mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
CISA Practice Question: A multinational corporation is implementing a…
A multinational corporation is implementing a disaster recovery plan for its critical financial systems. The plan includes off-site backups and redundant hardware. During a recent test, the recovery time objective (RTO) was met, but the recovery point objective (RPO) was exceeded by 30 minutes due to delayed data replication. Which of the following is the BEST action to address this issue?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse RTO and RPO, thinking that meeting RTO is sufficient, or they incorrectly assume that increasing backup frequency (Option D) can compensate for replication delays, when in fact backups are separate from continuous replication and still leave a recovery point gap equal to the backup interval.
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
✓
Implement synchronous replication to the secondary site.
Synchronous replication ensures that data is written to both primary and secondary sites simultaneously before the write is acknowledged, eliminating replication lag. This directly addresses the RPO exceedance by guaranteeing that the secondary site always has the most current data, whereas the current asynchronous replication caused a 30-minute delay.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Extend the RPO to accommodate the delay.
Why it's wrong here
Extending RPO accepts the risk rather than fixing the root cause; not a best practice.
- ✓
Implement synchronous replication to the secondary site.
Why this is correct
Synchronous replication ensures near-zero data loss, directly addressing the RPO exceedance.
- ✗
Reduce the bandwidth for replication to avoid congestion.
Why it's wrong here
Reducing bandwidth would slow replication further, worsening the RPO.
- ✗
Increase the frequency of full backups to every 4 hours.
Why it's wrong here
Increasing backup frequency reduces RPO but not enough to meet the 30-minute gap; still significant data loss.
Visual reference
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 995 original CISA practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CISA practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISACA 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 CISA exam.