ISC2 CC Business Continuity, DR & Incident Response Practice Question
This CC practice question tests your understanding of business continuity, dr & incident response. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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.
Which statement best describes a warm site in disaster recovery?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
It has hardware and network equipment but requires data restoration from backups
A warm site is a middle-ground disaster recovery option that has hardware and network infrastructure pre-installed but does not have live, synchronized data. Instead, data must be restored from backups (e.g., tape or disk snapshots) before operations can resume. This contrasts with a hot site, which maintains real-time data replication and fully active systems.
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.
✗
It has replicated data but no active systems
Why it's wrong here
Replicated data suggests real-time sync, which is hot; warm site typically requires data restore.
✗
It is fully operational with real-time data synchronization
Why it's wrong here
That is a hot site.
✓
It has hardware and network equipment but requires data restoration from backups
Why this is correct
Warm site has equipment but not live data, so restore is needed.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
It has no hardware or infrastructure installed
Why it's wrong here
That describes a cold site.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
ISC2 often tests the distinction between warm and hot sites by making candidates confuse 'pre-installed hardware' (warm) with 'real-time data synchronization' (hot), so the trap is assuming that any site with hardware must also have live data.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In practice, a warm site typically has pre-configured servers, network switches, and storage arrays, but the data is restored from periodic backups (e.g., daily full backups with incremental logs). The recovery time objective (RTO) for a warm site is usually measured in hours to days, as opposed to minutes for a hot site. A real-world scenario is an organization using a warm site for non-critical applications where the cost of real-time replication is not justified, but hardware availability is still required to avoid procurement delays.
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: It has hardware and network equipment but requires data restoration from backups — A warm site is a middle-ground disaster recovery option that has hardware and network infrastructure pre-installed but does not have live, synchronized data. Instead, data must be restored from backups (e.g., tape or disk snapshots) before operations can resume. This contrasts with a hot site, which maintains real-time data replication and fully active systems.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
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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