The answer is to mitigate by developing a disaster recovery plan and implementing compensating controls like regular backups and manual procedures. This is the best risk treatment for a legacy system in a merger because replacing the unsupported ERP would cause an 18-month delay, which the executive team rejects, so avoidance or transfer are not viable. Mitigation reduces the likelihood and impact of failure through a DR plan and compensating controls, aligning with the CRISC principle of treating risk to an acceptable residual level without blocking business objectives. On the Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control exam, this scenario tests your ability to balance risk treatment options against aggressive integration timelines, with a common trap being to choose acceptance (which ignores the critical financial data) or avoidance (which delays the merger). Remember the memory tip: when you cannot replace or avoid, you must mitigate with a DR plan and compensating controls.
CRISC IT Risk Assessment Practice Question
This CRISC practice question tests your understanding of it risk assessment. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Your organization is undergoing a merger and acquisition. The IT risk assessment team is tasked with evaluating the target company's IT environment. During the assessment, you discover that the target company uses a legacy ERP system that is no longer supported by the vendor. They have no disaster recovery plan for this system, and it contains financial data critical to the merged entity. The integration timeline is aggressive, and replacing the system would delay the merger by 18 months. The executive team is reluctant to delay. What is the BEST risk treatment option?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Mitigate by developing a disaster recovery plan and implementing compensating controls such as regular backups and manual procedures.
Option C is correct because the legacy ERP system contains critical financial data and cannot be replaced without an 18-month delay, making risk mitigation the most practical approach. Developing a disaster recovery plan and implementing compensating controls (e.g., regular backups, manual procedures) reduces the likelihood and impact of a system failure while allowing the merger to proceed on schedule. This aligns with the CRISC principle of treating risk by reducing residual risk to an acceptable level without blocking business objectives.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Avoid the risk by excluding the legacy system from the merger and migrating data to a new system.
Why it's wrong here
Would cause significant delay.
✗
Accept the risk because the system has been running for years without issue.
Why it's wrong here
Complacent; lack of vendor support and DR increases risk.
✓
Mitigate by developing a disaster recovery plan and implementing compensating controls such as regular backups and manual procedures.
Why this is correct
Addresses key weaknesses without delaying merger.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Transfer the risk to the target company's previous owners.
Why it's wrong here
Not a practical option post-acquisition.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may choose Option B (accept the risk) because the system has been stable historically, but CRISC expects you to recognize that unsupported systems with no DR plan represent an unmanaged risk that requires active mitigation, not passive acceptance.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In legacy ERP systems, unsupported means no vendor patches for security vulnerabilities or bugs, increasing the risk of exploitation or data corruption. Compensating controls like regular backups (e.g., using incremental backups to minimize data loss) and manual procedures (e.g., documented runbooks for failover) can reduce recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs), but they do not eliminate the underlying technical debt. A real-world scenario is a manufacturing merger where the target's unsupported SAP R/3 system holds inventory data; without a DR plan, a single disk failure could halt production, but implementing off-site backups and manual journal entries can keep operations running until a phased migration is possible.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A practitioner preparing for the CRISC exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
IT Risk Assessment — This question tests IT Risk Assessment — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Mitigate by developing a disaster recovery plan and implementing compensating controls such as regular backups and manual procedures. — Option C is correct because the legacy ERP system contains critical financial data and cannot be replaced without an 18-month delay, making risk mitigation the most practical approach. Developing a disaster recovery plan and implementing compensating controls (e.g., regular backups, manual procedures) reduces the likelihood and impact of a system failure while allowing the merger to proceed on schedule. This aligns with the CRISC principle of treating risk by reducing residual risk to an acceptable level without blocking business objectives.
What should I do if I get this CRISC question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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