- 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.
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.
When this WOULD be correct
Risk acceptance would be correct if the organization decided to continue operating the vulnerable application without implementing any controls, formally acknowledging the risk and its potential impact without taking further action.
- ✓
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.
When this WOULD be correct
Risk avoidance would be correct if the organization decided to decommission the legacy application or replace it with a different system that does not have the vulnerability, thereby eliminating the risk entirely.
- ✗
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.
When this WOULD be correct
A company identifies a high-risk vulnerability in a legacy system and decides to purchase a cybersecurity insurance policy to cover potential financial losses from exploitation, rather than implementing technical controls. This would be risk transference.
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The SY0-701 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓Risk mitigationCorrect answer▾
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.
✗Risk acceptanceWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Risk acceptance involves acknowledging a risk and taking no action to reduce it, but here management approved purchasing and deploying a firewall to restrict traffic, which actively reduces the vulnerability's exploitability.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
Risk acceptance would be correct if the organization decided to continue operating the vulnerable application without implementing any controls, formally acknowledging the risk and its potential impact without taking further action.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse acceptance with the decision to keep the application running despite the vulnerability, overlooking that the firewall deployment is a proactive control that reduces risk.
✗Risk avoidanceWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Risk avoidance would mean eliminating the risk by discontinuing the application or removing the vulnerability entirely, but the question states the application cannot be patched or upgraded and remains in use, so the risk is not avoided.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
Risk avoidance would be correct if the organization decided to decommission the legacy application or replace it with a different system that does not have the vulnerability, thereby eliminating the risk entirely.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse 'avoidance' with 'prevention' and think that adding a firewall avoids the risk, but avoidance requires ceasing the risky activity, not just reducing the likelihood of exploitation.
✗Risk transferenceWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Risk transference involves shifting the financial impact of a risk to a third party (e.g., purchasing cyber insurance or outsourcing). In this scenario, the organization is directly implementing a firewall to reduce the vulnerability's exploitability, which is a mitigation action, not transferring the risk.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company identifies a high-risk vulnerability in a legacy system and decides to purchase a cybersecurity insurance policy to cover potential financial losses from exploitation, rather than implementing technical controls. This would be risk transference.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse purchasing a hardware firewall with transferring risk to a vendor, but the firewall is a technical control retained by the organization, not a transfer of financial liability.
Analysis generated from the official SY0-701blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
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.
Visual reference
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 Program Management and Oversight — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
- →
Security Program Management and Oversight practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
- →
All SY0-701 questions
1,152 questions across all exam domains
- →
Security+ SY0-701 study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
- →
SY0-701 practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
Related practice questions
Related SY0-701 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
General Security Concepts practice questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to General Security Concepts.
Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations practice questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations.
Security Architecture practice questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security Architecture.
Security Operations practice questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security Operations.
Security Program Management and Oversight practice questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security Program Management and Oversight.
Security+ social engineering questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security+ social engineering questions.
Security+ cryptography practice questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security+ cryptography.
Security+ IAM questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security+ IAM questions.
Security+ risk management questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security+ risk management questions.
Security+ incident response questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security+ incident response questions.
Security+ malware questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security+ malware questions.
Security+ vulnerability management questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security+ vulnerability management questions.
Practice this exam
Start a free SY0-701 practice session
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
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
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 →
Keep practising
More SY0-701 practice questions
- An HR analyst must send a salary file to an external auditor. The auditor only needs names, departments, and salary tota…
- An investigator receives a suspect laptop drive that may be used in court. Which approach best supports a forensically s…
- An investigator must collect data from a suspected insider-threat laptop so the evidence could be used in an HR and lega…
- An NDR tool shows a production web server sending small, periodic DNS queries to random-looking subdomains under a domai…
- An investigator needs to make a forensic image of a suspect laptop without changing the original drive contents. Which t…
- An operations team manages Linux servers over SSH. The security team wants to stop direct management access from employe…
Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.