easyMultiple Choice
ISC2 CC Practice Question: A company's backup strategy requires daily full…
A company's backup strategy requires daily full backups of all servers. The backup window is 4 hours. What is the primary risk if backups consistently take longer than the window?
⚠ Common exam trap
ISC2 often tests the misconception that exceeding a backup window is a compliance or storage issue, when the core risk is operational interference with production workloads.
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
✓
Backups may interfere with production operations
When backups consistently exceed the 4-hour window, they overlap with production hours, causing resource contention (CPU, I/O, network bandwidth) that degrades application performance and user experience. This directly risks production operations, as backup jobs compete with live workloads for system resources.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Compliance requirements may be violated
Why it's wrong here
Compliance breaches are a downstream consequence of missed backup completion, not the immediate operational risk. This option would be correct if the stem specified a regulatory mandate for completed daily backups, but the primary risk here is that the next scheduled backup starts before the previous one finishes.
- ✗
Backup media may fill up
Why it's wrong here
Media exhaustion results from retaining more backup sets than capacity allows, not from a single job overrunning its window. This option would be correct if retention policies accumulated beyond available storage, but the stem describes a timing overrun, not a capacity shortfall.
- ✓
Backups may interfere with production operations
Why this is correct
Overrunning the four-hour window pushes backup I/O into business hours, where disk and network contention degrades production workloads. The stem's constraint is the fixed window; exceeding it removes the isolation that protects live operations, making interference the primary risk rather than backup failure itself.
- ✗
Backups may be corrupted
Why it's wrong here
Corruption is not directly caused by time overruns.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Secure Network Architecture and Design
Key term
Risk
Risk is the possibility that an event or action will negatively affect an organization's ability to achieve its goals, often measured in terms of likelihood and impact.
Key term
User
A user is any person, system, or device that interacts with an IT service, resource, or identity system, typically authenticated through credentials and authorized to perform specific actions.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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