easyMultiple Choice
ISC2 CC Practice Question: A security analyst notices that a user's account…
A security analyst notices that a user's account has been used to access sensitive files outside of normal working hours from an unknown IP address. Which security principle is most directly violated?
⚠ Common exam trap
ISC2 often tests the distinction between confidentiality and integrity by presenting a scenario where data is accessed (not modified), leading candidates to mistakenly choose integrity because they conflate 'unauthorized access' with 'data tampering'.
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
✓
Confidentiality
The scenario describes unauthorized access to sensitive files from an unknown IP address outside normal hours, which directly violates the principle of confidentiality. Confidentiality ensures that data is accessible only to authorized users and systems, and this breach indicates that sensitive information may have been exposed to an unauthorized party.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Availability
Why it's wrong here
Availability concerns uptime and service access, not unauthorised entry; the account and files remain reachable. It is tempting because out-of-hours access could suggest a denial-of-service or outage, and availability would be the violated principle if an attacker flooded or disabled the file service.
- ✗
Non-repudiation
Why it's wrong here
Non-repudiation ensures a party cannot deny performing an action, typically via signatures or tamper-evident logs; here the account was used by someone else, so the breach concerns authentication and authorisation. Non-repudiation would be the violated principle if a user denied authorising a transaction they actually made.
- ✗
Integrity
Why it's wrong here
Integrity covers unauthorised modification of data, whereas the stem describes only access to sensitive files, with no alteration evidenced. It is tempting because compromised credentials often precede tampering, and integrity would be the violated principle if the attacker had modified or deleted the files after gaining entry.
- ✓
Confidentiality
Why this is correct
Unauthorised access to sensitive files exposes data to someone without clearance, directly breaching confidentiality, which governs who may read information. The odd hours and unknown IP indicate compromise, so the violated principle is the protection of data from disclosure.
Go deeper
Related to this question
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.
Key term
Confidentiality
Confidentiality means keeping sensitive information secret and accessible only to authorized people or systems.
About these practice questions
This CC question is part of Courseiva's 989-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CC practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 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 CC exam.