CISA Practice Question: Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience
Which of the following disaster recovery test types involves a full switch-over to the alternate site, resulting in actual disruption to normal operations?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse a parallel test with a full interruption test, as both involve the alternate site processing live data, but only the full interruption test causes actual disruption by taking the primary site offline.
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
✓
Full interruption test
The full interruption test (also known as a cold-start test) involves an actual shutdown of primary systems and a complete switch-over to the alternate site, causing real disruption to normal operations. This validates the entire recovery capability under realistic conditions, including failover, data synchronization, and user reconnection, but carries the highest risk of data loss or extended downtime.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Simulation test
Why it's wrong here
Tests specific scenarios without full switch-over.
- ✓
Full interruption test
Why this is correct
Actual switch-over causing disruption.
- ✗
Parallel test
Why it's wrong here
DR systems run alongside production.
- ✗
Tabletop test
Why it's wrong here
Discussion only.
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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.