CISA Practice Question: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
During a recent audit, the IT auditor found that the problem management process does not include a known error database (KEDB). Which of the following is the MOST significant risk associated with this finding?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse the KEDB with the change management process or SLA metrics, assuming that missing documentation leads to unauthorized changes or reporting inaccuracies, when the direct operational impact is prolonged incident resolution time.
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
✓
Increased time to resolve incidents
Without a known error database (KEDB), incident resolution relies on ad-hoc troubleshooting rather than leveraging documented root causes and workarounds. This directly increases the mean time to resolve (MTTR) incidents because support teams cannot quickly identify and apply previously identified fixes, leading to longer outages and reduced operational efficiency.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Higher likelihood of unauthorized changes
Why it's wrong here
Unauthorised changes are governed by change management controls such as approval and segregation of duties, which a KEDB does not enforce. The database records known errors and workarounds, so its absence delays diagnosis of recurring incidents rather than permitting unapproved changes.
- ✗
Increased backup failure rates
Why it's wrong here
Backup failure rates stem from backup configuration, storage and scheduling, which a KEDB does not influence. The database holds known errors and their workarounds, so omitting it affects problem diagnosis and incident resolution, not the reliability of backup jobs.
- ✓
Increased time to resolve incidents
Why this is correct
Without a known error database, engineers cannot match recurring incidents to documented root causes and workarounds, so each occurrence is diagnosed from scratch. This directly extends mean time to restore service, satisfying the stem's problem management gap. The KEDB's absence therefore produces the most significant risk: prolonged incident resolution.
- ✗
Inaccurate SLA reporting
Why it's wrong here
SLA reporting derives from incident and service metrics; a missing KEDB does not corrupt those figures. The database stores known errors and workarounds, so its absence chiefly affects how quickly recurring incidents are diagnosed and resolved, not reporting accuracy.
Visual reference
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This CISA question is part of Courseiva's 934-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.