ISC2 CC Access Controls Concepts Practice Question
An LDAP distinguished name is formatted as: CN=John Smith,OU=Sales,DC=company,DC=com. What does OU represent?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is the subtle wording difference between 'Organizational Unit' (correct) and 'Organization Unit' (incorrect) — candidates who know the concept but not the exact term may pick the wrong option.
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
✓
Organizational Unit
In LDAP distinguished names, OU stands for 'Organizational Unit'. An OU is a container object within a directory that is used to organize entries such as users, groups, and computers. In the DN 'CN=John Smith,OU=Sales,DC=company,DC=com', the OU=Sales indicates that John Smith resides in the Sales organizational unit within the company.com domain.
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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Organization Unit
Why it's wrong here
OU stands for Organizational Unit, not Organization Unit; the missing "al" makes this expansion incorrect. It is tempting because the words look nearly identical and the abbreviation's meaning is close, but LDAP schema defines the attribute as organizationalUnit, so the precise term is required.
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Object Unit
Why it's wrong here
LDAP defines OU as Organizational Unit, not Object Unit; objects are the entries themselves, not the container type. It is tempting because every DN component is an object, but the OU attribute specifically denotes an organizationalUnit container used to group entries within a directory hierarchy.
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Operating Unit
Why it's wrong here
OU expands to Organizational Unit, not Operating Unit; no such LDAP attribute exists. It is tempting because "unit" appears in the correct term, but operating units are business structures, whereas organizationalUnit is the schema-defined container object used to partition directory entries.
- ✓
Organizational Unit
Why this is correct
In LDAP distinguished names, OU stands for Organizational Unit — a container object used to group directory entries, typically by department or function. Here OU=Sales places John Smith within the Sales organisational unit beneath the company's domain components.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official ISC2 exam blueprint
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