SSCP Security Operations and Administration Practice Question
A change request to update a firewall rule has been submitted. After impact assessment, the change is approved by the Change Advisory Board (CAB). What is the NEXT step in the change management process?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse the order of steps, thinking CAB approval immediately leads to production implementation, but the correct sequence requires testing in a staging environment first to validate the change.
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
✓
Test the change in a staging environment
After CAB approval, the next step is to test the change in a staging environment that mirrors production. This validates the firewall rule change does not introduce security gaps or performance issues before deployment. Testing in staging ensures the rule syntax, order, and interaction with existing rules are correct, preventing unintended access or denial of service.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Perform post-implementation review
Why it's wrong here
Post-implementation review occurs after the change is implemented.
- ✗
Develop a rollback plan
Why it's wrong here
A rollback plan should be developed before implementation, but testing comes after approval.
- ✗
Implement the change in production
Why it's wrong here
Implementation comes after testing to ensure the change is safe.
- ✓
Test the change in a staging environment
Why this is correct
Testing in a non-production environment helps identify issues before deployment.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SSCP 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 SSCP exam.