CISA Practice Question: Information Systems Acquisition, Development and Implementation
This CISA practice question tests your understanding of information systems acquisition, development and implementation. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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.
Which TWO of the following are essential controls to ensure data integrity during a cloud migration project?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Implementing encryption at rest and in transit
Encryption at rest and in transit (Option B) is essential for maintaining data integrity during cloud migration because it prevents unauthorized modification or corruption of data while stored in the source or target systems and while being transferred over networks. Without encryption, data is vulnerable to tampering, which directly undermines integrity. This control aligns with the principle of protecting data throughout its lifecycle, a key requirement in cloud migration projects.
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.
✗
Granting all migration team members full database access
Why it's wrong here
This violates the principle of least privilege and increases risk of unauthorized changes.
✓
Implementing encryption at rest and in transit
Why this is correct
Encryption ensures data confidentiality and integrity during transfer and storage.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Using a phased migration approach without rollback capability
Why it's wrong here
Without rollback, any failure could result in significant data loss or downtime.
✓
Running reconciliation checks comparing source and target data counts
Why this is correct
Reconciliation verifies completeness and accuracy of the migration.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Performing a single full data validation after migration
Why it's wrong here
Validation should be continuous and iterative, not a single event.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse encryption with confidentiality and overlook its role in integrity, or they assume that a single post-migration validation (Option E) is sufficient, ignoring the need for ongoing reconciliation checks (Option D) to detect incremental data loss or corruption during the transfer process.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Encryption at rest typically uses AES-256 (e.g., AWS S3 server-side encryption with SSE-S3 or SSE-KMS) to protect stored data, while encryption in transit relies on TLS 1.2/1.3 (e.g., HTTPS or TLS-secured database connections) to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks. A subtle behavior is that encryption alone does not ensure integrity; it must be combined with integrity checks like hashing (e.g., SHA-256) or message authentication codes (HMAC) to detect tampering. In a real-world scenario, a cloud migration using AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with encryption enabled but without reconciliation checks could miss silent data corruption caused by network errors or storage faults.
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 practitioner preparing for the CISA exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
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 Systems Acquisition, Development and Implementation — This question tests Information Systems Acquisition, Development and Implementation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Implementing encryption at rest and in transit — Encryption at rest and in transit (Option B) is essential for maintaining data integrity during cloud migration because it prevents unauthorized modification or corruption of data while stored in the source or target systems and while being transferred over networks. Without encryption, data is vulnerable to tampering, which directly undermines integrity. This control aligns with the principle of protecting data throughout its lifecycle, a key requirement in cloud migration projects.
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.
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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