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CISA Practice Question: During the requirements gathering phase for a new…
During the requirements gathering phase for a new financial system, stakeholders disagree on the priority of security controls versus user convenience. Which of the following is the BEST approach?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates choose Option A, mistakenly believing that security can be 'bolted on' later, but CISA emphasizes that security must be integrated from the requirements phase to avoid costly redesigns and compliance violations.
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
✓
Conduct a risk assessment to balance security and usability
A risk assessment provides a structured, evidence-based framework for balancing security controls against user convenience during requirements gathering. By evaluating the likelihood and impact of threats specific to financial systems (e.g., transaction fraud, data breaches) against usability needs, the organization can prioritize controls that mitigate high-risk exposures without unnecessarily impeding legitimate business processes. This aligns with the COBIT 5 principle of balancing benefits, risk, and resource optimization.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Postpone security decisions to later phases
Why it's wrong here
Deferring security requirements leaves them unaddressed during design, when controls are cheapest to embed; retrofitting them later forces rework and may breach regulatory obligations for a financial system. Postponement suits iterative feature refinement, but security and privacy requirements must be elicited alongside functional ones from the outset.
- ✗
Let the project team decide based on development ease
Why it's wrong here
Development ease is an implementation concern, not a risk criterion; letting developers arbitrate security-versus-convenience conflicts bypasses the business and compliance owners accountable for a financial system's data. Team-led decisions suit internal tooling choices, whereas requirement conflicts need governance-level risk acceptance and documented rationale.
- ✓
Conduct a risk assessment to balance security and usability
Why this is correct
A risk assessment quantifies the likelihood and impact of threats against the cost of controls, producing an evidence-based balance rather than letting the loudest stakeholder win. It satisfies the need to resolve the security-versus-convenience disagreement objectively during requirements gathering.
- ✗
Implement all security controls regardless of convenience
Why it's wrong here
Mandating every control ignores the risk-based balancing that requirements gathering exists to perform, and controls that obstruct essential workflows get bypassed, weakening actual security. Comprehensive control sets suit low-risk, low-usability-impact contexts; here stakeholders need documented trade-offs aligned to data sensitivity and regulatory obligations.
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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.