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CRISC Practice Question: Which TWO of the following are valid triggers for…
Which TWO of the following are valid triggers for initiating a risk assessment outside the regular cycle? (Select 2)
⚠ Common exam trap
ISACA often tests the distinction between routine, scheduled activities (like training, audits, or patching) and genuine change events that alter the risk profile, tricking candidates into selecting familiar operational tasks as triggers.
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
✓
A significant change in the IT infrastructure
A significant change in IT infrastructure (Option B) is a classic trigger for ad-hoc risk assessment because it introduces new vulnerabilities, alters the attack surface, or changes the effectiveness of existing controls. For example, migrating from on-premises servers to a cloud environment (e.g., AWS, Azure) changes network segmentation, identity management, and data residency, requiring a fresh risk evaluation to identify and treat new threats before they are exploited.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
An employee completing annual security awareness training
Why it's wrong here
Training is an ongoing control, not a trigger.
- ✓
A significant change in the IT infrastructure
Why this is correct
Changes introduce new risks and require reassessment.
- ✓
Introduction of a new regulatory requirement
Why this is correct
New compliance obligations require assessment of associated risks.
- ✗
The annual internal audit of financial controls
Why it's wrong here
Annual audits are scheduled, not ad-hoc triggers.
- ✗
Completion of a routine security patch cycle
Why it's wrong here
Patching is a control activity, not a trigger for a full risk assessment.
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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.