ISC2 CC Security Principles Practice Question
An organization implements redundant servers and failover mechanisms to ensure continuous operation during a power outage. Which goal of the CIA triad is primarily being addressed?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is that candidates may associate redundancy with integrity or confidentiality because both involve protecting data, but the question's focus on continuous operation during an outage clearly points to availability.
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
✓
Availability
Availability ensures that systems and data are accessible to authorized users when needed, and redundant servers with failover mechanisms directly support continuous operation during outages. This is the core goal of the availability pillar of the CIA triad. Confidentiality and integrity address different concerns, so availability is the correct answer.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Confidentiality
Why it's wrong here
Confidentiality concerns restricting data access to authorised parties through encryption and access controls, not maintaining service during power loss. It is tempting because both are CIA triad goals and redundancy sounds protective, but failover addresses uptime, which is availability, not disclosure prevention.
- ✗
Integrity
Why it's wrong here
Integrity concerns preventing unauthorised modification of data, whereas redundant servers and failover maintain uptime and service availability during outages. Integrity is tempting because redundancy can help detect corruption, but the scenario's continuous-operation requirement maps to availability, not data alteration protection.
- ✗
Authentication
Why it's wrong here
Authentication verifies a claimed identity before granting access, which redundancy and failover do not perform. It is tempting because both relate to access control, but authentication is an identity-verification function, while the scenario's continuous operation during a power outage is an availability objective.
- ✓
Availability
Why this is correct
Redundant servers and failover maintain uptime when a component or power source fails, directly preserving access to systems and data. Availability is the CIA goal concerned with ensuring authorised users can reach resources when required.
Go deeper
Related to this question
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
Availability
Availability is the measure of how often a system or service is operational and accessible when needed, typically expressed as a percentage of uptime.
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 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
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.