CRISC Risk Response and Reporting Practice Question
Which of the following is a key element of promoting a risk-aware culture within an IT department?
⚠ Common exam trap
CRISC often tests the confusion between risk culture enablers (like anonymous reporting) and generic HR or legal tools (performance reviews, NDAs) that do not directly promote risk awareness.
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
✓
Establishing an anonymous incident reporting system
An anonymous incident reporting system encourages employees to report risks, errors, and near-misses without fear of retaliation, which is fundamental to building a risk-aware culture where people feel safe to speak up. It directly promotes transparency and proactive risk identification, key elements of a risk-aware culture.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Establishing an anonymous incident reporting system
Why this is correct
An anonymous reporting channel lets staff raise risk concerns and near-misses without fear of reprisal, increasing the volume and honesty of information reaching management. This directly satisfies the cultural requirement by encouraging open, proactive risk communication across the IT department.
- ✗
Outsourcing risk management to a third party
Why it's wrong here
Outsourcing transfers risk treatment to a vendor; it does not embed risk ownership, accountability or decision-making in IT staff, which is what culture change requires. It is tempting because third parties supply specialist expertise and assurance, and would be appropriate for executing specific risk assessments the department lacks capability to perform.
- ✗
Conducting annual performance reviews
Why it's wrong here
Annual performance reviews assess individual job objectives, not risk awareness, so they neither reinforce risk ownership nor surface emerging risk behaviours. It is tempting because reviews are an established management mechanism for shaping behaviour, and would be appropriate if risk competencies were explicit appraisal criteria.
- ✗
Requiring employees to sign non-disclosure agreements
Why it's wrong here
Signing non-disclosure agreements is a legal confidentiality control; it does not shape how employees identify, escalate or own risk in daily decisions. It is tempting because it is a documented, auditable personnel control, and would be appropriate for protecting sensitive information shared with staff or third parties.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official ISACA exam blueprint
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.