ISACA Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) Exam practice questions

247 free questions with answers and explanations.

201.An IS auditor is evaluating an organization's compliance with its internal security policies and relevant industry regulations. During the audit, the auditor discovers that the organization's incident response plan has not been updated in over two years, despite significant changes in the IT infrastructure and threat landscape. Which of the following is the MOST appropriate action for the IS auditor to take?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
202.An IS auditor is reviewing an organization's disaster recovery plan (DRP). The auditor notes that the DRP includes detailed procedures for restoring critical IT systems and data, but it lacks specific guidance for communicating with external stakeholders (e.g., customers, suppliers, regulators) during and after a disaster. What is the MOST significant risk associated with this omission?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
203.An IS auditor is reviewing an organization's business continuity plan (BCP) and notes that the plan includes a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of four hours for its critical financial transaction system. However, the current backup frequency for this system is once every 24 hours. What is the MOST likely consequence of this discrepancy in the event of a disaster?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
204.An IS auditor is preparing to conduct an audit of an organization's new cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) system. Management has expressed concerns about the security of customer data hosted by the third-party cloud provider. Which of the following is the MOST important step for the IS auditor to perform first?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
205.An IS auditor is evaluating the appropriateness of audit evidence collected during an audit of an organization's cloud security controls. The audit objective was to determine if data stored in the cloud is encrypted at rest according to policy. The auditor reviewed a screenshot of the cloud provider's console showing a checkbox for 'encryption enabled' and a signed statement from the cloud administrator confirming encryption. Which of the following statements BEST describes the sufficiency and reliability of this evidence?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
206.An IS auditor is evaluating the organization's data management practices. The auditor discovers that different departments maintain their own copies of customer data, and there is no centralized process for data entry or updates. This leads to inconsistencies in customer records across various systems. Which of the following data management principles is PRIMARILY being violated?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
207.An IS auditor is assessing an organization's configuration management database (CMDB). The auditor finds that while the CMDB accurately lists all IT assets, it lacks established baselines for critical configurations. What is the MOST significant implication of this finding?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
208.An IS auditor is reviewing an organization's vendor management process for critical IT service providers. The organization relies on a third-party for its core financial processing system. Which of the following audit procedures would provide the MOST assurance regarding the security and control environment of the third-party provider?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
209.During an audit of an organization's change management process, an IS auditor observes that emergency changes are frequently implemented without prior testing in a non-production environment. Which of the following is the PRIMARY risk associated with this practice?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
210.An IS auditor is evaluating an organization's change management process. The auditor observes that emergency changes are frequently implemented without a formal back-out plan documented prior to implementation. What is the MOST critical risk introduced by this practice?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
211.An IS auditor is planning an audit of a new cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The organization has outsourced the ERP system's hosting and management to a third-party vendor. Which of the following documents is MOST critical for the auditor to review FIRST to understand the vendor's control environment?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
212.An IS auditor is assessing the organization's release management process. The auditor notes that new software releases are often deployed directly into the production environment without a formal 'go/no-go' decision point involving key business stakeholders. Instead, IT operations make the final deployment decision based primarily on technical readiness. What is the MOST significant risk introduced by this practice?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
213.An IS auditor is preparing the final audit report for a significant audit of an organization's critical payment processing system. The audit identified several high-risk findings related to access controls and data encryption. Senior management has requested that the report emphasize the positive aspects of the system and downplay the severity of the findings to avoid negative publicity. What is the MOST appropriate course of action for the IS auditor?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
214.An IS auditor is reviewing an organization's configuration management database (CMDB). The auditor observes that the CMDB contains detailed records of hardware and software assets, but lacks information about the interdependencies between these configuration items (CIs) and the business services they support. What is the MOST significant implication of this omission for IT operations and business resilience?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
215.An IS auditor is evaluating the organization's approach to information security governance. The audit objective is to determine if security objectives align with business objectives. Which of the following activities is MOST effective for the auditor to perform to achieve this objective?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
216.An IS auditor is reviewing an organization's information systems maintenance practices. The organization uses a 'break/fix' model for critical applications, where maintenance is performed only when a system fails or experiences a significant issue. What is the MOST significant long-term consequence of this approach?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
217.An IS auditor is evaluating the organization's disaster recovery plan (DRP) and notes that while it includes recovery procedures for critical applications, it does not explicitly address the recovery of network connectivity to cloud-based services. What is the MOST significant risk this omission poses?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
218.An IS auditor is reviewing an organization's data management practices. The auditor observes that data owners are not formally assigned for several critical databases. What is the MOST significant risk associated with this weakness?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
219.An IS auditor has identified several high-risk findings during an audit of an organization's data backup and recovery processes. The audit report is being prepared for presentation to senior management. Which of the following is the MOST important characteristic for the auditor to ensure when communicating these findings?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
220.An IS auditor is performing a follow-up audit on previously identified control weaknesses related to user access management. The original audit report recommended implementing a quarterly user access review process. The auditor finds that the organization has implemented an automated tool to facilitate these reviews, but only 50% of department managers are completing their reviews on time. What should be the IS auditor's PRIMARY conclusion regarding the effectiveness of the corrective action?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
221.An IS auditor is evaluating an organization's data management practices, specifically focusing on data quality. The auditor notes that data entry operators frequently input incomplete or inconsistent customer information, such as missing addresses or inconsistent naming conventions. There are no automated validation checks or mandatory fields at the point of entry. Which of the following is the MOST significant long-term consequence of this practice?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
222.An IS auditor is reviewing an organization's user access management process. The audit program requires testing the effectiveness of quarterly access reviews. The organization reports that these reviews are performed by system owners, but no formal documentation of the reviews (e.g., sign-off sheets, review logs) is maintained. What is the MOST significant implication of this lack of documentation for the IS auditor?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
223.An IS auditor is evaluating the effectiveness of an organization's information systems operations. The auditor observes that system logs are collected and stored but are not regularly reviewed or analyzed for anomalies. What is the MOST significant risk this poses?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
224.An IS auditor is performing a follow-up audit on previously identified control weaknesses related to privileged user access. The original audit recommended implementing a robust privileged access management (PAM) solution. Which of the following is the MOST effective audit procedure to confirm the successful and sustained implementation of the PAM solution?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
225.An IS auditor is evaluating the organization's release management process. The auditor notes that new software releases are deployed directly to production systems without a formal 'go/no-go' decision point involving key stakeholders. Which of the following is the MOST critical risk introduced by this practice?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
226.An IS auditor is evaluating the organization's problem management process. The auditor finds that while incidents are well-documented and quickly resolved, there is a recurring pattern of similar incidents appearing across different departments and systems. However, these incidents are treated as new, separate events each time. What is the MOST critical weakness in the problem management process indicated by this finding?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
227.An IS auditor is reviewing an organization's risk assessment process. The organization uses a qualitative risk assessment methodology. The auditor notes that risk scenarios are inconsistently defined, and the criteria for rating likelihood and impact vary significantly among different departments. What is the MOST significant implication of this observation?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
228.An organization is migrating its primary database to a new cloud platform. The IS auditor is tasked with evaluating the data migration process. Which of the following is the MOST important control to ensure data integrity during and after the migration?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
229.An IS auditor is evaluating the organization's information systems operations. The auditor observes that critical system patches are deployed without a formal impact assessment or prior approval from stakeholders. What is the MOST significant risk posed by this practice?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
230.An IS auditor is evaluating an organization's information systems maintenance program. The auditor finds that the organization primarily performs corrective maintenance, addressing issues only after they cause system failures or performance degradation. There is no structured approach to preventive maintenance. What is the MOST likely long-term impact on the organization's operational efficiency and cost management?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
231.An IS auditor is reviewing the effectiveness of an organization's change management process. The audit reveals that a significant number of emergency changes are implemented without proper testing or rollback plans. What is the PRIMARY risk introduced by this finding?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
232.During the planning phase of an information systems audit, an IS auditor identifies that the organization recently experienced a significant data breach due to a misconfigured firewall. This event would primarily impact the auditor's assessment of which of the following?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
233.An IS auditor is reviewing an organization's data management practices. The organization stores sensitive customer data across multiple cloud providers and on-premise systems. The auditor finds that while data classification exists, there is no centralized inventory detailing where specific types of sensitive data reside. What is the MOST significant risk posed by this lack of a centralized data inventory?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
234.During an audit of an organization's information systems operations, an IS auditor observes that critical system upgrades are frequently delayed due to unforeseen compatibility issues with existing applications. These delays often result in extended downtime and operational disruptions. Which of the following areas should the IS auditor recommend strengthening FIRST to address this recurring problem?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
235.An IS auditor is preparing an audit report after identifying several critical control weaknesses in a newly implemented cloud-based ERP system. Management has indicated that they disagree with some findings and are concerned about the tone of the report impacting stakeholder confidence. What is the MOST appropriate action for the IS auditor to take?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
236.An IS auditor is assessing the organization's disaster recovery plan (DRP). The DRP outlines detailed technical recovery steps for IT systems but does not address the business processes that rely on these systems. Which of the following is the MOST critical gap in the DRP?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
237.During an audit of an organization's incident management process, the IS auditor discovers that critical security incidents are frequently resolved without formal documentation of the root cause analysis. What is the MOST significant risk associated with this practice?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
238.An IS auditor is reviewing an organization's change management process for critical production systems. The auditor discovers that emergency changes are frequently implemented without prior testing in a non-production environment. Which of the following audit procedures would be MOST effective in assessing the impact and control effectiveness of these emergency changes?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
239.An IS auditor is evaluating an organization's change management process. The auditor observes that all changes are documented, reviewed, and approved before implementation. However, the post-implementation review (PIR) for changes is only conducted if a significant incident occurs after the change. What is the MOST significant risk associated with this practice?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
240.An IS auditor is reviewing the effectiveness of an organization's change management process for a critical production system. The auditor observes that emergency changes are frequently implemented without complete testing or prior management approval, although they are documented post-implementation. What is the MOST significant risk introduced by this practice?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
241.An IS auditor is evaluating an organization's business continuity plan (BCP) and disaster recovery plan (DRP). The auditor observes that while the plans are well-documented and have been tested annually, the results of these tests are merely filed away without any formal analysis of lessons learned or updates to the plans themselves. What is the MOST significant risk this practice introduces?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
242.An IS auditor is preparing for a follow-up audit to verify the implementation of corrective actions for several high-risk findings identified in a previous audit. The original audit report recommended the implementation of multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all remote access. Management has informed the auditor that they have implemented a new strong password policy instead, citing cost and complexity as reasons for not implementing MFA. What is the auditor's MOST appropriate immediate response?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
243.An IS auditor is planning an audit of a new enterprise-wide data retention and deletion policy and its implementation across various systems. The policy mandates specific retention periods for different data classifications and automated deletion processes. What is the MOST significant risk if the audit does not adequately address the policy's implementation?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
244.An IS auditor is planning an audit of a critical financial system. During the risk assessment phase, the auditor identifies that the system processes highly sensitive customer data and is subject to stringent regulatory compliance requirements. Management has also indicated that the system's previous audit uncovered several material weaknesses that were never fully remediated due to budget constraints. Which of the following factors should the IS auditor consider MOST significant when determining the scope and approach for this audit?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
245.An IS auditor is evaluating an organization's disaster recovery plan (DRP). The auditor observes that while the DRP outlines detailed technical recovery procedures for critical IT systems, it lacks specific instructions for coordinating with external emergency services and key vendors during a disaster. What is the MOST significant risk posed by this omission?Domain 4: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
246.An IS auditor is conducting an audit of an organization's cloud service provider. The organization relies on the cloud provider for critical infrastructure and data processing. To obtain assurance over the effectiveness of controls at the service organization, which of the following reports would be MOST appropriate for the IS auditor to request?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process
247.An IS auditor has completed fieldwork for an audit of an organization's new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system implementation. Several high-risk findings related to data integrity and access control weaknesses were identified. The auditor is now preparing to communicate these findings to senior management and the board of directors. Which of the following should be the IS auditor's PRIMARY consideration when presenting these audit results?Domain 1: Information System Auditing Process