CRISC Control Testing Practice Question
A company has implemented a risk mitigation plan that includes technical controls. However, six months later, the residual risk is still higher than expected. The risk practitioner suspects that the controls are not being followed. Which of the following is the BEST approach to verify this?
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 control testing and audit review
Conducting a control testing and audit review directly assesses whether controls are operating as intended, providing evidence of compliance or non-compliance. This is the most effective way to verify if controls are being followed. Option A (perform a new risk assessment) is indirect and does not focus on control effectiveness. Option B (interview control owners) relies on self-reporting and may not be objective. Option C (review risk register updates) does not provide evidence of actual control operation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Perform a new risk assessment
Why it's wrong here
A fresh risk assessment re-evaluates likelihood and impact; it does not test whether the deployed technical controls are actually operating. It is tempting because residual risk remains high, suggesting reassessment, but the practitioner already suspects non-adherence. Verification requires examining control execution evidence, not recalculating inherent and residual ratings.
- ✗
Interview control owners
Why it's wrong here
Interviews reveal perceptions and intentions, not whether the technical controls actually execute on the data. Control owners may believe enforcement is active while configuration drift or bypasses persist. Interviewing is tempting for gathering qualitative context on process adherence, but the stem needs evidence of actual control operation, which configuration and log testing provides.
- ✗
Review risk register updates
Why it's wrong here
The risk register records assessed likelihood, impact and treatment status, not runtime evidence of whether each technical control executes. Updates may simply restate the original plan. Reviewing the register is tempting for tracking treatment progress, but confirming non-followed controls requires testing the controls themselves against live configuration and logs.
- ✓
Conduct a control testing and audit review
Why this is correct
Control testing and audit review examines whether the technical controls operate as designed and whether staff actually follow them, directly addressing the suspected compliance gap. It produces evidence of control effectiveness, confirming whether residual risk remains elevated because of non-adherence rather than poor control design.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
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