CISA Practice Question: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
An IS auditor is reviewing a backup strategy that includes daily full backups and weekly offsite storage. The recovery time objective (RTO) for a critical application is 4 hours. Which of the following findings would be of GREATEST concern?
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
✓
Backup tapes are stored offsite and retrieved only once per month
If the backup media are stored offsite without a local copy, the time to retrieve and restore may exceed the RTO.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Backup logs are reviewed weekly
Why it's wrong here
This is a control issue but not as critical as RTO.
- ✓
Backup tapes are stored offsite and retrieved only once per month
Why this is correct
Retrieval time may exceed the 4-hour RTO.
- ✗
Incremental backups are not performed between full backups
Why it's wrong here
Daily full backups may be sufficient, but this is less critical than offsite retrieval time.
- ✗
Backups are encrypted with AES-256
Why it's wrong here
Encryption is a security control, not a concern.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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