CISA Practice Question: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
During a change management audit, an IS auditor finds that a critical system change was approved by the change manager without a CAB meeting. The change was categorized as a standard change. Which of the following should the auditor do FIRST?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often assume any change approved without a CAB meeting is a control failure, but they overlook the critical first step of verifying whether the change was correctly classified as a standard change, which is pre-approved and does not require CAB involvement.
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
✓
Determine if the change was correctly classified as standard
The auditor's first step must be to verify whether the change was correctly classified as a standard change, because standard changes are pre-approved and do not require a CAB meeting. If the classification is correct, the process was followed; if not, the lack of CAB approval is a control failure. This aligns with ITIL best practices, where standard changes are low-risk, pre-authorized changes with a defined procedure, and the auditor must confirm the classification before escalating or recommending action.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Report a lack of segregation of duties
Why it's wrong here
Standard changes often do not require CAB approval.
- ✗
Recommend immediate rollback of the change
Why it's wrong here
This is drastic and may not be necessary.
- ✗
Escalate to senior management
Why it's wrong here
Escalation should occur after investigation.
- ✓
Determine if the change was correctly classified as standard
Why this is correct
If it is a standard change, the process was followed.
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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.