Isaca CISA Practice Test 61
Question 600
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: A disaster recovery runbook lists server boot order but omits database integrity and application acceptance tests. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- DR plans must restore usable business capabilities, not merely power on infrastructure.
- Service credits alone may not address underlying operational and continuity risk.
- End-to-end service availability depends on all critical infrastructure and application components.
- DR readiness should be tested under credible operational demand and resource constraints.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:DR plans must restore usable business capabilities, not merely power on infrastructure. The corresponding audit procedure is: Inspect intertier dependencies, RTO/RPO, test scripts and business sign-off criteria.
Incorrect Answers
B: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: DR plans must restore usable business capabilities, not merely power on infrastructure. The governing distinction is: DR plans must restore usable business capabilities, not merely power on infrastructure.
C:End-to-end service availability depends on all critical infrastructure and application components. 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 principle is: DR plans must restore usable business capabilities, not merely power on infrastructure. The governing distinction is: DR plans must restore usable business capabilities, not merely power on infrastructure.
D:DR readiness should be tested under credible operational demand and resource constraints. 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 principle is: DR plans must restore usable business capabilities, not merely power on infrastructure. The governing distinction is: DR plans must restore usable business capabilities, not merely power on infrastructure.
Question 601
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A waterfall project signs off design once, then production requirements change without design traceability. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Inspect pipeline roles, protected branches, approvals and immutable deployment logs.
- Review reconciliation strategy, source/target counts, control totals and exception paths.
- Review requirements baseline, design revisions, test cases and change approvals.
- Trace refund abuse scenarios, authorization roles and transaction integrity needs.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Review requirements baseline, design revisions, test cases and change approvals. The governing principle is: Lifecycle governance should maintain requirements and control traceability through change.
Incorrect Answers
A:Inspect pipeline roles, protected branches, approvals and immutable deployment logs. 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 audit step is: Review requirements baseline, design revisions, test cases and change approvals. The governing distinction is: Lifecycle governance should maintain requirements and control traceability through change.
B:Review reconciliation strategy, source/target counts, control totals and exception paths. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A data migration design encrypts transfers but does not detect missing or duplicated customer records. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review requirements baseline, design revisions, test cases and change approvals. The governing distinction is: Lifecycle governance should maintain requirements and control traceability through change.
D:Trace refund abuse scenarios, authorization roles and transaction integrity needs. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A new web checkout design addresses user experience but fails to define controls for unauthorized refund changes. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review requirements baseline, design revisions, test cases and change approvals. The governing distinction is: Lifecycle governance should maintain requirements and control traceability through change.
Question 602
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: Management offers ten handpicked successful failover demonstrations as evidence that every critical service has tested recovery. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Judgmentally selected favorable examples cannot support a population-wide effectiveness conclusion.
- Dual authorization is ineffective if the supposed approvers are not independently attributable.
- Sampling from an incomplete population invalidates the intended terminated-user control test.
- Risk-based audit planning is dynamic when business context and material exposures change.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Judgmentally selected favorable examples cannot support a population-wide effectiveness conclusion. The corresponding audit procedure is: Obtain the complete critical-service inventory and independent exercise records.
Incorrect Answers
B:Dual authorization is ineffective if the supposed approvers are not independently attributable. 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 principle is: Judgmentally selected favorable examples cannot support a population-wide effectiveness conclusion. The governing distinction is: Judgmentally selected favorable examples cannot support a population-wide effectiveness conclusion.
C:Sampling from an incomplete population invalidates the intended terminated-user control test. 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 principle is: Judgmentally selected favorable examples cannot support a population-wide effectiveness conclusion. The governing distinction is: Judgmentally selected favorable examples cannot support a population-wide effectiveness conclusion.
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: Judgmentally selected favorable examples cannot support a population-wide effectiveness conclusion. The governing distinction is: Judgmentally selected favorable examples cannot support a population-wide effectiveness conclusion.
Question 603
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: A server room uses badge access but an unattended emergency door allows unrecorded entry. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Recommend developer-focused secure coding education with secret detection controls.
- Recommend protected original preservation and analysis on validated working copies.
- Recommend routine environmental sensor functional tests with ownership of alerts.
- Recommend monitored and secured emergency access consistent with life-safety requirements.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Recommend monitored and secured emergency access consistent with life-safety requirements. The relevant control principle is: Physical access controls must cover alternate entry points and generate reliable access evidence. A meaningful follow-up should establish: An authorized test shows alarms and personnel response without preventing emergency egress.
Incorrect Answers
A:Recommend developer-focused secure coding education with secret detection controls. 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 recommendation is: Recommend monitored and secured emergency access consistent with life-safety requirements. The governing distinction is: Physical access controls must cover alternate entry points and generate reliable access evidence.
B:Recommend protected original preservation and analysis on validated working copies. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Security staff begin forensic analysis directly on a live original log file and overwrite timestamps. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend monitored and secured emergency access consistent with life-safety requirements. The governing distinction is: Physical access controls must cover alternate entry points and generate reliable access evidence.
C:Recommend routine environmental sensor functional tests with ownership of alerts. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A fire-suppression system passes annual inspections but a rack's temperature sensors have never alarmed under test. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend monitored and secured emergency access consistent with life-safety requirements. The governing distinction is: Physical access controls must cover alternate entry points and generate reliable access evidence.
Question 604
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: An accounts-payable supervisor can both create vendors and approve their first payments. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- A test user cannot complete both conflicting actions without independent authorization.
- An unauthorized password-only login to privileged remote access is rejected.
- An unauthorized administrator cannot export or use the CA signing key.
- Unauthorized public reads fail and approved access remains auditable.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:A test user cannot complete both conflicting actions without independent authorization. It addresses identity and access management. Underlying audit concern: Conflicting business permissions create opportunities for unauthorized transactions.
Incorrect Answers
B:An unauthorized password-only login to privileged remote access is rejected. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A remote-access gateway accepts a password alone for high-impact production administrators. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: A test user cannot complete both conflicting actions without independent authorization. The governing distinction is: Conflicting business permissions create opportunities for unauthorized transactions.
C:An unauthorized administrator cannot export or use the CA signing key. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A certificate authority's signing key is available to several administrators without dual control. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: A test user cannot complete both conflicting actions without independent authorization. The governing distinction is: Conflicting business permissions create opportunities for unauthorized transactions.
D:Unauthorized public reads fail and approved access remains auditable. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A cloud storage bucket used for personnel data becomes publicly readable after a template change. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: A test user cannot complete both conflicting actions without independent authorization. The governing distinction is: Conflicting business permissions create opportunities for unauthorized transactions.
Question 605
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: Management reports 99.99% uptime by excluding unscheduled customer-impacting outages from the metric. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Recommend sanctioned collaboration or compensating controls and managed migration.
- Recommend independent failure domains or formally accepted residual exposure.
- Recommend recalculating service availability using approved business-relevant exclusions.
- Recommend application-aware recovery sequencing and formal acceptance checks.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Recommend recalculating service availability using approved business-relevant exclusions. The relevant control principle is: Availability calculations require consistently defined scope, denominator and exclusions. A meaningful follow-up should establish: Published availability reconciles to raw incidents and agreed contractual measurement rules.
Incorrect Answers
A:Recommend sanctioned collaboration or compensating controls and managed migration. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A sales team stores client contracts in an unapproved personal file-sharing account for convenience. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend recalculating service availability using approved business-relevant exclusions. The governing distinction is: Availability calculations require consistently defined scope, denominator and exclusions.
B:Recommend independent failure domains or formally accepted residual exposure. 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 recommendation is: Recommend recalculating service availability using approved business-relevant exclusions. The governing distinction is: Availability calculations require consistently defined scope, denominator and exclusions.
D:Recommend application-aware recovery sequencing and formal acceptance checks. 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 recommendation is: Recommend recalculating service availability using approved business-relevant exclusions. The governing distinction is: Availability calculations require consistently defined scope, denominator and exclusions.
Question 606
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A compliance dashboard reports all policies published but does not measure whether their security controls operate. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Compare stated policies with access, vulnerability, incident and exception records.
- Review regulatory differences, baseline requirements, risk assessments and exception approvals.
- Inspect trust-store settings, CRL/OCSP reachability, cache behavior and certificate status.
- Correlate identity, endpoint, transaction logs, device history and session context.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Compare stated policies with access, vulnerability, incident and exception records. The governing principle is: Security program maturity requires operational evidence rather than documentation counts alone.
Incorrect Answers
B: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: Compare stated policies with access, vulnerability, incident and exception records. The governing distinction is: Security program maturity requires operational evidence rather than documentation counts alone.
C:Inspect trust-store settings, CRL/OCSP reachability, cache behavior and certificate status. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A revoked supplier certificate remains trusted by an application because revocation checks are disabled. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Compare stated policies with access, vulnerability, incident and exception records. The governing distinction is: Security program maturity requires operational evidence rather than documentation counts alone.
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: Compare stated policies with access, vulnerability, incident and exception records. The governing distinction is: Security program maturity requires operational evidence rather than documentation counts alone.
Question 607
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: Annual phishing training records show high completion but employees repeatedly submit credentials to simulated malicious sites. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Compare simulation outcomes, repeat behavior, reporting rates and learner groups.
- Review classification rules, false-positive cases, override frequency and business needs.
- Map sensitive data flows, network egress methods and endpoint/browser policy enforcement.
- Inspect code scans, leaked-secret events, training scope and remediation quality.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Compare simulation outcomes, repeat behavior, reporting rates and learner groups. The governing principle is: Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone.
Incorrect Answers
B:Review classification rules, false-positive cases, override frequency and business needs. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A research team labels every file confidential, generating excessive DLP false positives and routine overrides. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Compare simulation outcomes, repeat behavior, reporting rates and learner groups. The governing distinction is: Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone.
C: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: Compare simulation outcomes, repeat behavior, reporting rates and learner groups. The governing distinction is: Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone.
D:Inspect code scans, leaked-secret events, training scope and remediation quality. 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 audit step is: Compare simulation outcomes, repeat behavior, reporting rates and learner groups. The governing distinction is: Awareness effectiveness should be measured by behavior and risk reduction, not attendance alone.
Question 608
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: A software delivery group claims quality because unit tests pass, but repeated severe production incidents persist. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Recommend a documented deployment and review cycle for the revised standard.
- Recommend restricted or masked disclosure and revised processor access conditions.
- Recommend a governed canonical definition or controlled translation strategy.
- Recommend causal improvement actions and independent validation of high-risk releases.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Recommend causal improvement actions and independent validation of high-risk releases. The relevant control principle is: Quality management should evaluate defects, process capability and business outcomes across the lifecycle. A meaningful follow-up should establish: Defect leakage and repeat incident rates fall under measured controls.
Incorrect Answers
A:Recommend a documented deployment and review cycle for the revised standard. 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 recommendation is: Recommend causal improvement actions and independent validation of high-risk releases. The governing distinction is: Quality management should evaluate defects, process capability and business outcomes across the lifecycle.
B:Recommend restricted or masked disclosure and revised processor access conditions. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A service provider requests full identity documents when a masked identifier would satisfy a support task. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Recommend causal improvement actions and independent validation of high-risk releases. The governing distinction is: Quality management should evaluate defects, process capability and business outcomes across the lifecycle.
C:Recommend a governed canonical definition or controlled translation strategy. 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 recommendation is: Recommend causal improvement actions and independent validation of high-risk releases. The governing distinction is: Quality management should evaluate defects, process capability and business outcomes across the lifecycle.
Question 609
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: A container orchestration platform admits unverified public images into a payment workload namespace. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Cloud-native workloads require source integrity, runtime policy and supply-chain governance.
- Hypervisor privileges can expose entire workloads and require strict governance.
- IoT assets require inventory, secure identity and segmentation proportionate to exposure.
- Shared wireless credentials weaken accountability and reliable offboarding.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Cloud-native workloads require source integrity, runtime policy and supply-chain governance. The corresponding audit procedure is: Review image registries, provenance verification, admission controls and runtime exceptions.
Incorrect Answers
B:Hypervisor privileges can expose entire workloads and require strict governance. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A virtualization administrator can snapshot and download regulated production virtual machines without oversight. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Cloud-native workloads require source integrity, runtime policy and supply-chain governance. The governing distinction is: Cloud-native workloads require source integrity, runtime policy and supply-chain governance.
C:IoT assets require inventory, secure identity and segmentation proportionate to exposure. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Warehouse sensors retain factory passwords and are reachable from the corporate office LAN. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Cloud-native workloads require source integrity, runtime policy and supply-chain governance. The governing distinction is: Cloud-native workloads require source integrity, runtime policy and supply-chain governance.
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: Cloud-native workloads require source integrity, runtime policy and supply-chain governance. The governing distinction is: Cloud-native workloads require source integrity, runtime policy and supply-chain governance.
Question 610
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A new corporate service standard is rolled out without training, version control or effectiveness reviews. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Review rollout approvals, staff training, process owners and version adoption.
- Inspect exception inventory, supported cloud capabilities, risk assessments and approval rights.
- Examine due diligence, control reports, incident history and mandatory obligations.
- Compare escaped defects, acceptance tests, release evidence and root-cause trends.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Review rollout approvals, staff training, process owners and version adoption. The governing principle is: A quality management system needs controlled documentation and implementation monitoring.
Incorrect Answers
B:Inspect exception inventory, supported cloud capabilities, risk assessments and approval rights. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A legacy security standard remains mandatory even though new approved cloud services cannot technically meet it. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review rollout approvals, staff training, process owners and version adoption. The governing distinction is: A quality management system needs controlled documentation and implementation monitoring.
C:Examine due diligence, control reports, incident history and mandatory obligations. 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 audit step is: Review rollout approvals, staff training, process owners and version adoption. The governing distinction is: A quality management system needs controlled documentation and implementation monitoring.
D:Compare escaped defects, acceptance tests, release evidence and root-cause trends. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A software delivery group claims quality because unit tests pass, but repeated severe production incidents persist. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review rollout approvals, staff training, process owners and version adoption. The governing distinction is: A quality management system needs controlled documentation and implementation monitoring.