CISA Practice Question: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
An IS auditor is reviewing the incident management process. Incidents are categorized as P1 (critical) through P4 (low). The SLA for P1 incidents requires initial response within 15 minutes and resolution within 4 hours. The auditor notes that the average time to respond to P1 incidents is 12 minutes, but the average resolution time is 6 hours. The root cause analysis shows that many P1 incidents are due to known errors documented in the known error database (KEDB). What is the most significant finding?
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
✓
Problem management is not effectively utilizing the KEDB to prevent recurring incidents.
If known errors are causing P1 incidents, problem management should have identified workarounds or permanent fixes. The fact that these incidents recur indicates a weakness in the problem management process, which should reduce incidents from known errors.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Problem management is not effectively utilizing the KEDB to prevent recurring incidents.
Why this is correct
Known errors in the KEDB should drive permanent fixes through problem management, eliminating recurrence. Resolution averaging six hours against a four-hour SLA, with recurring known errors, shows problem management is not converting KEDB entries into root-cause resolutions.
- ✗
The average resolution time for P1 incidents exceeds SLA.
Why it's wrong here
This restates the measured 6-hour average against the 4-hour SLA but stops at the symptom, missing that documented known errors in the KEDB were not applied. SLA breach reporting is the right finding when no root cause or workaround source exists.
- ✗
The average response time for P1 incidents is within SLA.
Why it's wrong here
A 12-minute average against a 15-minute target confirms response compliance, which is not a deficiency. Verifying response compliance is the right finding when the SLA concern is initial acknowledgement rather than resolution or root-cause handling.
- ✗
Incident management is not escalating P1 incidents properly.
Why it's wrong here
Escalation procedures are not mentioned; the issue is about problem management.
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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.