Quick Answer
The answer is determining maximum tolerable downtime (MTD), along with assessing financial and operational impacts and identifying critical business functions. These are key steps in a business impact analysis because the BIA is fundamentally a process to quantify the consequences of losing business operations, not to evaluate threats or select recovery strategies. The MTD defines the absolute deadline for restoring a function before the organization faces unacceptable harm, while impact assessment measures revenue loss, regulatory fines, and reputational damage. On the SSCP exam, this concept tests your ability to distinguish BIA activities from risk assessment or disaster recovery planning—a common trap is confusing BIA steps with threat likelihood analysis or solution selection. Remember that BIA focuses on impact and time sensitivity, not probability or recovery methods. A useful memory tip is BIA = Business Impact and Time: you identify critical functions, measure their financial and operational impact, and then determine the MTD for each.
This SSCP practice question tests your understanding of risk identification, monitoring and analysis. 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 THREE of the following are key steps in performing a business impact analysis (BIA)?
Assigning likelihood ratings to threats
Why wrong: Likelihood is part of risk assessment, not BIA.
Selecting backup and recovery solutions
Why wrong: Recovery selection occurs after BIA.
Assessing the financial and operational impact of disruptions
Impact analysis is central to BIA.
Identifying critical business processes
BIA identifies processes essential to operations.
Determining maximum tolerable downtime (MTD)
MTD is a key output of BIA.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Assessing the financial and operational impact of disruptions
Option C is correct because assessing the financial and operational impact of disruptions is a core step in a business impact analysis (BIA). The BIA focuses on quantifying the consequences of losing business functions, including revenue loss, regulatory fines, and reputational damage, rather than evaluating threat likelihood or selecting recovery solutions.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Assigning likelihood ratings to threats
Why it's wrong here
Likelihood is part of risk assessment, not BIA.
Selecting backup and recovery solutions
Why it's wrong here
Recovery selection occurs after BIA.
Assessing the financial and operational impact of disruptions
Why this is correct
Impact analysis is central to BIA.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Identifying critical business processes
Why this is correct
BIA identifies processes essential to operations.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Determining maximum tolerable downtime (MTD)
Why this is correct
MTD is a key output of BIA.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
ISC2 often tests the distinction between BIA steps (impact-focused) and risk assessment steps (likelihood-focused), so candidates mistakenly include threat likelihood ratings as a BIA step.
Detailed technical explanation
The BIA typically uses metrics such as Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD), Recovery Time Objective (RTO), and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) to quantify impact. For example, a financial trading system might have an MTD of seconds due to high transaction value per second, while a payroll system might tolerate hours. The BIA output directly drives recovery strategy selection, ensuring alignment with business needs.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A developer is choosing between AES-256 (symmetric) and RSA-2048 (asymmetric) for encrypting a large file that will be sent to a partner. Symmetric encryption is fast but requires key exchange; asymmetric is slower but solves the key distribution problem. A hybrid approach — encrypt the file with AES, encrypt the AES key with RSA — is standard. Questions like this test whether you understand when each approach applies.
What to study next
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FAQ
Risk Identification, Monitoring and Analysis — This question tests Risk Identification, Monitoring and Analysis — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Assessing the financial and operational impact of disruptions — Option C is correct because assessing the financial and operational impact of disruptions is a core step in a business impact analysis (BIA). The BIA focuses on quantifying the consequences of losing business functions, including revenue loss, regulatory fines, and reputational damage, rather than evaluating threat likelihood or selecting recovery solutions.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
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.
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