CRISC IT Risk Assessment Practice Question
Which of the following is a detective control for an information system?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse detective controls (which identify incidents after they occur) with preventive controls (which stop incidents before they happen), leading candidates to mistakenly classify firewalls or encryption as detective.
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
✓
Intrusion detection system
An intrusion detection system (IDS) is a detective control because it monitors network traffic or system activity for malicious actions or policy violations and generates alerts when such events occur. Unlike preventive controls, an IDS does not block or stop the attack; it detects and reports it after the fact, enabling incident response.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Data backup
Why it's wrong here
Backup is a corrective control.
- ✗
Encryption
Why it's wrong here
Encryption is a preventive control.
- ✗
Firewall
Why it's wrong here
Firewall is a preventive control.
- ✓
Intrusion detection system
Why this is correct
IDS detects attacks or policy violations.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 983 original CRISC practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.