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CISA Practice Question: An IS auditor is reviewing the disaster recovery…
An IS auditor is reviewing the disaster recovery plan (DRP) for an e-commerce company that generates 90% of its revenue online. The DRP states that the recovery time objective (RTO) for the transactional database is 4 hours, and the recovery point objective (RPO) is 1 hour. The current backup strategy includes nightly full backups and hourly transaction log backups stored on a local disk array. The backups are then copied to a remote datacenter via a WAN link with an average transfer speed of 10 Mbps. The database size is 500 GB. The auditor calculates that the time to transfer the full backup over the WAN is approximately 12 hours. The organization's management is confident that the DRP is adequate because they have never had to invoke it. What is the auditor's MOST critical finding?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates focus on the lack of testing (Option A) as the most critical finding, but the question is designed to test whether you can identify a quantitative, objective failure to meet a stated recovery objective over a qualitative process 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
✓
The RTO of 4 hours is not achievable given the backup transfer time.
The DRP states an RTO of 4 hours for the transactional database, but the full backup transfer time over the 10 Mbps WAN link is approximately 12 hours. Since the backup must be restored before the database can be made available, the RTO cannot be met. This is the most critical finding because it directly invalidates a core recovery objective, regardless of whether the plan has been tested.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The DRP has never been tested, so its feasibility is unknown.
Why it's wrong here
Lack of testing is a concern, but the transfer time calculation directly shows infeasibility.
- ✗
The backup strategy does not include encryption for data in transit.
Why it's wrong here
Encryption is important but not as critical as recoverability.
- ✓
The RTO of 4 hours is not achievable given the backup transfer time.
Why this is correct
The 12-hour transfer time far exceeds the 4-hour RTO, making the DRP infeasible.
- ✗
The RPO of 1 hour is not achievable because transaction logs are only taken hourly.
Why it's wrong here
Hourly logs can achieve 1-hour RPO; the issue is RTO.
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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.