hardMultiple Choice
CISA Practice Question: In an agile development environment, an IS…
In an agile development environment, an IS auditor reviews the backlog and finds that security requirements are not explicitly included. What is the best recommendation?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates choose a dedicated security sprint (Option B) or final testing (Option C) because they resemble traditional security review phases, but the CISA exam emphasizes integrating security into every sprint to align with agile's continuous delivery and risk management principles.
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
✓
Include security stories in the product backlog
In agile development, security should be integrated continuously rather than treated as an afterthought. Including security stories in the product backlog ensures that security requirements are prioritized, estimated, and implemented incrementally within each sprint, aligning with the agile principle of delivering value early and often. This approach embeds security into the development lifecycle from the start, reducing technical debt and vulnerabilities.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Engage external security auditors to define requirements
Why it's wrong here
External auditors assess and advise; they do not own requirements definition, and outsourcing it leaves the delivery team without accountability for security outcomes. The team should elicit and embed security requirements in the backlog itself; external auditors suit independent assurance reviews.
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Allocate a separate sprint dedicated solely to security
Why it's wrong here
Isolating security in one sprint removes it from the definition of done for every other increment, so features ship without controls. Embedding security requirements in the backlog and each sprint's acceptance criteria is the correct approach; a dedicated sprint suits remediation of a specific accumulated debt.
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Perform comprehensive security testing during the final sprint
Why it's wrong here
Testing only in the final sprint detects flaws after design and coding are complete, when remediation is costliest. Continuous security testing within each sprint, with requirements in the backlog, is the accepted agile practise; a late gate suits waterfall-style phase-end verification.
- ✓
Include security stories in the product backlog
Why this is correct
Embedding security stories in the product backlog makes security requirements visible, estimable and prioritised alongside functional work, satisfying the stem's constraint that they are currently absent. This integrates security into agile planning rather than bolting it on, so each sprint delivers verifiable security outcomes.
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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.