ISC2 CC Security Principles Practice Question
After a data breach, an organization discovers that an attacker exploited a known vulnerability in an outdated web server. The organization had previously identified the vulnerability but decided not to patch it due to potential downtime. Which risk management strategy did the organization employ?
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
✓
Risk acceptance
Risk acceptance means acknowledging the risk and its potential impact without taking action to reduce it.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Risk transfer
Why it's wrong here
Risk transfer shifts financial liability to a third party via insurance or outsourcing, but the organisation’s decision to accept the operational downtime risk by not patching is an active retention of the vulnerability’s potential impact, not a contractual transfer of that risk. It is tempting because risk transfer is commonly used for high-cost incidents, such as purchasing cyber insurance to cover breach remediation expenses, which would be correct if the organisation had outsourced server management to a vendor under a liability agreement.
- ✓
Risk acceptance
Why this is correct
By not patching despite knowing the vulnerability, the organization accepted the risk.
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Risk avoidance
Why it's wrong here
Avoidance eliminates the risk by discontinuing the activity; the organization kept the server running.
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Risk mitigation
Why it's wrong here
Mitigation involves implementing controls to reduce risk; choosing not to patch is not mitigation.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Risk Management and Security Controls
Key term
Organization
An Organization is a top-level container in Google Cloud that represents your company or entities and serves as the root node for all your cloud resources, policies, and access control.
Key term
Vulnerability
A vulnerability is a weakness in a system, network, or software that could be exploited by a threat to cause harm or unauthorized access.
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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.