- A
Risk acceptance
Why wrong: Risk acceptance would mean acknowledging the vulnerability and choosing to take no action to reduce it. The organization is actively implementing a control, which goes beyond acceptance.
- B
Risk mitigation
Correct. By deploying a firewall to restrict access, the organization is reducing the likelihood that the vulnerability can be exploited. This is a risk mitigation strategy using a compensating control.
- C
Risk avoidance
Why wrong: Risk avoidance would involve eliminating the vulnerability entirely, for example by shutting down the application or replacing it. The organization is keeping the application running and protecting it with a firewall, which is not avoidance.
- D
Risk transference
Why wrong: Risk transference shifts the financial burden of a potential loss to a third party, such as purchasing cyber insurance. The organization is not transferring the risk; it is implementing a technical control.
Quick Answer
The answer is risk mitigation. This is correct because deploying a hardware firewall to restrict inbound traffic directly reduces the likelihood of exploitation by limiting the attack surface, which is the core of risk mitigation—applying controls to lower risk to an acceptable level when patching or upgrading is not feasible. In this scenario, the compensating controls (firewall, ACLs, network segmentation) serve as a practical risk mitigation strategy example for legacy systems, a common Security+ SY0-701 exam trap where candidates confuse mitigation with risk acceptance or transference. The exam tests your ability to distinguish between risk response types: mitigation actively reduces vulnerability exposure, while acceptance would mean doing nothing and transference would involve insurance or outsourcing. Remember the mnemonic “M.A.T.”—Mitigation Acts on Threats, while Acceptance and Transference do not directly reduce the attack surface.
SY0-701 Security Program Management and Oversight Practice Question
This SY0-701 practice question tests your understanding of security program management and oversight. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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.
After completing a vulnerability scan, a security analyst discovers that a legacy customer-facing application running on an unsupported operating system contains a critical remote code execution vulnerability. The application is essential to daily operations and cannot be patched or upgraded in the near term. Management has approved the purchase of a hardware-based network firewall that will be placed in front of the application to restrict inbound traffic to only authorized source IP addresses and port numbers. Which risk management strategy does this action primarily represent?
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
Risk mitigation
The security team is implementing a hardware-based network firewall to restrict inbound traffic to only authorized source IP addresses and port numbers. This directly reduces the likelihood of exploitation by limiting the attack surface, which is the essence of risk mitigation — applying controls to reduce the risk to an acceptable level. Patching or upgrading is not feasible, so compensating controls like network segmentation and access control lists (ACLs) are used to mitigate the vulnerability.
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.
- ✗
Risk acceptance
Why it's wrong here
Risk acceptance would mean acknowledging the vulnerability and choosing to take no action to reduce it. The organization is actively implementing a control, which goes beyond acceptance.
- ✓
Risk mitigation
Why this is correct
Correct. By deploying a firewall to restrict access, the organization is reducing the likelihood that the vulnerability can be exploited. This is a risk mitigation strategy using a compensating control.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Risk avoidance
Why it's wrong here
Risk avoidance would involve eliminating the vulnerability entirely, for example by shutting down the application or replacing it. The organization is keeping the application running and protecting it with a firewall, which is not avoidance.
- ✗
Risk transference
Why it's wrong here
Risk transference shifts the financial burden of a potential loss to a third party, such as purchasing cyber insurance. The organization is not transferring the risk; it is implementing a technical control.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse 'risk mitigation' with 'risk avoidance' because they think blocking traffic is 'avoiding' the vulnerability, but avoidance means eliminating the risk entirely (e.g., decommissioning the app), whereas mitigation reduces the likelihood or impact while the risk still exists.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The firewall operates at the network layer (Layer 3/4) using stateful inspection to enforce permit rules based on source IP, destination IP, and port numbers (e.g., TCP 443 for HTTPS). Even though the application itself remains unpatched, the firewall's ACLs prevent arbitrary external hosts from reaching the vulnerable service, effectively reducing the exploit surface. In a real-world scenario, this is often paired with an intrusion prevention system (IPS) or virtual patching via a web application firewall (WAF) to detect and block exploit payloads at the application layer.
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 security team runs a vulnerability scan on a web application and discovers an unpatched SQL injection flaw. The team prioritises remediation by CVSS score — critical flaws are patched within 24 hours, high within 7 days. Questions like this test whether you understand vulnerability management processes, scanning tools, and remediation prioritisation.
What to study next
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SY0-701 question test?
Security Program Management and Oversight — This question tests Security Program Management and Oversight — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Risk mitigation — The security team is implementing a hardware-based network firewall to restrict inbound traffic to only authorized source IP addresses and port numbers. This directly reduces the likelihood of exploitation by limiting the attack surface, which is the essence of risk mitigation — applying controls to reduce the risk to an acceptable level. Patching or upgrading is not feasible, so compensating controls like network segmentation and access control lists (ACLs) are used to mitigate the vulnerability.
What should I do if I get this SY0-701 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
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Same concept, more angles
2 more ways 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 company has two security issues to address this week. One is a public-facing login portal that uses default administrator credentials. The other is an internal lab system used only by one tester. Which issue should be prioritized first?
easy- A.The internal lab system, because it is easier to fix quickly
- ✓ B.The public-facing login portal, because it has a higher likelihood and impact
- C.Both issues have the same priority because they are both vulnerabilities
- D.Neither issue should be addressed until the next annual review
Why B: The public-facing login portal with default administrator credentials is a critical risk because it is exposed to the internet, making it easily discoverable and exploitable by attackers. Default credentials are widely known and often targeted in automated attacks, leading to a high likelihood of compromise and potential impact such as data breach or system takeover. This aligns with risk management principles where priority is given to vulnerabilities with the highest risk score (likelihood × impact).
Variation 2. After implementing MFA and stronger monitoring, a department still has a small chance of account misuse that could affect a low-value internal tool. The business owner reviews the remaining exposure and agrees it is within tolerance. What should happen next?
medium- A.Escalate the issue to legal because all residual risk must be eliminated.
- ✓ B.Document the residual risk and obtain formal acceptance from the risk owner.
- C.Remove MFA because the remaining risk is already low.
- D.Treat the issue as resolved because monitoring alone eliminates all risk.
Why B: Option B is correct because after implementing MFA and stronger monitoring, the remaining exposure is residual risk that must be formally documented and accepted by the risk owner (the business owner). This aligns with the risk management process in Security Program Management, where residual risk that falls within the organization's risk appetite is accepted rather than eliminated. The business owner's agreement indicates formal acceptance, which should be recorded for audit and compliance purposes.
Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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