CISA Governance and Management of IT Practice Question
A multinational corporation operates in a highly regulated industry. The IT governance framework includes a risk appetite statement approved by the board. Recently, the company suffered a significant data breach due to an unpatched vulnerability that had been identified three months earlier. The IT audit found that the vulnerability was reported to the IT department but was not prioritized for remediation because it was deemed low risk by the IT operations team. The incident response plan was not activated because the breach was not initially detected. The board wants to strengthen governance to prevent recurrence. The most effective course of action for the auditor to recommend is:
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
✓
Establishing a formal vulnerability management policy that requires risk-based prioritization in accordance with the risk appetite and escalation to the IT risk committee for decisions outside tolerance
The most effective because it ties vulnerability remediation directly to the board-approved risk appetite and ensures that decisions outside tolerance are escalated to the IT risk committee. This addresses the root cause: the IT operations team made a risk decision (deeming the vulnerability low risk) without governance oversight. Option A (deploying intrusion detection) focuses on detection, not prevention of the governance gap. Option C (disciplining the team) is reactive and does not fix the process. Option D (automated patching) may help with patching speed but does not ensure risk-based prioritization according to the risk appetite.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Deploying an intrusion detection system to identify breaches sooner
Why it's wrong here
Detection is important but does not prevent the root cause of unpatched vulnerabilities.
- ✓
Establishing a formal vulnerability management policy that requires risk-based prioritization in accordance with the risk appetite and escalation to the IT risk committee for decisions outside tolerance
Why this is correct
This embeds risk governance into the vulnerability management process, ensuring alignment with board-approved risk appetite.
- ✗
Disciplining the IT operations team for not escalating the vulnerability
Why it's wrong here
Punitive action does not fix the systematic governance failure.
- ✗
Implementing a more robust patch management system with automated patching
Why it's wrong here
Automation reduces delay but does not address the governance of risk prioritization.
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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.