SSCP Incident Response and Recovery Practice Question
After a ransomware incident, an organization decides to restore data from backups. The RPO (Recovery Point Objective) is 4 hours. What does this RPO indicate?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse RPO (data loss tolerance) with RTO (downtime tolerance), leading candidates to select options that describe recovery time or downtime instead of backup frequency.
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
✓
Backups must be taken at least every 4 hours to ensure data loss does not exceed 4 hours
The Recovery Point Objective (RPO) defines the maximum acceptable amount of data loss measured in time. An RPO of 4 hours means the organization can tolerate losing up to 4 hours of data, so backups must be taken at least every 4 hours to ensure that in the worst case, no more than 4 hours of data is lost. This directly dictates the backup frequency, not the recovery time or downtime.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Backups must be taken at least every 4 hours to ensure data loss does not exceed 4 hours
Why this is correct
Correct. RPO drives backup frequency to limit data loss.
- ✗
The organization can tolerate 4 hours of downtime
Why it's wrong here
Downtime tolerance is RTO, not RPO.
- ✗
The system must be restored within 4 hours of the incident
Why it's wrong here
That describes RTO, not RPO.
- ✗
The recovery process will take a maximum of 4 hours
Why it's wrong here
That is the RTO (Recovery Time Objective).
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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.