ownership and formal acceptance of material risk. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A mobile-banking project reaches launch without an accountable sponsor for unresolved regulatory requirements. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Project change governance should assess baseline implications before approving scope changes. The governing distinction is: Project change governance should assess baseline implications before approving scope changes.
Question 435
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: A DBA changes production schema directly, causing an analytics extract to return wrong totals. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Recommend proactive log management and capacity alarms without impairing recovery.
- Recommend a reconciled inventory with ownership and lifecycle attributes.
- Recommend reviewed schema deployment and regression validation for dependent consumers.
- Recommend dependency-aware recovery requirements and feasible coordinated timelines.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Recommend reviewed schema deployment and regression validation for dependent consumers. The relevant control principle is: Database changes require controlled migration, versioning and dependent-query testing. A meaningful follow-up should establish: Business totals reconcile before and after authorized schema changes.
Incorrect Answers
A: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 reviewed schema deployment and regression validation for dependent consumers. The governing distinction is: Database changes require controlled migration, versioning and dependent-query testing.
B:Recommend a reconciled inventory with ownership and lifecycle attributes. 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 recommendation is: Recommend reviewed schema deployment and regression validation for dependent consumers. The governing distinction is: Database changes require controlled migration, versioning and dependent-query testing.
D:Recommend dependency-aware recovery requirements and feasible coordinated timelines. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A business owner specifies a one-hour RTO but has never identified which external dependencies must also be restored. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend reviewed schema deployment and regression validation for dependent consumers. The governing distinction is: Database changes require controlled migration, versioning and dependent-query testing.
Question 436
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: Annual phishing training records show high completion but employees repeatedly submit credentials to simulated malicious sites. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Role-specific training and technical controls should address actual high-risk behaviors.
- Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone.
- Break-glass access must be controlled, logged, tested and periodically reauthorized.
- Encryption without authenticating the peer can permit interception or impersonation.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone. The corresponding audit procedure is: Compare simulation outcomes, repeat behavior, reporting rates and learner groups.
Incorrect Answers
A: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: Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone. The governing distinction is: Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone.
C:Break-glass access must be controlled, logged, tested and periodically reauthorized. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Emergency administrator accounts are exempt from monitoring and are never tested until an outage. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone. The governing distinction is: Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone.
D:Encryption without authenticating the peer can permit interception or impersonation. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An application uses TLS for client sessions but disables certificate validation when connecting to its payment processor. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone. The governing distinction is: Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone.
Question 437
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: Continuity leadership bases recovery priorities on annual revenue only and ignores safety-critical low-volume services. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Service credits alone may not address underlying operational and continuity risk.
- Business impact includes legal, safety, customer and operational harm beyond revenue.
- RPO should be derived from business impact and transactional tolerance, not backup convenience.
- Operational resilience requires evaluation of common-mode dependencies.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Business impact includes legal, safety, customer and operational harm beyond revenue. The corresponding audit procedure is: Review nonfinancial impacts, dependency chains and stakeholder severity scales.
Incorrect Answers
A:Service credits alone may not address underlying operational and continuity risk. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A data processing vendor consistently misses recovery times but management pays service credits without correcting the cause. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Business impact includes legal, safety, customer and operational harm beyond revenue. The governing distinction is: Business impact includes legal, safety, customer and operational harm beyond revenue.
C:RPO should be derived from business impact and transactional tolerance, not backup convenience. 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 principle is: Business impact includes legal, safety, customer and operational harm beyond revenue. The governing distinction is: Business impact includes legal, safety, customer and operational harm beyond revenue.
D:Operational resilience requires evaluation of common-mode dependencies. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Two data centers have separate buildings but share one telecom carrier and underground duct. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Business impact includes legal, safety, customer and operational harm beyond revenue. The governing distinction is: Business impact includes legal, safety, customer and operational harm beyond revenue.
Question 438
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: After a new billing platform launches, unresolved temporary broad administrator permissions are treated as permanent. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Recommend a proportionate emergency gate with tested rollback and follow-up review.
- Recommend removing unnecessary launch privileges and recording any approved residual risk.
- Recommend a cross-party program dashboard with escalated critical-path delays.
- Recommend a structured post-implementation review with improvement assignments.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Recommend removing unnecessary launch privileges and recording any approved residual risk. The relevant control principle is: Post-implementation assurance should confirm transition controls and residual exposures are closed. A meaningful follow-up should establish: Production access samples match steady-state roles and exception closure is evidenced.
Incorrect Answers
A:Recommend a proportionate emergency gate with tested rollback and follow-up review. 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 recommendation is: Recommend removing unnecessary launch privileges and recording any approved residual risk. The governing distinction is: Post-implementation assurance should confirm transition controls and residual exposures are closed.
C:Recommend a cross-party program dashboard with escalated critical-path delays. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A program steering committee receives status reports from one vendor but has no visibility into independent testing delays. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend removing unnecessary launch privileges and recording any approved residual risk. The governing distinction is: Post-implementation assurance should confirm transition controls and residual exposures are closed.
D:Recommend a structured post-implementation review with improvement assignments. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A completed software project is archived without documenting incidents and change causes from the first operating month. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend removing unnecessary launch privileges and recording any approved residual risk. The governing distinction is: Post-implementation assurance should confirm transition controls and residual exposures are closed.
Question 439
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: A supplier gives the audit team a third-party control report that expired before the review period. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Obtain a reproducible system-generated extract and corroborate key entries independently.
- Present a concise prioritized executive summary with detailed workpapers available on request.
- Correct the query's grain and validate exceptions against original records.
- Seek bridge evidence and separately test any material uncovered period or control.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Seek bridge evidence and separately test any material uncovered period or control. The relevant control principle is: Service-provider assurance must cover the actual period and relevant control objectives. A meaningful follow-up should establish: Assurance evidence spans the review period without unexplained reliance gaps.
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: Seek bridge evidence and separately test any material uncovered period or control. The governing distinction is: Service-provider assurance must cover the actual period and relevant control objectives.
B:Present a concise prioritized executive summary with detailed workpapers available on request. 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 recommendation is: Seek bridge evidence and separately test any material uncovered period or control. The governing distinction is: Service-provider assurance must cover the actual period and relevant control objectives.
C:Correct the query's grain and validate exceptions against original records. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An audit query joins employee and privilege tables but mistakenly duplicates rows for users with multiple roles. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Seek bridge evidence and separately test any material uncovered period or control. The governing distinction is: Service-provider assurance must cover the actual period and relevant control objectives.
Question 440
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: A DLP tool blocks confidential document attachments but ignores similar files uploaded through approved web browsers. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Incident governance should define regulatory communication and accountable legal decisions.
- Exfiltration control assessment should cover relevant channels, not only email.
- Data loss controls should be tied to classification, legitimate purpose and authorized exfiltration paths.
- Shared wireless credentials weaken accountability and reliable offboarding.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Exfiltration control assessment should cover relevant channels, not only email. The corresponding audit procedure is: Map sensitive data flows, network egress methods and endpoint/browser policy enforcement.
Incorrect Answers
A:Incident governance should define regulatory communication and accountable legal decisions. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An organization discovers a reportable personal-data breach but no one knows who can authorize external notification. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Exfiltration control assessment should cover relevant channels, not only email. The governing distinction is: Exfiltration control assessment should cover relevant channels, not only email.
C:Data loss controls should be tied to classification, legitimate purpose and authorized exfiltration paths. 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 principle is: Exfiltration control assessment should cover relevant channels, not only email. The governing distinction is: Exfiltration control assessment should cover relevant channels, not only email.
D:Shared wireless credentials weaken accountability and reliable offboarding. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A branch wireless network uses a shared password disclosed to vendors and former employees. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Exfiltration control assessment should cover relevant channels, not only email. The governing distinction is: Exfiltration control assessment should cover relevant channels, not only email.