ISC2 CC Practice Question: Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, and Incident Response
During a data breach investigation, the incident response team discovers that personally identifiable information (PII) of EU residents was exfiltrated. Under GDPR, what is the maximum time frame for notifying the supervisory authority?
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
✓
72 hours
GDPR requires notification to the supervisory authority within 72 hours of becoming aware of a personal data breach.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
72 hours
Why this is correct
72 hours is the maximum period under GDPR Article 33, running from awareness of the breach. This satisfies the stem's constraint: PII of EU residents was exfiltrated, triggering the controller's obligation to notify the supervisory authority without undue delay. Notification must occur within that window unless the breach is unlikely to result in risk.
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7 days
Why it's wrong here
GDPR sets a 72-hour notification window, so 7 days exceeds the maximum permitted under Article 33. A seven-day period resembles contractual or internal escalation timelines rather than the regulatory deadline, and would be correct only where a contract or policy imposes that shorter internal target.
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48 hours
Why it's wrong here
Article 33 of GDPR allows 72 hours for supervisory authority notification, making 48 hours incorrect as the maximum. A 48-hour figure appears in other frameworks, such as certain financial-sector incident reporting rules, which would be the correct source when those regulations govern the breach.
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24 hours
Why it's wrong here
GDPR Article 33 requires notification to the supervisory authority within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach, so 24 hours is too short and not the stated maximum. A 24-hour deadline applies under other regimes, such as NIS Directive sectoral reporting or some contractual breach clauses.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Incident Response and Management
Key term
Personally identifiable information
Personally identifiable information (PII) is any data that can be used to identify, contact, or locate a specific individual, either alone or when combined with other information.
Key term
Incident response
Incident response is the structured approach an organization uses to identify, contain, and recover from cybersecurity incidents like data breaches or ransomware attacks.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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