CRISC IT Risk Assessment Practice Question
A risk assessment identifies a vulnerability in a critical application. The threat actor is a script kiddie with low capability. Using the FAIR framework, which factor would most directly increase the Loss Event Frequency (LEF)?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse 'threat actor motivation' with 'vulnerability severity' as the primary driver of LEF, but FAIR separates motivation into TEF, while vulnerability severity directly impacts the probability of a successful loss event.
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
✓
Increasing the vulnerability severity
Loss Event Frequency (LEF) in FAIR is directly influenced by the probability that a threat agent will act against a vulnerability. Increasing the vulnerability severity makes the application more susceptible to exploitation, thereby raising the likelihood of a loss event occurring, even if the threat actor has low capability.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Reducing the vulnerability severity
Why it's wrong here
Reducing vulnerability would decrease LEF, not increase.
- ✗
Decreasing the threat event frequency
Why it's wrong here
Decreasing TEF would reduce LEF.
- ✓
Increasing the vulnerability severity
Why this is correct
Correct. Higher vulnerability severity increases LEF.
- ✗
Increasing the threat actor's motivation
Why it's wrong here
Motivation affects TEF, but vulnerability directly multiplies with TEF.
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JA
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.