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CISA Practice Question: An IS auditor reviews the disposal process of…

An IS auditor reviews the disposal process of hard drives. Which of the following methods provides the HIGHEST assurance that data cannot be recovered?

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

✓

Physical shredding.

Physical shredding physically destroys the media, making data recovery virtually impossible. Overwriting with zeros may leave residual data due to bad sectors or advanced recovery techniques. Degaussing is effective on magnetic media but not on SSDs. Quick format only removes file pointers, leaving data recoverable.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

  • ✓

    Physical shredding.

    Why this is correct

    Physical shredding physically destroys the media, making data recovery virtually impossible.

  • ✗

    Overwriting with zeros.

    Why it's wrong here

    Overwriting with zeros may not completely eliminate all data due to bad sectors or advanced recovery techniques.

  • ✗

    Degaussing.

    Why it's wrong here

    Degaussing is effective on magnetic media but not on SSDs, and may not work on all hard drives.

  • ✗

    Quick format.

    Why it's wrong here

    Quick format only removes file pointers, data remains recoverable.

About these practice questions

One of 995 original CISA practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →

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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.