- A
Increased attack surface from forgotten resources.
Why wrong: Security is a concern, but the most direct risk is financial.
- B
Security misconfiguration due to lack of ownership.
Why wrong: While possible, the immediate issue is cost and accountability.
- C
Inaccurate cost allocation and potential budget overruns.
Orphaned resources cause unnecessary costs and distort cost allocation.
- D
Compliance violation with data residency requirements.
Why wrong: No evidence of data residency issues.
Question 36 of 1,000
CISA Practice Question: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
This CISA practice question tests your understanding of information systems operations and business resilience. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
An organization uses a cloud-based CRM system. The asset management team has implemented tagging to track resource costs by department. During an audit, the IS auditor finds that several orphaned resources (e.g., virtual machines, storage volumes) exist that are not tagged and have been running for months. The cloud service provider's cost allocation report shows these resources under a default account. What is the most significant risk associated with this 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
✓
Inaccurate cost allocation and potential budget overruns.
The most significant risk is inaccurate cost allocation and potential budget overruns because the orphaned resources are not tagged and are billed under a default account, preventing the organization from accurately attributing cloud costs to the responsible departments. This undermines the purpose of the tagging strategy implemented by the asset management team and can lead to unplanned expenses that are not tracked against any budget owner, directly impacting financial control and operational accountability.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Increased attack surface from forgotten resources.
Why it's wrong here
Security is a concern, but the most direct risk is financial.
- ✗
Security misconfiguration due to lack of ownership.
Why it's wrong here
While possible, the immediate issue is cost and accountability.
- ✓
Inaccurate cost allocation and potential budget overruns.
Why this is correct
Orphaned resources cause unnecessary costs and distort cost allocation.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Compliance violation with data residency requirements.
Why it's wrong here
No evidence of data residency issues.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often focus on security risks (like increased attack surface) because orphaned resources are commonly associated with security vulnerabilities, but the question's emphasis on tagging and cost allocation reports directly points to financial risk as the most significant finding.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In cloud environments like AWS, Azure, or GCP, resource tagging is a fundamental mechanism for cost allocation and chargeback, often enforced via AWS Cost Explorer or Azure Cost Management. Orphaned resources (e.g., EC2 instances, EBS volumes) that lack tags are grouped under a default billing account, masking their true cost from the department that created them. This can lead to budget overruns if the resources are expensive (e.g., GPU instances or high-storage volumes) and remain unmonitored, as the default account may not have spending limits or alerts configured.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A practitioner preparing for the CISA exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CISA question test?
Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience — This question tests Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Inaccurate cost allocation and potential budget overruns. — The most significant risk is inaccurate cost allocation and potential budget overruns because the orphaned resources are not tagged and are billed under a default account, preventing the organization from accurately attributing cloud costs to the responsible departments. This undermines the purpose of the tagging strategy implemented by the asset management team and can lead to unplanned expenses that are not tracked against any budget owner, directly impacting financial control and operational accountability.
What should I do if I get this CISA question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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.
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