Isaca CISA Practice Test 48
Question 470
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: A payment service uses a load balancer, two application servers and one database but its diagram lists only the web servers as critical. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Conflicting updates resolve consistently with an auditable business rule.
- An end-to-end fault analysis covers each critical dependency and its recovery plan.
- A realistic stress test meets response targets with required failover headroom.
- Representative warehouse transactions continue correctly after the planned router change.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:An end-to-end fault analysis covers each critical dependency and its recovery plan. It addresses it components. Underlying audit concern: End-to-end service availability depends on all critical infrastructure and application components.
Incorrect Answers
A:Conflicting updates resolve consistently with an auditable business rule. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Two systems independently update the same customer address, producing unpredictable last-write results. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: An end-to-end fault analysis covers each critical dependency and its recovery plan. The governing distinction is: End-to-end service availability depends on all critical infrastructure and application components.
C:A realistic stress test meets response targets with required failover headroom. 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 verification is: An end-to-end fault analysis covers each critical dependency and its recovery plan. The governing distinction is: End-to-end service availability depends on all critical infrastructure and application components.
D:Representative warehouse transactions continue correctly after the planned router change. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A network router is upgraded without identifying the legacy protocol needed by an older warehouse controller. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: An end-to-end fault analysis covers each critical dependency and its recovery plan. The governing distinction is: End-to-end service availability depends on all critical infrastructure and application components.
Question 471
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: A company rehearses DR annually on a clean weekend but its live recovery window overlaps payroll peaks and storage contention. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Active licenses, contract costs and actual deployments agree within documented exceptions.
- A measured peak-like exercise meets agreed recovery times and identifies capacity shortfalls.
- Safety-critical services receive priority proportionate to validated harm.
- A recovery test completes reconciled business transactions within required limits.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:A measured peak-like exercise meets agreed recovery times and identifies capacity shortfalls. It addresses disaster recovery plans. Underlying audit concern: DR readiness should be tested under credible operational demand and resource constraints.
Incorrect Answers
A:Active licenses, contract costs and actual deployments agree within documented exceptions. 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 verification is: A measured peak-like exercise meets agreed recovery times and identifies capacity shortfalls. The governing distinction is: DR readiness should be tested under credible operational demand and resource constraints.
C:Safety-critical services receive priority proportionate to validated harm. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Continuity leadership bases recovery priorities on annual revenue only and ignores safety-critical low-volume services. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: A measured peak-like exercise meets agreed recovery times and identifies capacity shortfalls. The governing distinction is: DR readiness should be tested under credible operational demand and resource constraints.
D:A recovery test completes reconciled business transactions within required limits. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A disaster recovery runbook lists server boot order but omits database integrity and application acceptance tests. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: A measured peak-like exercise meets agreed recovery times and identifies capacity shortfalls. The governing distinction is: DR readiness should be tested under credible operational demand and resource constraints.
Question 472
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: An audit query joins employee and privilege tables but mistakenly duplicates rows for users with multiple roles. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- A zero-exception result is unreliable if data completeness and pipeline health are unverified.
- Remediation after the audit period does not retroactively prove the control operated during that period.
- Join multiplicity can distort counts and audit conclusions even when query syntax succeeds.
- Risk-based audit planning is dynamic when business context and material exposures change.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Join multiplicity can distort counts and audit conclusions even when query syntax succeeds. The corresponding audit procedure is: Reconcile unique user IDs, row counts and cardinality before and after joins.
Incorrect Answers
A:A zero-exception result is unreliable if data completeness and pipeline health are unverified. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A continuous monitoring dashboard reports zero failed access attempts because its collection job stopped three days ago. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Join multiplicity can distort counts and audit conclusions even when query syntax succeeds. The governing distinction is: Join multiplicity can distort counts and audit conclusions even when query syntax succeeds.
B:Remediation after the audit period does not retroactively prove the control operated during that period. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An auditee disputes an audit exception by supplying a later control fix, then asks to erase the historical finding. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Join multiplicity can distort counts and audit conclusions even when query syntax succeeds. The governing distinction is: Join multiplicity can distort counts and audit conclusions even when query syntax succeeds.
D:Risk-based audit planning is dynamic when business context and material exposures change. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A merger adds a regulated customer database after the audit plan was approved, but the plan is treated as unchangeable. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Join multiplicity can distort counts and audit conclusions even when query syntax succeeds. The governing distinction is: Join multiplicity can distort counts and audit conclusions even when query syntax succeeds.
Question 473
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A financial transfer job can be rerun after timeout and processes the same payment twice. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Review retry logic, transaction identifiers, recovery points and duplicate detection.
- Review spreadsheet logic, versioning, reconciliations, owners and manual overrides.
- Examine invocation criteria, contact trees, authority matrix and availability assumptions.
- Inspect scheduler permissions, script hashes, change tickets and execution history.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Review retry logic, transaction identifiers, recovery points and duplicate detection. The governing principle is: Automated restart must avoid duplicate or incomplete business transactions.
Incorrect Answers
B: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 retry logic, transaction identifiers, recovery points and duplicate detection. The governing distinction is: Automated restart must avoid duplicate or incomplete business transactions.
C: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 retry logic, transaction identifiers, recovery points and duplicate detection. The governing distinction is: Automated restart must avoid duplicate or incomplete business transactions.
D:Inspect scheduler permissions, script hashes, change tickets and execution history. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An operator can edit scheduled payroll scripts directly in production without independent approval. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review retry logic, transaction identifiers, recovery points and duplicate detection. The governing distinction is: Automated restart must avoid duplicate or incomplete business transactions.
Question 474
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: A network router is upgraded without identifying the legacy protocol needed by an older warehouse controller. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- An injected failure prevents false success and all unsettled transactions are accounted for.
- Representative warehouse transactions continue correctly after the planned router change.
- Recovery performance meets required levels or management implements a documented alternative.
- A safe identity outage test produces expected user behavior and timely alerts.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Representative warehouse transactions continue correctly after the planned router change. It addresses it components. Underlying audit concern: Infrastructure component changes require compatibility and interface impact assessment.
Incorrect Answers
A:An injected failure prevents false success and all unsettled transactions are accounted for. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A nightly settlement batch fails halfway but the scheduler marks the entire chain successful. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Representative warehouse transactions continue correctly after the planned router change. The governing distinction is: Infrastructure component changes require compatibility and interface impact assessment.
C:Recovery performance meets required levels or management implements a documented alternative. 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 verification is: Representative warehouse transactions continue correctly after the planned router change. The governing distinction is: Infrastructure component changes require compatibility and interface impact assessment.
D:A safe identity outage test produces expected user behavior and timely alerts. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A cloud-hosted application has healthy virtual machines but customer logins fail when its external identity service is unavailable. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Representative warehouse transactions continue correctly after the planned router change. The governing distinction is: Infrastructure component changes require compatibility and interface impact assessment.
Question 475
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A subcontractor stores confidential records in a region excluded by the prime provider's contract. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Review rollout approvals, staff training, process owners and version adoption.
- Interview business sponsors and compare strategic priorities with proposed IT measures.
- Review subprocessor lists, data flows, consent terms and audit rights.
- Compare contract clauses, business impact analysis, vendor performance history and service credits.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Review subprocessor lists, data flows, consent terms and audit rights. The governing principle is: Third-party governance must extend material controls and data obligations to subcontractors.
Incorrect Answers
A:Review rollout approvals, staff training, process owners and version adoption. 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 audit step is: Review subprocessor lists, data flows, consent terms and audit rights. The governing distinction is: Third-party governance must extend material controls and data obligations to subcontractors.
B:Interview business sponsors and compare strategic priorities with proposed IT measures. 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 audit step is: Review subprocessor lists, data flows, consent terms and audit rights. The governing distinction is: Third-party governance must extend material controls and data obligations to subcontractors.
D:Compare contract clauses, business impact analysis, vendor performance history and service credits. 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 audit step is: Review subprocessor lists, data flows, consent terms and audit rights. The governing distinction is: Third-party governance must extend material controls and data obligations to subcontractors.
Question 476
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: Warehouse sensors retain factory passwords and are reachable from the corporate office LAN. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- IoT assets require inventory, secure identity and segmentation proportionate to exposure.
- Data loss controls should be tied to classification, legitimate purpose and authorized exfiltration paths.
- Shared wireless credentials weaken accountability and reliable offboarding.
- Incident governance should define regulatory communication and accountable legal decisions.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:IoT assets require inventory, secure identity and segmentation proportionate to exposure. The corresponding audit procedure is: Inspect device inventory, default credentials, reachability and patch support.
Incorrect Answers
B: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: IoT assets require inventory, secure identity and segmentation proportionate to exposure. The governing distinction is: IoT assets require inventory, secure identity and segmentation proportionate to exposure.
C: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: IoT assets require inventory, secure identity and segmentation proportionate to exposure. The governing distinction is: IoT assets require inventory, secure identity and segmentation proportionate to exposure.
D: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: IoT assets require inventory, secure identity and segmentation proportionate to exposure. The governing distinction is: IoT assets require inventory, secure identity and segmentation proportionate to exposure.
Question 477
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: Multiple business units publish different values for the same customer account status without a nominated data steward. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Catalog labels, permissions and sample data handling match the approved classification.
- IT performance reports demonstrate progress toward business-approved goals.
- Risk treatment decisions remain within approved appetite or receive documented authorized escalation.
- Downstream consumers use a documented authoritative source with measured consistency.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Downstream consumers use a documented authoritative source with measured consistency. It addresses data governance and classification. Underlying audit concern: Data governance requires clear ownership, quality rules and authorized source definitions.
Incorrect Answers
A:Catalog labels, permissions and sample data handling match the approved classification. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A finance spreadsheet contains confidential salary data but is labeled public in the enterprise catalog. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Downstream consumers use a documented authoritative source with measured consistency. The governing distinction is: Data governance requires clear ownership, quality rules and authorized source definitions.
B: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: Downstream consumers use a documented authoritative source with measured consistency. The governing distinction is: Data governance requires clear ownership, quality rules and authorized source definitions.
C:Risk treatment decisions remain within approved appetite or receive documented authorized escalation. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A department labels a customer outage risk acceptable because its probability is low without evaluating financial impact. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Downstream consumers use a documented authoritative source with measured consistency. The governing distinction is: Data governance requires clear ownership, quality rules and authorized source definitions.
Question 478
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A data migration design encrypts transfers but does not detect missing or duplicated customer records. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Review credential scope, pipeline identities, environment boundaries and access records.
- Compare balances, unique IDs, rejects, cutoff times and migration mapping rules.
- Inspect threat model, data contracts, validation placement and rejected-case handling.
- Review reconciliation strategy, source/target counts, control totals and exception paths.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Review reconciliation strategy, source/target counts, control totals and exception paths. The governing principle is: Confidentiality does not replace integrity and completeness controls for converted data.
Incorrect Answers
A: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: Review reconciliation strategy, source/target counts, control totals and exception paths. The governing distinction is: Confidentiality does not replace integrity and completeness controls for converted data.
B:Compare balances, unique IDs, rejects, cutoff times and migration mapping rules. 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 audit step is: Review reconciliation strategy, source/target counts, control totals and exception paths. The governing distinction is: Confidentiality does not replace integrity and completeness controls for converted data.
C:Inspect threat model, data contracts, validation placement and rejected-case handling. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A payment API relies on user-supplied transaction values without server-side validation. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review reconciliation strategy, source/target counts, control totals and exception paths. The governing distinction is: Confidentiality does not replace integrity and completeness controls for converted data.
Question 479
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A new acquisition builds duplicate identity and messaging platforms without considering existing enterprise capabilities. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Inspect portability clauses, data format, transition timing and alternative service readiness.
- Trace data schemas, interface mappings, downstream consumers and quality defects.
- Compare current capability maps, technical dependencies and operating costs.
- Map processing copies, retention rules, purge jobs and legal hold exceptions.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Compare current capability maps, technical dependencies and operating costs. The governing principle is: Enterprise architecture should document target capabilities and integration or rationalization decisions.
Incorrect Answers
A:Inspect portability clauses, data format, transition timing and alternative service readiness. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A critical provider exits the market and the customer has no usable data export or transition rights. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Compare current capability maps, technical dependencies and operating costs. The governing distinction is: Enterprise architecture should document target capabilities and integration or rationalization decisions.
B:Trace data schemas, interface mappings, downstream consumers and quality defects. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Different departments adopt incompatible master-data formats for the same customer identifier. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Compare current capability maps, technical dependencies and operating costs. The governing distinction is: Enterprise architecture should document target capabilities and integration or rationalization decisions.
D:Map processing copies, retention rules, purge jobs and legal hold exceptions. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A cloud analytics environment retains raw regulated data after the approved business retention period. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Compare current capability maps, technical dependencies and operating costs. The governing distinction is: Enterprise architecture should document target capabilities and integration or rationalization decisions.
Question 480
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: An internal support agreement omits escalation responsibilities for incidents spanning two suppliers. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Compare exercise load, peak utilization, business windows and recovery capacity.
- Inspect log growth, alert thresholds, backups and space utilization trends.
- Review service boundaries, dependency maps and sample unresolved multivendor incidents.
- Compare SLA definitions, user-impacting incidents and critical application dependencies.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Review service boundaries, dependency maps and sample unresolved multivendor incidents. The governing principle is: Service-level oversight requires end-to-end responsibility and dispute or escalation paths.
Incorrect Answers
A:Compare exercise load, peak utilization, business windows and recovery capacity. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A company rehearses DR annually on a clean weekend but its live recovery window overlaps payroll peaks and storage contention. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review service boundaries, dependency maps and sample unresolved multivendor incidents. The governing distinction is: Service-level oversight requires end-to-end responsibility and dispute or escalation paths.
B:Inspect log growth, alert thresholds, backups and space utilization trends. 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 audit step is: Review service boundaries, dependency maps and sample unresolved multivendor incidents. The governing distinction is: Service-level oversight requires end-to-end responsibility and dispute or escalation paths.
D:Compare SLA definitions, user-impacting incidents and critical application dependencies. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A supplier SLA measures network interface uptime while the business requires successful customer transactions. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review service boundaries, dependency maps and sample unresolved multivendor incidents. The governing distinction is: Service-level oversight requires end-to-end responsibility and dispute or escalation paths.