ISC2 · Free Practice Questions · Last reviewed May 2026
36real exam-style questions organised by domain, each with the correct answer highlighted and a plain-English explanation of why it's right — and why the others are wrong.
26% of exam · 6 sample questions below
Which principle of the CIA triad ensures that data is not disclosed to unauthorized individuals?
Authentication
Confidentiality
Confidentiality protects data from unauthorized access and disclosure.
Integrity
Availability
Which of the following is an example of a Type 2 authentication factor?
PIN
Password
Smart card
Smart card is a possession factor (Type 2).
Fingerprint
An organization implements redundant servers and failover mechanisms to ensure continuous operation during a power outage. Which goal of the CIA triad is primarily being addressed?
Confidentiality
Integrity
Authentication
Availability
Redundancy and failover enhance availability.
According to the (ISC)² Code of Ethics, which of the following obligations takes the highest priority?
Advance the profession
Act honourably
Provide diligent service
Protect society
Protect society is the highest priority.
A security analyst is reviewing a log that shows an unauthorized user attempted to modify a payroll database. Which security principle is most directly threatened?
Confidentiality
Non-repudiation
Integrity
Integrity ensures data is not altered by unauthorized parties.
Availability
A company is evaluating a new cloud service provider. As part of due diligence, they review the provider's security certifications, conduct a site visit, and check references. This process is an example of which risk management strategy?
Risk acceptance
Risk mitigation
Due diligence
Due diligence is investigating before making decisions.
Risk transfer
Want more Security Principles practice?
Practice this domain5% of exam · 6 sample questions below
A company is developing a business continuity plan. Which document identifies critical business functions and their dependencies, including the maximum acceptable downtime?
Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)
Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
Incident Response Plan (IRP)
Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
The BIA identifies critical functions, dependencies, and metrics like MTD, RTO, and RPO.
An organization's recovery time objective (RTO) for its customer database is 4 hours, and the recovery point objective (RPO) is 1 hour. The database is backed up every hour using full backups. A disaster occurs at 2:00 PM, and the last successful backup was at 1:00 PM. The system is restored and operational at 5:30 PM, but data from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM is lost. Which statement is correct?
Both the RTO and RPO were met.
RTO: 3.5 hours < 4 hours. RPO: 1 hour loss = 1 hour RPO, so both are met.
The RTO was met, but the RPO was exceeded.
The RTO was exceeded, but the RPO was met.
Both the RTO and RPO were exceeded.
During a disaster recovery test, an organization uses a warm site. The site has partially configured servers and network infrastructure but lacks recent data. The recovery team expects to have the system operational within 2 days. Which recovery metric is most directly addressed by the warm site's capabilities?
Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
RTO is the targeted time to restore operations; a warm site with 2-day recovery aligns with an RTO of days.
Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD)
Work Recovery Time (WRT)
An organization stores backup data on a tape drive (onsite) and also replicates critical data to a cloud storage service. This practice best exemplifies which backup rule?
Incremental backup strategy
Differential backup strategy
Full backup strategy
3-2-1 backup rule
The scenario describes 2 copies (tape and cloud), 2 media types (tape and cloud storage), and 1 offsite (cloud), meeting the 3-2-1 rule.
Which recovery site strategy provides the shortest recovery time objective (RTO), typically measured in hours, by maintaining a fully mirrored environment that can be activated immediately?
Warm site
Reciprocal agreement
Cold site
Hot site
Hot site mirrors production and can be activated quickly, achieving RTO of hours.
A security analyst detects unusual outbound network traffic from a server that typically only handles internal file sharing. The traffic appears to be exfiltrating sensitive data. Which phase of the incident response process should the analyst initiate next?
Containment
Analysis
Analysis is the third phase, following detection, to investigate the alert and confirm it is a real incident.
Lessons learned
Eradication
Want more Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, and Incident Response practice?
Practice this domain22% of exam · 6 sample questions below
Which principle ensures that users are granted only the minimum permissions necessary to perform their job functions?
Defense in depth
Least privilege
Least privilege grants only the minimum permissions needed.
Separation of duties
Need-to-know
A security administrator is reviewing physical access controls. Which control is considered an external perimeter security measure?
Biometric reader on server room door
Cable locks on laptops
Visitor badge policy
Fencing around the property
Fencing is a typical external perimeter control.
An organization implements a policy where no single employee can approve a financial transaction over $10,000; a second manager must also approve. This is an example of which access control principle?
Separation of duties
Dual approval for high-risk actions exemplifies separation of duties.
Least privilege
Need-to-know
Defense in depth
Which of the following is an example of a logical access control?
Security guard at entrance
Visitor logbook
Fence around building
Password complexity policy
Password policies enforce logical controls.
According to NIST SP 800-63, which password policy is most recommended?
Allow short passwords but require numbers and symbols
Use complex passwords with special characters and minimal length
Enforce a minimum length of 8 characters and check against breached password lists
Length and breach checking align with NIST recommendations.
Require frequent password changes every 30 days
A company wants to implement account lockout to prevent brute-force attacks. Which lockout threshold is most appropriate according to common best practices?
5 failed attempts
5 attempts is within the recommended range.
1 failed attempt
No lockout, only logging
20 failed attempts
Want more Access Controls Concepts practice?
Practice this domain18% of exam · 6 sample questions below
Which tier in a Security Operations Center (SOC) is primarily responsible for triaging alerts and determining whether to escalate?
SOC Manager
Tier 3
Tier 2
Tier 1
Correct. Tier 1 handles initial alert monitoring and triage.
A security analyst notices repeated failed login attempts from an internal IP address to a domain controller, followed by a successful login. Which log type is most likely to provide detailed evidence of this activity?
Application logs
Firewall logs
System logs
Authentication logs
Correct. Authentication logs capture login attempts and outcomes.
An organization must comply with PCI DSS log retention requirements. What is the minimum retention period for logs, and how long must they be immediately available for analysis?
24 months retention, 12 months immediately available
6 months retention, 1 month immediately available
12 months retention, 3 months immediately available
Correct. This matches PCI DSS requirements.
12 months retention, 6 months immediately available
A security administrator is implementing measures to protect log integrity. Which of the following is the most effective method to prevent tampering with logs after they are generated?
Rotating logs daily
Encrypting logs with a symmetric key
Storing logs on the local system drive
Using write-once storage
Correct. Write-once media prevents modification after writing.
A company discovers a critical vulnerability in a widely used software application. The vendor has released a patch, but the company's patch management policy requires testing before deployment. What is the best course of action?
Apply the patch using emergency change control to critical systems first, then test and deploy to others
Correct. Emergency patching prioritizes critical systems with expedited testing.
Wait for the next scheduled maintenance window to apply the patch
Deploy the patch immediately without testing to all systems
Test the patch in a staging environment and then deploy to production
Which of the following is an indicator of a phishing email?
The email has a professional signature with contact information
The email includes a link that directs to a website with a domain similar to, but not exactly, the company's official domain
Correct. Phishing often uses look-alike domains to trick users.
The email comes from a known colleague and contains a file attachment they mentioned earlier
The email is sent during regular business hours
Want more Security Operations practice?
Practice this domainWhich OSI layer is responsible for routing packets across networks using IP addresses?
Layer 1 - Physical
Layer 3 - Network
Correct. Routing and IP addressing occur at Layer 3.
Layer 4 - Transport
Layer 2 - Data Link
A security analyst notices unusual traffic from an internal workstation to an external IP address on port 25. Which protocol is most likely being used?
SMTP
Correct. SMTP uses port 25 for email transmission.
FTP
DNS
HTTP
In the OSI model, which layer uses MAC addresses to forward frames and supports VLANs?
Layer 2 - Data Link
Correct. MAC addressing, switching, and VLANs are Layer 2 functions.
Layer 4 - Transport
Layer 3 - Network
Layer 1 - Physical
An attacker captures network traffic and forges the source IP address to impersonate a trusted host. Which type of network threat is this?
Sniffing
Spoofing
Correct. Forging source IP is IP spoofing.
Man-in-the-middle
Denial of Service
A security engineer is configuring a network security device that can block malicious HTTP requests based on application-layer inspection. Which device type is most suitable?
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)
Network-based Intrusion Detection System (NIDS)
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
Correct. WAF inspects HTTP/HTTPS application layer traffic.
Stateful firewall
Which TCP segment is sent to initiate the three-way handshake?
ACK
SYN-ACK
FIN
SYN
Correct. Client sends SYN to start the handshake.
Want more Network Security practice?
Practice this domain5% of exam · 6 sample questions below
During a ransomware incident, the incident response team isolates affected systems. Which of the following is the NEXT best step?
Preserve forensic evidence from the isolated systems.
Preserving evidence supports investigation and potential legal action.
Wipe and rebuild all affected systems.
Notify law enforcement immediately.
Pay the ransom to restore operations quickly.
A company's business continuity plan includes an alternate work site with full IT capabilities. Which type of recovery site does this describe?
Hot site
A hot site is fully operational with all necessary hardware, software, and data.
Mobile site
Cold site
Warm site
An organization uses a primary data center and a backup site 500 miles away. The backup site replicates data synchronously. Which risk is MOST likely introduced by this configuration?
High recovery point objective (RPO)
Data encryption overhead
Insufficient bandwidth between sites
Increased latency for write operations
Synchronous replication requires acknowledgment from backup, causing latency proportional to distance.
Which TWO actions are appropriate during the identification phase of incident response?
Conduct a post-mortem analysis.
Correlate alerts from multiple sources.
Alert correlation aids in identifying incidents.
Review system logs for anomalies.
Log review helps identify potential incidents.
Restore data from backups.
Disconnect affected systems from the network.
Which THREE elements are essential components of a business continuity plan (BCP)?
Data backup schedules and procedures
Backup procedures ensure data availability.
Business impact analysis (BIA) results
BIA informs recovery priorities and RTO/RPO.
Incident response team roster
Emergency contact lists
Contact lists are critical for communication during a disruption.
Detailed network topology diagrams
Based on the incident log, at which step did the incident response team contain the threat?
14:30 - Scanned system, detected Trojan.Downloader
14:45 - Removed malware via AV
14:25 - Isolated WKS-045 from network
Isolation prevents further spread, containing the threat.
14:35 - Escalated to incident handler
Want more Business Continuity, DR & Incident Response practice?
Practice this domainThe CC exam has 100 questions and must be completed in 120 minutes. The passing score is 700/1000.
Scenario-based questions covering exam objectives with detailed answer explanations.
The exam covers 6 domains: Security Principles, Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, and Incident Response, Access Controls Concepts, Security Operations, Network Security, Business Continuity, DR & Incident Response. Questions are weighted by domain — higher-weight domains appear more on your actual exam.
No. These are original exam-style practice questions written against the official ISC2 CC exam objectives. They are not copied from the real exam. Courseiva focuses on genuine understanding, not memorisation of braindumps.
Courseiva tracks your accuracy per domain and routes you toward weak areas automatically. Free, no account required.