Isaca CISA Practice Test 45
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.
Question 441
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: A critical provider exits the market and the customer has no usable data export or transition rights. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- The selected vendor meets mandatory criteria or has approved documented mitigation.
- A rehearsal demonstrates recoverable data and an operationally feasible provider transition.
- Board risk views disclose significant exposures without misleading cross-category comparisons.
- Procurement decisions cite capacity forecasts and approved constraints rather than assumptions.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:A rehearsal demonstrates recoverable data and an operationally feasible provider transition. It addresses it vendor management. Underlying audit concern: Vendor exit planning is necessary to manage concentration and operational continuity risk.
Incorrect Answers
A:The selected vendor meets mandatory criteria or has approved documented mitigation. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Procurement selects the lowest-cost cloud vendor while ignoring prior security incidents and regulatory audit rights. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: A rehearsal demonstrates recoverable data and an operationally feasible provider transition. The governing distinction is: Vendor exit planning is necessary to manage concentration and operational continuity risk.
C:Board risk views disclose significant exposures without misleading cross-category comparisons. 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 verification is: A rehearsal demonstrates recoverable data and an operationally feasible provider transition. The governing distinction is: Vendor exit planning is necessary to manage concentration and operational continuity risk.
D:Procurement decisions cite capacity forecasts and approved constraints rather than assumptions. 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 verification is: A rehearsal demonstrates recoverable data and an operationally feasible provider transition. The governing distinction is: Vendor exit planning is necessary to manage concentration and operational continuity risk.
Question 442
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: An ERP cutover leaves the old interface running and duplicates orders in both systems. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Unauthorized promotions fail while approved releases retain auditable provenance.
- Representative imaging workflow meets agreed performance and data-handling requirements.
- A migrated encrypted sample is accessible to authorized users and remains protected.
- Each order appears once in the target system with reconciled business totals.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Each order appears once in the target system with reconciled business totals. It addresses system migration, infrastructure deployment, and data conversion. Underlying audit concern: Cutover controls must manage transactional boundaries and avoid unintended dual processing.
Incorrect Answers
A:Unauthorized promotions fail while approved releases retain auditable provenance. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A DevOps team deploys from automated pipelines with no independent approval for sensitive production promotions. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Each order appears once in the target system with reconciled business totals. The governing distinction is: Cutover controls must manage transactional boundaries and avoid unintended dual processing.
B:Representative imaging workflow meets agreed performance and data-handling requirements. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A hospital chooses a cloud imaging service without confirming network reliability or clinical response needs. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Each order appears once in the target system with reconciled business totals. The governing distinction is: Cutover controls must manage transactional boundaries and avoid unintended dual processing.
C:A migrated encrypted sample is accessible to authorized users and remains protected. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A cloud move assumes existing encryption keys will work in the target without import or custody testing. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Each order appears once in the target system with reconciled business totals. The governing distinction is: Cutover controls must manage transactional boundaries and avoid unintended dual processing.
Question 443
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: Auditors receive conflicting statements from administrators about whether an encryption setting was enabled during the test period. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Sample conclusions must reflect observed deviations and appropriate uncertainty.
- Inquiry alone is weaker than independently corroborated technical evidence.
- Analytics rules need valid business keys and exception handling to avoid false conclusions.
- Service-provider assurance must cover the actual period and relevant control objectives.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Inquiry alone is weaker than independently corroborated technical evidence. The corresponding audit procedure is: Review time-stamped configuration history, effective encryption status and relevant system logs.
Incorrect Answers
A:Sample conclusions must reflect observed deviations and appropriate uncertainty. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A sample of authorized changes contains failures, yet the auditor extrapolates a zero-percent exception rate. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Inquiry alone is weaker than independently corroborated technical evidence. The governing distinction is: Inquiry alone is weaker than independently corroborated technical evidence.
C:Analytics rules need valid business keys and exception handling to avoid false conclusions. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An auditor flags duplicated supplier invoices by invoice number alone and ignores vendor identifiers and credit notes. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Inquiry alone is weaker than independently corroborated technical evidence. The governing distinction is: Inquiry alone is weaker than independently corroborated technical evidence.
D:Service-provider assurance must cover the actual period and relevant control objectives. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A supplier gives the audit team a third-party control report that expired before the review period. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Inquiry alone is weaker than independently corroborated technical evidence. The governing distinction is: Inquiry alone is weaker than independently corroborated technical evidence.
Question 444
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A regional outage exercise reveals that business partners were never included in the communications tree. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Review spreadsheet logic, versioning, reconciliations, owners and manual overrides.
- Examine invocation criteria, contact trees, authority matrix and availability assumptions.
- Inspect backup integrity, encryption keys, retention copies and last restore test.
- Review partner contacts, contract notices, channels and exercise feedback.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Review partner contacts, contract notices, channels and exercise feedback. The governing principle is: Continuity communication should address external dependencies and affected stakeholders.
Incorrect Answers
A:Review spreadsheet logic, versioning, reconciliations, owners and manual overrides. 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 audit step is: Review partner contacts, contract notices, channels and exercise feedback. The governing distinction is: Continuity communication should address external dependencies and affected stakeholders.
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 partner contacts, contract notices, channels and exercise feedback. The governing distinction is: Continuity communication should address external dependencies and affected stakeholders.
C:Inspect backup integrity, encryption keys, retention copies and last restore test. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An enterprise calls backups successful because jobs complete, but no recent restoration test has been performed. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review partner contacts, contract notices, channels and exercise feedback. The governing distinction is: Continuity communication should address external dependencies and affected stakeholders.
Question 445
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: A supplier dependency map omits a critical cloud DNS service used by every customer-facing application. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Only authorized destinations receive necessary data and workflow use is logged.
- A representative provider outage does not disable every required inter-site service.
- Business totals reconcile before and after authorized schema changes.
- A controlled DNS failure exercise meets continuity expectations or documents accepted gaps.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:A controlled DNS failure exercise meets continuity expectations or documents accepted gaps. It addresses system and operational resilience. Underlying audit concern: Resilience planning must include external and supporting infrastructure dependencies.
Incorrect Answers
A:Only authorized destinations receive necessary data and workflow use is logged. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A department builds a low-code workflow that sends customer data to an unknown external connector. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: A controlled DNS failure exercise meets continuity expectations or documents accepted gaps. The governing distinction is: Resilience planning must include external and supporting infrastructure dependencies.
B:A representative provider outage does not disable every required inter-site service. 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 verification is: A controlled DNS failure exercise meets continuity expectations or documents accepted gaps. The governing distinction is: Resilience planning must include external and supporting infrastructure dependencies.
C:Business totals reconcile before and after authorized schema changes. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A DBA changes production schema directly, causing an analytics extract to return wrong totals. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: A controlled DNS failure exercise meets continuity expectations or documents accepted gaps. The governing distinction is: Resilience planning must include external and supporting infrastructure dependencies.
Question 446
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A department labels a customer outage risk acceptable because its probability is low without evaluating financial impact. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Review policy hierarchy, technical baseline, role ownership and exception approvals.
- Inspect category methodologies, thresholds and reporting assumptions.
- Compare local workflows, enterprise policy requirements and approved deviations.
- Review loss scenarios, duration estimates and board-approved risk limits.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Review loss scenarios, duration estimates and board-approved risk limits. The governing principle is: Risk decisions must consider both likelihood and impact against appetite and tolerance.
Incorrect Answers
A:Review policy hierarchy, technical baseline, role ownership and exception approvals. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A cyber policy states that access must be secure but provides no enforceable standard for privileged identities. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review loss scenarios, duration estimates and board-approved risk limits. The governing distinction is: Risk decisions must consider both likelihood and impact against appetite and tolerance.
B:Inspect category methodologies, thresholds and reporting assumptions. 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 audit step is: Review loss scenarios, duration estimates and board-approved risk limits. The governing distinction is: Risk decisions must consider both likelihood and impact against appetite and tolerance.
C:Compare local workflows, enterprise policy requirements and approved deviations. 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 audit step is: Review loss scenarios, duration estimates and board-approved risk limits. The governing distinction is: Risk decisions must consider both likelihood and impact against appetite and tolerance.
Question 447
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: An emergency patch goes live without a rollback plan or verification of required interfaces. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Compare actual legacy schema, data quality, integration needs and demonstration assumptions.
- Inspect emergency approval, impact assessment, configuration snapshots and recovery steps.
- Review legal calculation scenarios, integration test results, unresolved defects and sign-offs.
- Review credential scope, pipeline identities, environment boundaries and access records.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Inspect emergency approval, impact assessment, configuration snapshots and recovery steps. The governing principle is: Expedited release processes still require risk checks, fallback and post-change validation.
Incorrect Answers
A:Compare actual legacy schema, data quality, integration needs and demonstration assumptions. 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 audit step is: Inspect emergency approval, impact assessment, configuration snapshots and recovery steps. The governing distinction is: Expedited release processes still require risk checks, fallback and post-change validation.
C:Review legal calculation scenarios, integration test results, unresolved defects and sign-offs. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A payroll release passes developer unit tests but has never completed end-to-end statutory deduction testing. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Inspect emergency approval, impact assessment, configuration snapshots and recovery steps. The governing distinction is: Expedited release processes still require risk checks, fallback and post-change validation.
D:Review credential scope, pipeline identities, environment boundaries and access records. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A team uses the same deployment credentials for development, test and production systems. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Inspect emergency approval, impact assessment, configuration snapshots and recovery steps. The governing distinction is: Expedited release processes still require risk checks, fallback and post-change validation.
Question 448
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A database is replicated across two racks but both racks depend on the same cooling circuit. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Inspect queue retention, acknowledgement logic, failed-message stores and recovery procedures.
- Trace service name resolution, provider SLAs, failure modes and fallback arrangements.
- Map DNS architecture, cache behavior, alternate paths and outage records.
- Review rack placement, power/cooling diagrams, recovery design and fault dependencies.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Review rack placement, power/cooling diagrams, recovery design and fault dependencies. The governing principle is: Resilience requires identifying physical common-cause failures beyond logical redundancy.
Incorrect Answers
A:Inspect queue retention, acknowledgement logic, failed-message stores and recovery procedures. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A cloud event bus drops messages during an outage and consuming systems never replay them. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review rack placement, power/cooling diagrams, recovery design and fault dependencies. The governing distinction is: Resilience requires identifying physical common-cause failures beyond logical redundancy.
B:Trace service name resolution, provider SLAs, failure modes and fallback arrangements. 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 audit step is: Review rack placement, power/cooling diagrams, recovery design and fault dependencies. The governing distinction is: Resilience requires identifying physical common-cause failures beyond logical redundancy.
C:Map DNS architecture, cache behavior, alternate paths and outage records. 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 audit step is: Review rack placement, power/cooling diagrams, recovery design and fault dependencies. The governing distinction is: Resilience requires identifying physical common-cause failures beyond logical redundancy.
Question 449
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: Annual phishing training records show high completion but employees repeatedly submit credentials to simulated malicious sites. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Image hashes match and each custody transfer is attributable and time-stamped.
- A controlled upstream power loss leaves essential services within continuity targets.
- Repeat risky behavior declines and timely phishing reporting increases.
- Users cannot obtain sensitive access until required training is recorded.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Repeat risky behavior declines and timely phishing reporting increases. It addresses security awareness training and programs. Underlying audit concern: Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone.
Incorrect Answers
A:Image hashes match and each custody transfer is attributable and time-stamped. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An investigator copies a suspect laptop disk without recording who handled it or whether the image changed. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Repeat risky behavior declines and timely phishing reporting increases. The governing distinction is: Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone.
B: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: Repeat risky behavior declines and timely phishing reporting increases. The governing distinction is: Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone.
D:Users cannot obtain sensitive access until required training is recorded. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Contractor onboarding omits data-handling training although contractors access classified research files. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Repeat risky behavior declines and timely phishing reporting increases. The governing distinction is: Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone.
Question 450
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: Three departments repeatedly miss remediation dates but audit management reports closure rates without aging analysis. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Inspect identity binding, approval logs and whether one person can trigger both approvals.
- Obtain the complete critical-service inventory and independent exercise records.
- Compare past and current sampling standards, review findings and documentation quality.
- Compare commitment dates, risk rankings, actual implementation and repeat deferrals.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Compare commitment dates, risk rankings, actual implementation and repeat deferrals. The governing principle is: Quality monitoring should reveal overdue high-risk actions and escalation effectiveness.
Incorrect Answers
A:Inspect identity binding, approval logs and whether one person can trigger both approvals. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A new security control requires two operators to approve destructive data deletion, but both approvals can use one shared account. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Compare commitment dates, risk rankings, actual implementation and repeat deferrals. The governing distinction is: Quality monitoring should reveal overdue high-risk actions and escalation effectiveness.
B:Obtain the complete critical-service inventory and independent exercise records. 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 audit step is: Compare commitment dates, risk rankings, actual implementation and repeat deferrals. The governing distinction is: Quality monitoring should reveal overdue high-risk actions and escalation effectiveness.
C:Compare past and current sampling standards, review findings and documentation quality. 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 audit step is: Compare commitment dates, risk rankings, actual implementation and repeat deferrals. The governing distinction is: Quality monitoring should reveal overdue high-risk actions and escalation effectiveness.