easyMultiple Choice
CRISC Practice Question: The risk manager at a financial institution that…
You are the risk manager at a financial institution that processes online transactions. The organization relies on a legacy system for transaction authorization, which is monitored via manual log reviews performed weekly by a junior analyst. Recently, the internal audit team identified that several unauthorized transactions were not detected for over two weeks. The logs showed that the authorization control failed intermittently due to a known software bug, but the bug had been documented in the risk register with a low residual risk rating. The CRO asks you to recommend the most effective improvement to the control monitoring process. Which of the following would be the BEST course of action?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently choose to increase review frequency (Option B) because it seems like a direct improvement, but they fail to recognize that manual reviews, regardless of frequency, still suffer from human delay and cannot match the immediacy of automated monitoring for intermittent control failures.
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 an automated real-time monitoring tool that alerts on authorization failures.
Implementing an automated real-time monitoring tool that alerts on authorization failures directly addresses the root cause: the detection delay caused by manual weekly log reviews. Unlike manual reviews, automated monitoring provides immediate notification of control failures, enabling rapid response to intermittent software bugs and reducing the window of exposure for unauthorized transactions.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Implement an automated real-time monitoring tool that alerts on authorization failures.
Why this is correct
Automated real-time monitoring replaces weekly manual log reviews, detecting intermittent authorization failures immediately rather than after two weeks. This directly addresses the control-monitoring weakness and corrects the understated low residual risk rating in the register.
- ✗
Increase the frequency of log reviews to daily.
Why it's wrong here
Daily manual reviews still rely on the same fallible human process and cannot detect intermittent control failure between reviews. Automated log monitoring with alerting on authorisation failures addresses the root cause; increased frequency suits high-volume environments where manual review remains the only feasible mechanism.
- ✗
Update the risk register to increase the residual risk rating for the bug.
Why it's wrong here
Rerating the register records the exposure but changes no monitoring capability, so two-week detection gaps persist. It is tempting because risk-register updates are a core CRISC activity, and raising the residual rating would be right when reassessment shows the documented rating understates likelihood or impact.
- ✗
Retrain the junior analyst on log analysis techniques.
Why it's wrong here
Retraining addresses analyst skill, yet the logs prove the authorisation control itself failed intermittently due to a software bug, so detection gaps recur regardless of reviewer competence. Retraining is correct when evidence shows missed indicators stem from knowledge gaps rather than control failure.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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