ISC2 CC Business Continuity, DR & Incident Response Practice Question
An organization uses a primary data center and a backup site 500 miles away. The backup site replicates data synchronously. Which risk is MOST likely introduced by this configuration?
⚠ Common exam trap
ISC2 often tests the distinction between synchronous and asynchronous replication, and the trap here is that candidates confuse 'synchronous' with 'high RPO' or assume bandwidth is the main constraint, when in fact synchronous replication introduces latency as the primary risk due to the distance-dependent acknowledgment delay.
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
✓
Increased latency for write operations
Synchronous replication requires the primary site to wait for an acknowledgment from the backup site before completing each write operation. The 500-mile distance introduces a minimum round-trip latency of approximately 8-10 ms (based on fiber optic propagation at ~200 km/ms), which directly increases the time taken for write operations. This latency impact is the most likely risk introduced by this configuration.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
High recovery point objective (RPO)
Why it's wrong here
Synchronous replication yields low RPO, not high.
- ✗
Data encryption overhead
Why it's wrong here
Encryption may add processing delay but is not the primary risk from distance.
- ✗
Insufficient bandwidth between sites
Why it's wrong here
Bandwidth affects throughput but not necessarily latency.
- ✓
Increased latency for write operations
Why this is correct
Synchronous replication requires acknowledgment from backup, causing latency proportional to distance.
Visual reference
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Risk Management and Security Controls
Key term
Impact
Impact is the measure of the potential damage or harm that a risk event could cause to an organization's assets, operations, or reputation.
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.
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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.