Isaca CISA Practice Test 62
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.
Question 611
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: An infrastructure team buys additional servers while idle compatible capacity remains unallocated in another business unit. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- A qualified alternate performs a representative critical task without the primary specialist.
- Approvals show authorized risk owners and recorded independent challenge for material exposures.
- Catalog labels, permissions and sample data handling match the approved classification.
- Procurement decisions cite capacity forecasts and approved constraints rather than assumptions.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Procurement decisions cite capacity forecasts and approved constraints rather than assumptions. It addresses it resource management. Underlying audit concern: Resource governance should use accurate inventory and allocation evidence before investment.
Incorrect Answers
A:A qualified alternate performs a representative critical task without the primary specialist. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A planned analytics launch relies on one database specialist who has no trained backup. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Procurement decisions cite capacity forecasts and approved constraints rather than assumptions. The governing distinction is: Resource governance should use accurate inventory and allocation evidence before investment.
B:Approvals show authorized risk owners and recorded independent challenge for material exposures. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A chief technology officer both accepts enterprise cyber risk and certifies the independence of the risk oversight function. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: Procurement decisions cite capacity forecasts and approved constraints rather than assumptions. The governing distinction is: Resource governance should use accurate inventory and allocation evidence before investment.
C: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: Procurement decisions cite capacity forecasts and approved constraints rather than assumptions. The governing distinction is: Resource governance should use accurate inventory and allocation evidence before investment.
Question 612
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: An external contractor offers the auditor a valuable gift while a supplier compliance assessment is being finalized. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Collect business criticality, interface volume, control maturity, change history and incident reporting quality.
- Inspect extraction provenance, timestamps, privileges used and original system records.
- Inspect project participation records, audit assignments and independence declarations before fieldwork.
- Review the independence policy, gift register and relationship to the auditee before accepting anything.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Review the independence policy, gift register and relationship to the auditee before accepting anything. The governing principle is: Perceived or actual conflicts undermine the credibility of objective audit judgment.
Incorrect Answers
A:Collect business criticality, interface volume, control maturity, change history and incident reporting quality. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An auditor cannot decide whether to review a high-impact legacy billing interface because no recent incidents are recorded. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review the independence policy, gift register and relationship to the auditee before accepting anything. The governing distinction is: Perceived or actual conflicts undermine the credibility of objective audit judgment.
B:Inspect extraction provenance, timestamps, privileges used and original system records. 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 audit step is: Review the independence policy, gift register and relationship to the auditee before accepting anything. The governing distinction is: Perceived or actual conflicts undermine the credibility of objective audit judgment.
C:Inspect project participation records, audit assignments and independence declarations before fieldwork. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An internal auditor helped configure the privileged-access system now scheduled for an assurance review. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review the independence policy, gift register and relationship to the auditee before accepting anything. The governing distinction is: Perceived or actual conflicts undermine the credibility of objective audit judgment.
Question 613
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A vendor's audit log is editable by the same administrator whose changes are under investigation. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Check event forwarding, immutable storage controls, access logs and clock accuracy.
- Reconcile event volume, source heartbeat, ingestion timestamps and excluded records.
- Check data classification, allowed extraction methods, workstation security and retention rules.
- Inspect project participation records, audit assignments and independence declarations before fieldwork.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Check event forwarding, immutable storage controls, access logs and clock accuracy. The governing principle is: Evidence integrity and independence are weakened when subjects can alter the only record.
Incorrect Answers
B:Reconcile event volume, source heartbeat, ingestion timestamps and excluded records. 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 audit step is: Check event forwarding, immutable storage controls, access logs and clock accuracy. The governing distinction is: Evidence integrity and independence are weakened when subjects can alter the only record.
C:Check data classification, allowed extraction methods, workstation security and retention rules. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An auditor exports personally identifiable records to an unsecured laptop for analytics testing. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Check event forwarding, immutable storage controls, access logs and clock accuracy. The governing distinction is: Evidence integrity and independence are weakened when subjects can alter the only record.
D:Inspect project participation records, audit assignments and independence declarations before fieldwork. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An internal auditor helped configure the privileged-access system now scheduled for an assurance review. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Check event forwarding, immutable storage controls, access logs and clock accuracy. The governing distinction is: Evidence integrity and independence are weakened when subjects can alter the only record.
Question 614
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: Operations declares an incident resolved because a server restarted, although business transactions remain stuck. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Log retention should align with business, legal, incident and privacy requirements.
- Incident closure should confirm restoration of the affected business service, not just infrastructure state.
- Resilience planning must include external and supporting infrastructure dependencies.
- Problem management seeks root causes and prevention of recurring incidents.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Incident closure should confirm restoration of the affected business service, not just infrastructure state. The corresponding audit procedure is: Examine stuck transactions, user acceptance, service monitoring and recovery records.
Incorrect Answers
A:Log retention should align with business, legal, incident and privacy requirements. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A financial application retains operational logs for only a week although investigation rules require six months. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Incident closure should confirm restoration of the affected business service, not just infrastructure state. The governing distinction is: Incident closure should confirm restoration of the affected business service, not just infrastructure state.
C:Resilience planning must include external and supporting infrastructure dependencies. 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 principle is: Incident closure should confirm restoration of the affected business service, not just infrastructure state. The governing distinction is: Incident closure should confirm restoration of the affected business service, not just infrastructure state.
D:Problem management seeks root causes and prevention of recurring incidents. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A helpdesk repeatedly reopens application errors but closes each ticket without investigating a shared underlying defect. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Incident closure should confirm restoration of the affected business service, not just infrastructure state. The governing distinction is: Incident closure should confirm restoration of the affected business service, not just infrastructure state.
Question 615
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A legacy security standard remains mandatory even though new approved cloud services cannot technically meet it. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Reconcile discrepancies, lineage, quality metrics and stewardship assignments.
- Compare local workflows, enterprise policy requirements and approved deviations.
- Inspect exception inventory, supported cloud capabilities, risk assessments and approval rights.
- Examine due diligence, control reports, incident history and mandatory obligations.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Inspect exception inventory, supported cloud capabilities, risk assessments and approval rights. The governing principle is: Standards must be reviewed and changed through formal governance without silently weakening policy.
Incorrect Answers
A:Reconcile discrepancies, lineage, quality metrics and stewardship assignments. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: Multiple business units publish different values for the same customer account status without a nominated data steward. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Inspect exception inventory, supported cloud capabilities, risk assessments and approval rights. The governing distinction is: Standards must be reviewed and changed through formal governance without silently weakening policy.
B: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: Inspect exception inventory, supported cloud capabilities, risk assessments and approval rights. The governing distinction is: Standards must be reviewed and changed through formal governance without silently weakening policy.
D: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: Inspect exception inventory, supported cloud capabilities, risk assessments and approval rights. The governing distinction is: Standards must be reviewed and changed through formal governance without silently weakening policy.
Question 616
Management reports that this issue has been corrected: A bank's compliance register still lists a superseded regulatory reporting deadline after a rule change. Which result would provide the STRONGEST assurance that the issue is corrected?
- Board risk views disclose significant exposures without misleading cross-category comparisons.
- Data samples reflect the approved retention decision without unapproved loss or overretention.
- A new requirement is assessed, implemented and evidenced before its effective date.
- IT performance reports demonstrate progress toward business-approved goals.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:A new requirement is assessed, implemented and evidenced before its effective date. It addresses laws, regulations, and industry standards. Underlying audit concern: Governance must detect changes in external obligations and translate them into owned controls.
Incorrect Answers
A: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 new requirement is assessed, implemented and evidenced before its effective date. The governing distinction is: Governance must detect changes in external obligations and translate them into owned controls.
B:Data samples reflect the approved retention decision without unapproved loss or overretention. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: The legal team interprets a contractual data retention clause differently from IT's automatic deletion schedule. In the present case, the most directly relevant verification is: A new requirement is assessed, implemented and evidenced before its effective date. The governing distinction is: Governance must detect changes in external obligations and translate them into owned controls.
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: A new requirement is assessed, implemented and evidenced before its effective date. The governing distinction is: Governance must detect changes in external obligations and translate them into owned controls.
Question 617
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: An anomaly model ranks high-value payments as suspicious but the auditor cannot explain its scoring or false-positive rate. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Recalculate the deviation rate, sample size, population and observed exceptions.
- Inspect model inputs, thresholds, precision results and representative flagged cases.
- Check event forwarding, immutable storage controls, access logs and clock accuracy.
- Inspect data model, supplier identifiers, credit indicators and reconciliation counts.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Inspect model inputs, thresholds, precision results and representative flagged cases. The governing principle is: Analytics-assisted findings still require understandable criteria and independent validation.
Incorrect Answers
A:Recalculate the deviation rate, sample size, population and observed exceptions. 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 audit step is: Inspect model inputs, thresholds, precision results and representative flagged cases. The governing distinction is: Analytics-assisted findings still require understandable criteria and independent validation.
C:Check event forwarding, immutable storage controls, access logs and clock accuracy. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A vendor's audit log is editable by the same administrator whose changes are under investigation. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Inspect model inputs, thresholds, precision results and representative flagged cases. The governing distinction is: Analytics-assisted findings still require understandable criteria and independent validation.
D:Inspect data model, supplier identifiers, credit indicators and reconciliation counts. 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 audit step is: Inspect model inputs, thresholds, precision results and representative flagged cases. The governing distinction is: Analytics-assisted findings still require understandable criteria and independent validation.
Question 618
An IS auditor evaluates this situation: An ERP cutover leaves the old interface running and duplicates orders in both systems. Which audit principle MOST directly applies to this situation?
- Investment feasibility should evaluate total costs, benefits, risks and measurable assumptions.
- Migration design must preserve cryptographic dependencies and data accessibility.
- Cutover controls must manage transactional boundaries and avoid unintended dual processing.
- Readiness gates should include measured nonfunctional acceptance under representative demand.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Cutover controls must manage transactional boundaries and avoid unintended dual processing. The corresponding audit procedure is: Inspect freeze windows, message queues, processing switches and reconciliation logs.
Incorrect Answers
A:Investment feasibility should evaluate total costs, benefits, risks and measurable assumptions. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: An automation business case counts staff savings but omits new licenses, monitoring and transition costs. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Cutover controls must manage transactional boundaries and avoid unintended dual processing. The governing distinction is: Cutover controls must manage transactional boundaries and avoid unintended dual processing.
B:Migration design must preserve cryptographic dependencies and data accessibility. 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 principle is: Cutover controls must manage transactional boundaries and avoid unintended dual processing. The governing distinction is: Cutover controls must manage transactional boundaries and avoid unintended dual processing.
D:Readiness gates should include measured nonfunctional acceptance under representative demand. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A cloud platform is declared ready despite failed high-load tests and no capacity remediation plan. In the present case, the most directly relevant principle is: Cutover controls must manage transactional boundaries and avoid unintended dual processing. The governing distinction is: Cutover controls must manage transactional boundaries and avoid unintended dual processing.
Question 619
Before reaching an audit conclusion, consider: A malicious attachment launches a child process and connects to an unfamiliar command server. Which evidence should the auditor review FIRST to evaluate this risk?
- Review image registries, provenance verification, admission controls and runtime exceptions.
- Review endpoint process lineage, hash reputation, network flows and host impact.
- Inspect failure patterns, compromised-account indicators, bot signals and MFA coverage.
- Inspect signed authorization, timing constraints, target list and emergency stop procedures.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Review endpoint process lineage, hash reputation, network flows and host impact. The governing principle is: Attack analysis should connect execution, persistence and communications evidence.
Incorrect Answers
A:Review image registries, provenance verification, admission controls and runtime exceptions. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A container orchestration platform admits unverified public images into a payment workload namespace. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review endpoint process lineage, hash reputation, network flows and host impact. The governing distinction is: Attack analysis should connect execution, persistence and communications evidence.
C:Inspect failure patterns, compromised-account indicators, bot signals and MFA coverage. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A customer portal suffers repeated credential-stuffing attempts from rotating IP addresses. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review endpoint process lineage, hash reputation, network flows and host impact. The governing distinction is: Attack analysis should connect execution, persistence and communications evidence.
D:Inspect signed authorization, timing constraints, target list and emergency stop procedures. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A penetration test exercises production authentication without authorization or a recovery plan. In the present case, the most directly relevant audit step is: Review endpoint process lineage, hash reputation, network flows and host impact. The governing distinction is: Attack analysis should connect execution, persistence and communications evidence.
Question 620
An IS auditor is preparing recommendations after reviewing this situation: Management calls a readiness workshop a completed audit even though no testing or assurance opinion was planned. Which recommendation would BEST address the identified weakness?
- Refine duplicate detection with appropriate compound keys and review exceptions manually.
- Obtain a reproducible system-generated extract and corroborate key entries independently.
- Clarify the engagement type and issue only conclusions supported by the work actually performed.
- Expand the risk-based audit scope to include relevant customer controls and complementary provider assurances.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Clarify the engagement type and issue only conclusions supported by the work actually performed. The relevant control principle is: Advisory assessments and assurance engagements have different scopes, evidence needs and reporting obligations. A meaningful follow-up should establish: The final communication accurately distinguishes advice from an independently supported assurance opinion.
Incorrect Answers
A:Refine duplicate detection with appropriate compound keys and review exceptions manually. 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 recommendation is: Clarify the engagement type and issue only conclusions supported by the work actually performed. The governing distinction is: Advisory assessments and assurance engagements have different scopes, evidence needs and reporting obligations.
B: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: Clarify the engagement type and issue only conclusions supported by the work actually performed. The governing distinction is: Advisory assessments and assurance engagements have different scopes, evidence needs and reporting obligations.
D:Expand the risk-based audit scope to include relevant customer controls and complementary provider assurances. This would be relevant to a different issue such as: A financial reporting controls audit tests only the cloud provider's availability status but ignores the customer's application controls. In the present case, the most directly relevant recommendation is: Clarify the engagement type and issue only conclusions supported by the work actually performed. The governing distinction is: Advisory assessments and assurance engagements have different scopes, evidence needs and reporting obligations.