ISC2 CC Security Principles Practice Question
During a vendor risk assessment, a company discovers that a potential vendor has poor security practices. The company decides not to hire the vendor. This is an example of:
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse risk avoidance with risk mitigation, as both involve actions to address risk, but avoidance eliminates the risk entirely while mitigation reduces it.
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
✓
Risk avoidance
Risk avoidance is the correct answer because the company eliminates the risk entirely by deciding not to engage with the vendor. By not hiring the vendor, the company removes the possibility of any security incidents or data breaches that could arise from the vendor's poor security practices. This is a classic example of risk avoidance, where the risk is sidestepped rather than managed or shared.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Risk mitigation
Why it's wrong here
Mitigation applies controls to reduce likelihood or impact while continuing the activity; here the activity is abandoned, so no control is applied. It is tempting because both reduce exposure, but mitigation retains the vendor relationship with safeguards, whereas this scenario removes the risk source outright.
- ✗
Risk acceptance
Why it's wrong here
Acceptance means acknowledging the risk and proceeding without action, whereas declining the vendor removes the risk source entirely. It is tempting because no controls are implemented, but acceptance retains the exposure and monitors it; here the poor-security exposure is eliminated by not engaging.
- ✗
Risk transfer
Why it's wrong here
Transfer shifts the financial consequence to a third party, such as insurance or contractual indemnity, but no vendor is engaged and no risk is shared. It is tempting because vendor contracts often carry liability clauses, yet declining the vendor avoids the risk rather than reallocating it.
- ✓
Risk avoidance
Why this is correct
Declining the vendor eliminates the activity entirely, so the identified risk no longer exists. This satisfies the stem's scenario by removing the exposure rather than transferring it via insurance, mitigating it with controls, or accepting it.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Risk Management and Security Controls
Key term
Risk assessment
Risk assessment is the process of identifying, analyzing, and evaluating potential threats to an organization's assets to determine the likelihood and impact of those threats, and to decide on appropriate treatment measures.
Key term
Risk
Risk is the possibility that an event or action will negatively affect an organization's ability to achieve its goals, often measured in terms of likelihood and impact.
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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.