CISA Practice Question: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
An IS auditor is reviewing the backup process for a critical database. Which TWO of the following are essential controls to ensure data recoverability?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse operational controls (like scheduling or encryption) with recoverability controls, forgetting that a backup is only as good as its ability to be restored from a separate location.
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
✓
Offsite storage of backup media.
Offsite storage of backup media (Option B) is essential because it protects against site-level disasters such as fire, flood, or physical theft. Without geographic separation, a single incident could destroy both the primary data and its backups, making recovery impossible. This control directly supports the recoverability objective by ensuring a usable copy exists outside the primary facility.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Automated job scheduling for backups.
Why it's wrong here
Automation helps ensure backups run, but not directly for recoverability.
- ✓
Offsite storage of backup media.
Why this is correct
Protects against physical disasters at the primary site.
- ✓
Regular restore testing of backups.
Why this is correct
Testing ensures backups are recoverable.
- ✗
Encryption of backup data.
Why it's wrong here
Encryption is important for security, not directly for recoverability.
- ✗
Backup retention period of at least one year.
Why it's wrong here
Retention period is important but not essential for recoverability; testing and offsite storage are.
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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.