ISC2 CC Business Continuity, DR & Incident Response Practice Question
This CC practice question tests your understanding of business continuity, dr & incident response. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
During a disaster recovery exercise, the system fails to achieve the RTO. Analysis shows that restoring the database from tape takes 3 hours, but the RTO is 2 hours. Which is the most effective solution?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Implement a hot standby database replica
The correct answer is C because the RTO (Recovery Time Objective) is a business requirement that cannot be changed by simply adjusting the backup method. A hot standby database replica (e.g., using synchronous replication or Oracle Data Guard) provides near-instant failover, reducing recovery time to minutes, which directly meets the 2-hour RTO. This solution addresses the root cause—the restore process is too slow—by eliminating the need to restore from backup entirely.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Use differential instead of full backups
Why it's wrong here
Differential backups still require restore time and may not reduce it enough.
✗
Switch from tape to disk-based backups
Why it's wrong here
Disk may improve speed but still requires restoring data, likely still >2 hours.
✓
Implement a hot standby database replica
Why this is correct
A hot replica is synchronized and can be activated immediately, meeting RTO.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Increase the RTO to 3 hours
Why it's wrong here
Changing the requirement does not solve the underlying capability issue.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
ISC2 often tests the misconception that improving backup speed (e.g., switching to disk or differential backups) is sufficient to meet RTO, when the real solution is to eliminate the restore process entirely with a high-availability replica.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
A hot standby replica uses technologies like database mirroring (SQL Server) or Data Guard (Oracle) with synchronous replication to maintain an identical copy that can be promoted to primary in seconds. In contrast, tape restore involves sequential read operations that are inherently slow (typically 100-200 MB/s), and even with disk-based backups, the restore time includes validation and log replay, which can exceed RTO for large databases. Real-world scenarios often involve hybrid approaches where a standby replica handles failover while backups are used for archival or point-in-time recovery.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A security analyst at a medium-sized enterprise encounters this scenario during an investigation or architecture review. The correct answer reflects best practice for the specific threat or control described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Security exam questions test whether you can match controls to threats in context — not just recall definitions.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this CC question in full detail.
Business Continuity, DR & Incident Response — This question tests Business Continuity, DR & Incident Response — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Implement a hot standby database replica — The correct answer is C because the RTO (Recovery Time Objective) is a business requirement that cannot be changed by simply adjusting the backup method. A hot standby database replica (e.g., using synchronous replication or Oracle Data Guard) provides near-instant failover, reducing recovery time to minutes, which directly meets the 2-hour RTO. This solution addresses the root cause—the restore process is too slow—by eliminating the need to restore from backup entirely.
What should I do if I get this CC question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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