The answer is integrity and availability. The unauthorized insider modifying patient records directly violates integrity, which guarantees that data has not been altered by unauthorized parties, while the ransomware attack encrypting the database and locking it for three days violates availability, which ensures systems and data are accessible when needed. On the Cisco CyberOps Associate 200-201 exam, this scenario tests your ability to map real-world healthcare breaches to specific CIA triad principles—a common trap is confusing integrity with confidentiality, but remember that confidentiality is about unauthorized viewing, not unauthorized modification. A useful memory tip is to think of the “I” in integrity as “I didn’t change it,” and the “A” in availability as “Always accessible.”
200-201 Security Concepts Practice Question
This 200-201 practice question tests your understanding of security concepts. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A healthcare organization uses an online patient portal where patients can view their medical records. Recently, it was discovered that patient records were being modified by an unauthorized insider, and the system suffered a ransomware attack that encrypted the database, making it inaccessible for three days. Which TWO security principles were primarily violated? (Choose two.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Integrity
The unauthorized modification of patient records violates integrity, which ensures data has not been altered by unauthorized entities. The ransomware attack that encrypted the database and made it inaccessible for three days violates availability, which ensures systems and data are accessible when needed. These two incidents directly compromise the CIA triad principles of integrity and availability.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Confidentiality
Why it's wrong here
While unauthorized access could lead to confidentiality loss, the main issues described are modification and downtime.
✗
Authentication
Why it's wrong here
Authentication was bypassed, but the primary violations are integrity and availability.
✓
Integrity
Why this is correct
The unauthorized modification of patient records directly violates integrity.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Availability
Why this is correct
The ransomware attack made the database inaccessible for three days, violating availability.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Non-repudiation
Why it's wrong here
Non-repudiation ensures actions can be traced, but the scenario does not emphasize inability to deny actions.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Cisco often tests the distinction between confidentiality (unauthorized viewing) and integrity (unauthorized modification), so the trap here is confusing the insider's modification of records as a confidentiality breach rather than an integrity violation.
Trap categories for this question
Scenario analysis trap
Non-repudiation ensures actions can be traced, but the scenario does not emphasize inability to deny actions.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Integrity is often enforced through cryptographic hash functions (e.g., SHA-256) or digital signatures to detect tampering; in a healthcare context, HL7 or FHIR APIs may use message-level integrity checks. Availability is maintained through redundancy (e.g., RAID, failover clusters) and backup strategies; ransomware exploits the lack of offline backups or immutable snapshots, encrypting data via AES or RSA and holding it hostage. The three-day outage indicates a failure in disaster recovery planning, such as missing or untested backups.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A small business has 20 workstations on the 192.168.1.0/24 network and one public IP from its ISP. The router uses PAT (NAT overload) so all 20 devices share one public address using different source ports. NAT questions test whether you understand the four address terms and which direction each translation applies.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Security Concepts — This question tests Security Concepts — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Integrity — The unauthorized modification of patient records violates integrity, which ensures data has not been altered by unauthorized entities. The ransomware attack that encrypted the database and made it inaccessible for three days violates availability, which ensures systems and data are accessible when needed. These two incidents directly compromise the CIA triad principles of integrity and availability.
What should I do if I get this 200-201 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. Which of the following is a primary goal of the CIA triad?
easy
A.Redundancy
B.Scalability
✓ C.Availability
D.Maintainability
Why C: The CIA triad's primary goals are confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Availability ensures that authorized users have reliable and timely access to data and resources when needed, which is a core security objective. Option C is correct because availability is explicitly one of the three pillars of the CIA triad.
Variation 2. What is the primary goal of the 'integrity' pillar of the CIA triad?
easy
A.Keep data secret from unauthorized users
B.Ensure data is accessible when needed
C.Provide proof that a user performed an action
✓ D.Protect data from unauthorized modification
Why D: The 'integrity' pillar of the CIA triad ensures that data is not altered or tampered with by unauthorized parties. This is achieved through mechanisms such as hashing (e.g., SHA-256), checksums, and digital signatures that detect any unauthorized modification. Option D correctly identifies this goal, as protecting data from unauthorized modification is the core purpose of integrity controls.
Variation 3. Which THREE are principles of the CIA triad? (Select three.)
hard
A.Non-repudiation
✓ B.Confidentiality
C.Accountability
✓ D.Integrity
✓ E.Availability
Why B: The CIA triad is the foundational security model consisting of Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability. Option B (Confidentiality) is correct because it ensures that data is accessible only to authorized users, typically enforced through encryption (e.g., AES-256) and access control lists (ACLs).
Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
Question Discussion
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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.
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