CRISC IT Risk Assessment Practice Question
During an IT risk assessment, the risk team identifies a high inherent risk for a legacy application. The team is evaluating control options. Which THREE are considered preventive controls?
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
✓
Encryption of data at rest
Preventive controls aim to stop risk events. Access controls, encryption, and change management are preventive. Logs are detective, backup restoration is corrective.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Log monitoring
Why it's wrong here
Log monitoring is detective: it records and alerts on activity after the fact, so it cannot prevent an event from occurring. It is tempting because monitoring underpins risk management, but its purpose is identifying incidents, whereas preventive controls such as segregation of duties or change approval stop the risk materialising.
- ✓
Encryption of data at rest
Why this is correct
Encrypting data at rest is preventive because it stops unauthorised parties reading stored data even if media is accessed, removing the exposure before it occurs. This likelihood-reducing, pre-event mechanism satisfies the stem's preventive control criterion.
- ✓
Change management process
Why this is correct
Change management is preventive because it stops unauthorised or untested modifications reaching production, reducing the likelihood of the legacy application being destabilised. It acts before the event, satisfying the stem's criterion for a preventive control rather than detective or corrective.
- ✓
Access controls
Why this is correct
Access controls are preventive because they authenticate and authorise users before any action occurs, blocking unauthorised entry to the legacy application rather than detecting it afterwards. This directly satisfies the stem's requirement for controls that stop the high inherent risk materialising, unlike detective or corrective measures.
- ✗
Backup restoration procedures
Why it's wrong here
Backup restoration procedures are corrective controls: they recover data after an incident has occurred, so they do not stop the event from happening. It is tempting because backups are essential risk treatment, but their role is recovery, whereas preventive controls such as access restrictions or input validation block the threat before impact.
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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.