CRISC Risk Response and Mitigation Practice Question
An employee with access to sensitive financial data has been observed accessing systems outside of normal working hours and exhibiting erratic behavior. The IT risk manager suspects insider threat. What is the most appropriate risk response?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mistake in the CRISC exam is assuming that immediate termination (Option A) is the best response to insider threats, but the trap here is that termination is a punitive action, not a risk response—it fails to preserve evidence and may violate due process, whereas monitoring and restriction is a proper mitigation that balances security with operational continuity.
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
✓
Implement additional monitoring and restrictions
Implementing additional monitoring and restrictions (Option B) is the most appropriate risk response because it allows the organization to gather more evidence of the suspected insider threat while immediately reducing the attack surface. This aligns with the risk mitigation strategy, as it directly addresses the observed anomalous behavior—accessing systems outside normal hours—without prematurely escalating the situation. In a financial data environment, this could involve enabling enhanced audit logging, restricting access to specific IP ranges or times, and deploying user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) to detect deviations from baseline activity.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Terminate the employee immediately
Why it's wrong here
Termination without evidence may be premature.
- ✓
Implement additional monitoring and restrictions
Why this is correct
Insider threat involving privileged financial access cannot be proven immediately, so additional monitoring and restrictions contain the risk while evidence is gathered. This satisfies the need for a proportionate response that limits exposure without prematurely accusing or removing the employee.
- ✗
Accept the risk as the employee is trusted
Why it's wrong here
Acceptance leaves an unverified insider threat unmitigated; trust is not a control, and anomalous after-hours access to financial data demands investigation. It is tempting when the employee is long-serving, but acceptance suits low-impact risks, not potential data exfiltration by a privileged user.
- ✗
Transfer via fidelity insurance
Why it's wrong here
Fidelity insurance compensates financial loss after an incident but does nothing to prevent exfiltration or detect the suspected insider activity. It is tempting because transfer shifts residual financial impact, yet the scenario requires investigation and access controls, not post-loss recovery.
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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.