CISA Information System Auditing Process Practice Question
This CISA practice question tests your understanding of information system auditing process. Examine the command output carefully: the correct answer depends on what the output actually shows, not on general recall alone. 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.
During an audit of a cloud service provider, the IS auditor finds that the provider's datacenter access logs show multiple successful logins by an employee during non-business hours over several weeks. The employee works in the sales department. What should the auditor do first?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "first"
Why it matters: Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Discuss with the employee's supervisor to verify if access was authorized.
Option C is correct because the IS auditor's first priority is to gather evidence and understand the context before taking action. The employee's sales role and non-business hours access may be legitimate (e.g., supporting a client in a different time zone). Discussing with the supervisor is a standard audit procedure to verify authorization, aligning with ISACA's audit evidence collection and due professional care.
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.
✗
Recommend disabling the employee's access immediately.
Why it's wrong here
Immediate disabling may be disruptive if access was authorized.
✗
Review the access rights policy and compare with actual access.
Why it's wrong here
This is a later step after obtaining initial explanation.
✓
Discuss with the employee's supervisor to verify if access was authorized.
Why this is correct
This is the appropriate first step to confirm authorization.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "first" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Report the finding immediately to senior management.
Why it's wrong here
Reporting without verification may cause unnecessary alarm.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse the auditor's role with that of a security incident responder, leading them to choose immediate disabling or escalation without first performing due diligence through inquiry and evidence gathering.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In cloud environments, access logs often include timestamps in UTC, and non-business hours may align with the employee's remote work or on-call duties. The auditor should check for multi-factor authentication (MFA) logs and IP geolocation to see if the logins originated from expected locations. A real-world scenario: a sales employee might legitimately access the datacenter management console to generate a compliance report for a customer during a weekend maintenance window.
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 junior network technician can log in to a core router but cannot reach the enable prompt or configuration mode. The AAA server is authenticating the login — but the authorisation policy only grants privilege level 1, not 15. Authentication (who you are) is working; authorisation (what you can do) is not.
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.
Information System Auditing Process — This question tests Information System Auditing Process — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Discuss with the employee's supervisor to verify if access was authorized. — Option C is correct because the IS auditor's first priority is to gather evidence and understand the context before taking action. The employee's sales role and non-business hours access may be legitimate (e.g., supporting a client in a different time zone). Discussing with the supervisor is a standard audit procedure to verify authorization, aligning with ISACA's audit evidence collection and due professional care.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "first". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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