200-201 Security Policies and Procedures Practice Question
A financial services firm must retain security event logs for seven years to satisfy regulatory requirements. The SOC manager asks which property of log data must be preserved so that logs cannot be altered or deleted after collection, even by administrators. Which property should the manager emphasize?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is equating controlled access with tamper protection, when restricting who can read a log does not stop an authorized administrator from modifying or deleting it.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Integrity
Log integrity means the data has not been altered or destroyed after collection, which is exactly what regulators expect when logs are retained as evidence. Techniques such as write-once media, hashing, and forwarding to hardened centralized collectors enforce integrity. Confidentiality limits who can read logs, availability keeps them reachable, and non-repudiation proves authorship, so none of those properties directly prevents tampering with stored records.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Non-repudiation
Why it's wrong here
Non-repudiation proves that a specific party performed an action, typically through digital signatures. While related to trust in records, it addresses proving who did something rather than preventing alteration or deletion of stored logs. The scenario asks about protecting log contents from change over time, which is an integrity concern, so non-repudiation alone would not meet the stated requirement.
- ✗
Availability
Why it's wrong here
Availability ensures logs remain accessible to authorized personnel when needed for investigations or audits. It does not prevent an administrator from modifying or deleting entries, which is the concern in this scenario. Focusing on availability alone would leave the logs vulnerable to tampering, undermining their value as regulatory evidence even if they remain reachable and readable throughout the retention period.
- ✗
Confidentiality
Why it's wrong here
Confidentiality restricts log access to authorized parties, protecting sensitive details such as usernames and internal IP addresses. It does not guarantee that an authorized administrator cannot alter or erase records. In this scenario the requirement is integrity over time, not secrecy, so emphasizing confidentiality would address a different risk and fail to satisfy the regulatory expectation that logs remain unmodified.
- ✓
Integrity
Why this is correct
Integrity ensures that log data remains complete and unaltered from the moment it is collected. Controls such as write-once storage, cryptographic hashing, or centralized log servers with restricted permissions preserve integrity so administrators cannot quietly modify or delete entries. This directly satisfies the requirement that logs remain trustworthy evidence throughout a seven-year retention period.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Cisco exam blueprint
This 200-201 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 200-201 exam.