This CRISC practice question tests your understanding of it risk identification. 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.
A technology startup is developing a mobile payment application. During a risk identification workshop, the team identifies a risk that the application may not comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) requirements. What is the BEST way to categorize this risk?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Compliance risk.
Non-compliance with PCI DSS is a direct regulatory risk.
Strategic risk.
Why wrong: Strategic risk relates to business decisions, not specific compliance requirements.
Operational risk.
Why wrong: Operational risk covers process failures, but here the cause is failure to meet standards.
Reputational risk.
Why wrong: Reputational damage may result, but the risk is inherently compliance.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Compliance risk.
Non-compliance with PCI DSS is a direct violation of regulatory requirements, making it a compliance risk. For a mobile payment application handling cardholder data, PCI DSS mandates specific security controls (e.g., encryption of PAN, access controls, logging). Failure to meet these standards exposes the startup to fines, legal sanctions, and potential loss of the ability to process payments.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Compliance risk.
Why this is correct
Non-compliance with PCI DSS is a direct regulatory risk.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Strategic risk.
Why it's wrong here
Strategic risk relates to business decisions, not specific compliance requirements.
Operational risk.
Why it's wrong here
Operational risk covers process failures, but here the cause is failure to meet standards.
Reputational risk.
Why it's wrong here
Reputational damage may result, but the risk is inherently compliance.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse the primary risk category (compliance) with the potential business impact (reputational or operational), but CRISC expects the root cause—failure to meet a regulatory standard—to be classified as compliance risk.
Detailed technical explanation
PCI DSS is a contractual and regulatory framework enforced by payment card brands (Visa, Mastercard). For a mobile payment app, compliance requires implementing controls like tokenization of primary account numbers (PAN), TLS 1.2+ for data in transit, and strict access controls per Requirement 7. A real-world scenario: if the app stores full track data instead of using a token, it violates PCI DSS Requirement 3.4, leading to immediate non-compliance risk regardless of operational stability.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A practitioner preparing for the CRISC 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
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
IT Risk Identification — This question tests IT Risk Identification — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Compliance risk. — Non-compliance with PCI DSS is a direct violation of regulatory requirements, making it a compliance risk. For a mobile payment application handling cardholder data, PCI DSS mandates specific security controls (e.g., encryption of PAN, access controls, logging). Failure to meet these standards exposes the startup to fines, legal sanctions, and potential loss of the ability to process payments.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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