This CC practice question tests your understanding of business continuity, dr & incident response. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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.
A small business with limited budget wants to ensure critical business functions can resume within 24 hours of a disaster. Their data changes infrequently. Which recovery solution is MOST cost-effective?
Warm site with daily backups
Why wrong: Moderate cost but still requires ongoing operational expenses.
Cloud backup with instant restore
Cost-effective and can meet RTO if restore time is fast.
Cold site with monthly backups
Why wrong: Low cost but recovery may take more than 24 hours due to setup.
Hot site with real-time replication
Why wrong: High cost due to dedicated infrastructure and real-time replication.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Cloud backup with instant restore
Cloud backup with instant restore (Option B) is the most cost-effective solution because the business has a limited budget, data changes infrequently, and the RTO is 24 hours. Cloud backup eliminates the need for maintaining physical infrastructure, and instant restore from cloud snapshots can meet the 24-hour RTO without the high costs of a warm or hot site.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Warm site with daily backups
Why it's wrong here
Moderate cost but still requires ongoing operational expenses.
Cloud backup with instant restore
Why this is correct
Cost-effective and can meet RTO if restore time is fast.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Cold site with monthly backups
Why it's wrong here
Low cost but recovery may take more than 24 hours due to setup.
Hot site with real-time replication
Why it's wrong here
High cost due to dedicated infrastructure and real-time replication.
Common exam traps
ISC2 often tests the misconception that a warm site is the 'middle ground' for cost and recovery, but they ignore that cloud backup can achieve the same RTO at a fraction of the cost when data changes infrequently.
Detailed technical explanation
Cloud backup solutions often use incremental snapshots and object storage (e.g., Amazon S3 or Azure Blob) to minimize costs, with restore times dependent on data size and network bandwidth. For infrequently changing data, the RPO can be extended (e.g., weekly backups) to further reduce costs, while instant restore can leverage cached metadata for rapid file-level recovery. In a real-world scenario, a small business might use a tool like Veeam or AWS Backup to automate snapshots and test restores, ensuring the 24-hour RTO is met without over-provisioning.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A security analyst at a medium-sized enterprise encounters this scenario during an investigation or architecture review. The correct answer reflects best practice for the specific threat or control described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Security exam questions test whether you can match controls to threats in context — not just recall definitions.
What to study next
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Business Continuity, DR & Incident Response — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
Business Continuity, DR & Incident Response practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
All CC questions
500 questions across all exam domains
ISC2 Certified in Cybersecurity CC study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
CC practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
Related practice questions
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
Practise CC questions linked to Access Controls Concepts.
Practise CC questions linked to Business Continuity, DR & Incident Response.
Practise CC questions linked to Security Principles.
Practise CC questions linked to Network Security.
Practise CC questions linked to Security Operations.
Practise CC questions linked to CC fundamentals.
Practise CC questions linked to CC scenario.
Practise CC questions linked to CC troubleshooting.
Practice this exam
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
FAQ
Business Continuity, DR & Incident Response — This question tests Business Continuity, DR & Incident Response — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Cloud backup with instant restore — Cloud backup with instant restore (Option B) is the most cost-effective solution because the business has a limited budget, data changes infrequently, and the RTO is 24 hours. Cloud backup eliminates the need for maintaining physical infrastructure, and instant restore from cloud snapshots can meet the 24-hour RTO without the high costs of a warm or hot site.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
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.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.