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CRISC Practice Question: A company uses a DevOps approach with a…
A company uses a DevOps approach with a continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline. Which risk identification technique is best suited for detecting code vulnerabilities early in the development lifecycle?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently choose threat modeling (Option C) because it is a recognized risk identification technique, but they fail to recognize that it is not designed to detect code-level vulnerabilities early in the development lifecycle, which requires continuous, automated scanning within the pipeline.
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
✓
Automated security scanning integrated into the pipeline
Automated security scanning integrated into the CI/CD pipeline is best suited for detecting code vulnerabilities early because it runs continuously on every code commit, providing immediate feedback to developers. This aligns with the DevOps principle of shifting security left, catching issues like SQL injection or insecure dependencies before they reach production. Unlike periodic tests, this technique ensures vulnerabilities are identified at the moment of introduction, minimizing remediation cost and risk.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Quarterly penetration testing
Why it's wrong here
Penetration testing is periodic and may miss vulnerabilities introduced between tests.
- ✓
Automated security scanning integrated into the pipeline
Why this is correct
Automated scanning integrates seamlessly with CI/CD, providing immediate vulnerability detection.
- ✗
Threat modeling of system architecture
Why it's wrong here
Threat modeling is a design-time activity, not suitable for continuous identification during development.
- ✗
Manual code review
Why it's wrong here
Manual code review is time-consuming and may not scale with frequent changes.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CRISC 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 CRISC exam.