SY0-701 General Security Concepts Practice Question
A finance application stores approval records for wire transfers. Auditors need to prove which employee approved each transfer, and employees must not be able to deny their approval later. Which security objective is best addressed by binding each approval to an individual identity and preserving immutable logs?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse integrity with nonrepudiation, thinking that keeping a record unchanged (integrity) is sufficient to prove who performed an action, but nonrepudiation requires a cryptographic binding of identity to the action, not just data preservation.
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
✓
Nonrepudiation, because the organization needs proof that a specific person performed the approval.
Nonrepudiation ensures that an action cannot be denied by the person who performed it. By binding each approval to a unique employee identity and preserving immutable logs, the organization can irrefutably prove who approved each wire transfer, preventing employees from later denying their approval. This directly addresses the requirement for accountability and proof of action.
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, because the approval records should be hidden from everyone except finance staff.
Why it's wrong here
Confidentiality is about preventing unauthorized disclosure of the approval records to anyone outside the finance team. Even if only finance staff can view the records, the system does not cryptographically bind each approval to a specific individual's credentials. A user could later deny having approved a transfer, or another authorized user could share credentials, leaving no way to prove who actually performed the action. Thus, confidentiality alone cannot provide the accountable, non-refutable proof the organization needs.
- ✓
Nonrepudiation, because the organization needs proof that a specific person performed the approval.
Why this is correct
Correct. Nonrepudiation provides evidence that a specific user performed an action and later cannot reasonably deny it. Binding approvals to individual identities, using signed records, and keeping immutable logs all support that objective. This is especially important for financial workflows where auditors must trace accountability for every approval.
- ✗
Availability, because the approval system must remain online during business hours.
Why it's wrong here
Availability focuses on keeping the wire-transfer approval system operational and responsive, which is necessary for business continuity but irrelevant to proving individual responsibility. Redundant servers, failover clusters, and load balancers can ensure the system is online during business hours, yet they do not generate or preserve evidence of which specific person clicked the approval button. Even a perfectly available system can be completely lacking in audit trails or digital signatures, so it cannot prevent an approver from later denying their action. Availability is a prerequisite for any transaction, but it does not address the core requirement of nonrepudiation.
- ✗
Integrity, because the record must never be changed after it is saved.
Why it's wrong here
Integrity ensures that a stored approval record remains unchanged, typically through hashing or database constraints, so it cannot be secretly modified after the fact. However, integrity mechanisms only detect unauthorized changes; they do not authenticate the identity of the individual who originally created the approval. A record could be perfectly intact and still be falsely attributed — for example, if an attacker inserted a record using a stolen user account or if the system lacks a secure signing process. Integrity is a supporting security goal, but it does not provide the proof of origin and sender that nonrepudiation requires.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Security Controls
Key term
Identity
Identity is the unique set of attributes that defines a user, device, or service in a computer system, determining what they can access and do.
Key term
Security
Security in IT is the practice of protecting systems, networks, and data from unauthorized access, damage, or theft.
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on SY0-701
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. A finance application records each approval with the manager's unique user ID and a digital signature. Auditors want proof that the manager cannot later deny approving the transaction. Which security objective is most directly being addressed?
easy- A.Availability
- ✓ B.Nonrepudiation
- C.Confidentiality
- D.Accountability
Why B: Nonrepudiation ensures that a party cannot deny having performed a specific action. By recording the manager's unique user ID and a digital signature, the system provides cryptographic proof that the manager approved the transaction, making it impossible for them to later deny it. This directly addresses the audit requirement for undeniable evidence of approval.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SY0-701 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 SY0-701 exam.