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CISSP Practice Question: During a business impact analysis (BIA), the team…
During a business impact analysis (BIA), the team identifies that the customer service application must be restored within 4 hours of a disruption. What is the term for this metric?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse RTO with MTD, as candidates often think MTD is the same as the recovery time target, but MTD is the total tolerable outage including business impact, while RTO is the specific IT recovery goal set to meet that MTD.
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
✓
Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
The Recovery Time Objective (RTO) defines the maximum acceptable time that a business process or application can be unavailable after a disruption. In this scenario, the 4-hour restoration requirement for the customer service application directly matches the RTO metric, which drives the design of recovery strategies and resource allocation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD)
Why it's wrong here
The Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD) represents the absolute maximum period a business process or system can be inoperable before experiencing unacceptable consequences, such as severe financial losses, regulatory penalties, or irreparable reputational damage. While a critical output of the BIA, MTD defines the *limit* of survivability, not the *target* recovery time. The BIA uses MTD to establish the outer boundary within which recovery efforts must succeed, informing the more precise RTO.
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Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
Why it's wrong here
The Recovery Point Objective (RPO) specifies the maximum acceptable amount of data loss, measured in time, that an organization can tolerate for a given business function. Unlike downtime metrics, RPO focuses exclusively on data currency and integrity, determining how far back in time data must be recoverable. The BIA identifies RPO by analyzing the impact of data loss, which is distinct from the impact of system unavailability.
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Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Why it's wrong here
A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a contractual commitment between a service provider and a customer, defining the level of service expected, including metrics like uptime, performance, and support response times. While BIA outputs like RTO and RPO can inform the development and negotiation of SLAs, an SLA itself is a formal agreement or document, not a direct objective or metric *identified* during the BIA process. The BIA determines internal business needs, which then may be reflected in external SLAs.
- ✓
Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
Why this is correct
The Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is the maximum acceptable duration of time within which a business process or system must be restored after a disruption to avoid unacceptable consequences. During a Business Impact Analysis (BIA), the team identifies the RTO for critical functions by assessing the financial, operational, and reputational impacts of downtime over time. This objective serves as a key target for disaster recovery and business continuity planning, guiding the selection of appropriate recovery strategies.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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