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CISA - Sample Exam PDF
CISA - Sample Exam PDF
1. During an IS audit of the disaster recovery plan (DRP) of a global enterprise, the auditor
observes that some remote offices have very limited local IT resources. Which of the
following observations would be the MOST critical for the IS auditor?
A. A test has not been made to ensure that local resources could maintain security and
service standards when recovering from a disaster or incident.
B. The corporate business continuity plan (BCP) does not accurately document the
systems that exist at remote offices.
C. Corporate security measures have not been incorporated into the test plan.
D. A test has not been made to ensure that tape backups from the remote offices are
usable.
2. Which of the following ways is the BEST for an IS auditor to verify that critical production
servers are running the latest security updates released by the vendor?
A. Create an IT risk management department and establish an IT risk framework with the
aid of external risk management experts.
B. Use common industry standard aids to divide the existing risk documentation into
several individual types of risk which will be easier to handle.
C. No recommendation is necessary because the current approach is appropriate for a
medium-sized organization.
D. Establish regular IT risk management meetings to identify and assess risk, and create a
mitigation plan as input to the organizations risk management.
4. The PRIMARY purpose of installing data leak prevention (DLP) software is to control which
of the following choices?
6. An internal IS audit function is planning a general IS audit. Which of the following activities
takes place during the FIRST step of the planning phase?
7. What would be the MOST effective control for enforcing accountability among database
users accessing sensitive information?
8. When auditing the IT governance framework and IT risk management practices that exist
within an organization, the IS auditor identified some undefined responsibilities regarding IT
management and governance roles. Which of the following recommendations is the MOST
appropriate?
9. The internal IS audit team is auditing controls over sales returns and is concerned about
fraud. Which of the following sampling methods would BEST assist the IS auditors?
A. Stop-or-go
B. Classical variable
C. Discovery
D. Probability-proportional-to-size
11. Which of the following is the MOST important skill an IS auditor should develop to
understand the constraints of conducting an audit?
A. Contingency planning
B. IS management resource allocation
C. Project management
D. Knowledge of internal controls
12. With the help of a security officer, granting access to data is the responsibility of:
A. data owners.
B. programmers.
C. system analysts.
D. librarians.
13. During a human resources (HR) audit, an IS auditor is informed that there is a verbal
agreement between the IT and HR departments as to the level of IT services expected. In
this situation, what should the IS auditor do FIRST?
14. Which of the following is the BEST indicator of the effectiveness of backup and restore
procedures while restoring data after a disaster?
A. Attribute sampling
B. Computer-assisted audit techniques (CAATs)
C. Compliance testing
D. Integrated test facility (ITF)
16. An IS auditor is reviewing security controls for a critical web-based system prior to
implementation. The results of the penetration test are inconclusive, and the results will not
be finalized prior to implementation. Which of the following is the BEST option for the IS
auditor?
A. Publish a report based on the available information, highlighting the potential security
weaknesses and the requirement for follow-up audit testing.
B. Publish a report omitting the areas where the evidence obtained from testing was
inconclusive.
C. Request a delay of the implementation date until additional security testing can be
completed and evidence of appropriate controls can be obtained.
D. Inform management that audit work cannot be completed prior to implementation and
recommend that the audit be postponed.
17. During an audit of a small enterprise, the IS auditor noted that the IS director has superuser-
privilege access that allows the director to process requests for changes to the application
access roles (access types). Which of the following should the IS auditor recommend?
19. Neural networks are effective in detecting fraud because they can:
A. Piggybacking
B. Dumpster diving
C. Shoulder surfing
D. Impersonation
21. An IS auditor is determining the appropriate sample size for testing the existence of program
change approvals. Previous audits did not indicate any exceptions, and management has
confirmed that no exceptions have been reported for the review period. In this context, the
IS auditor can adopt a:
22. Which of the following environmental controls is appropriate to protect computer equipment
against short-term reductions in electrical power?
23. Which of the following is the MOST important IS audit consideration when an organization
outsources a customer credit review system to a third-party service provider? The provider:
24. What is the BEST approach to mitigate the risk of a phishing attack?
26. During a review of a business continuity plan, an IS auditor noticed that the point at which a
situation is declared to be a crisis has not been defined. The MAJOR risk associated with
this is that:
A. Project sponsor
B. System development project team (SDPT)
C. Project steering committee
D. User project team (UPT)
28. An IS auditor discovers that uniform resource locators (URLs) for online control self-
assessment questionnaires are sent using URL shortening services. The use of URL
shortening services would MOST likely increase the risk of which of the following attacks?
29. Which of the following is the GREATEST risk of an organization using reciprocal
agreements for disaster recovery between two business units?
31. Which of the following is the MAIN reason an organization should have an incident response
plan? The plan helps to:
32. An IS auditor is reviewing the physical security measures of an organization. Regarding the
access card system, the IS auditor should be MOST concerned that:
A. nonpersonalized access cards are given to the cleaning staff, who use a sign-in sheet
but show no proof of identity.
B. access cards are not labeled with the organizations name and address to facilitate easy
return of a lost card.
C. card issuance and rights administration for the cards are done by different departments,
causing unnecessary lead time for new cards.
D. the computer system used for programming the cards can only be replaced after three
weeks in the event of a system failure.
33. An organization is replacing a payroll program that it developed in-house, with the relevant
subsystem of a commercial enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Which of the
following would represent the HIGHEST potential risk?
34. Which of the following is the BEST factor for determining the required extent of data
collection during the planning phase of an IS compliance audit?
37. During a postimplementation review, which of the following activities should be performed?
38. Normally, it would be essential to involve which of the following stakeholders in the initiation
stage of a project?
A. System owners
B. System users
C. System designers
D. System builders
39. When reviewing an active project, an IS auditor observed that the business case was no
longer valid because of a reduction in anticipated benefits and increased costs. The IS
auditor should recommend that the:
A. project be discontinued.
B. business case be updated and possible corrective actions be identified.
C. project be returned to the project sponsor for reapproval.
D. project be completed and the business case be updated later.
40. When auditing the archiving of the companys email communications, the IS auditor should
pay the MOST attention to:
A. An impact
B. A vulnerability
C. An asset
D. A threat
43. Which of the following choices is the PRIMARY benefit of requiring a steering committee to
oversee IT investment?
44. Which of the following issues should be the GREATEST concern to the IS auditor when
reviewing an IT disaster recovery test?
A. Due to the limited test time window, only the most essential systems were tested. The
other systems were tested separately during the rest of the year.
B. During the test, some of the backup systems were defective or not working, causing the
test of these systems to fail.
C. The procedures to shut down and secure the original production site before starting the
backup site required far more time than planned.
D. Every year, the same employees perform the test. The recovery plan documents are not
used because every step is well known by all participants.
45. The information security policy that states each individual must have his/her badge read at
every controlled door addresses which of the following attack methods?
A. Piggybacking
B. Shoulder surfing
C. Dumpster diving
D. Impersonation
A. Hard disks are overwritten several times at the sector level but are not reformatted
before leaving the organization.
B. All files and folders on hard disks are separately deleted, and the hard disks are
formatted before leaving the organization.
C. Hard disks are rendered unreadable by hole-punching through the platters at specific
positions before leaving the organization.
D. The transport of hard disks is escorted by internal security staff to a nearby metal
recycling company, where the hard disks are registered and then shredded.
47. Which of the following would be the BEST approach to ensure that sufficient test coverage
will be achieved for a project with a strict end date and a fixed time to perform testing?
48. An IS auditor is reviewing the software development process for an organization. Which of
the following functions would be appropriate for the end users to perform?
49. When protecting an organizations IT systems, which of the following is normally the next
line of defense after the network firewall has been compromised?
A. Personal firewall
B. Antivirus programs
C. Intrusion detection system (IDS)
D. Virtual local area network (VLAN) configuration
50. Which of the following groups is the BEST source of information for determining the
criticality of application systems as part of a business impact analysis (BIA)?
A. Malware on servers
B. Firewall misconfiguration
C. Increased spam received by the email server
D. Unauthorized network activities
52. The effect of which of the following should have priority in planning the scope and objectives
of an IS audit?
53. From a risk management point of view, the BEST approach when implementing a large and
complex IT infrastructure is:
55. After the merger of two organizations, multiple self-developed legacy applications from both
organizations are to be replaced by a new common platform. Which of the following would
be the GREATEST risk?
57. Which of the following would MOST effectively enhance the security of a challenge-
response based authentication system?
58. The PRIMARY objective of the audit initiation meeting with an IS audit client is to:
A. is configured with an implicit deny rule as the last rule in the rule base.
B. is installed on an operating system with default settings.
C. has been configured with rules permitting or denying access to systems or networks.
D. is configured as a virtual private network (VPN) endpoint.
60. An IS auditor observed that users are occasionally granted the authority to change system
data. This elevated system access is not consistent with company policy yet is required for
smooth functioning of business operations. Which of the following controls would the IS
auditor MOST likely recommend for long-term resolution?
61. Which of the following can be used to help ensure confidentiality of transmitted data?
Encrypting the:
A. Executive management
B. IT management
C. Board of directors
D. Steering committee
63. To ensure that audit resources deliver the best value to the organization, the FIRST step
would be to:
A. schedule the audits and monitor the time spent on each audit.
B. train the IS audit staff on current technology used in the company.
C. develop the audit plan on the basis of a detailed risk assessment.
D. monitor progress of audits and initiate cost control measures.
64. When conducting an IT security risk assessment, the IS auditor asked the IT security officer
to participate in a risk identification workshop with users and business unit representatives.
What is the MOST important recommendation that the IS auditor should make to obtain
successful results and avoid future conflicts?
A. Ensure that the IT security risk assessment has a clearly defined scope.
B. Require the IT security officer to approve each risk rating during the workshop.
C. Suggest that the IT security officer accept the business unit risk and rating.
D. Select only commonly accepted risk with the highest submitted rating.
65. The computer security incident response team (CSIRT) of an organization disseminates
detailed descriptions of recent threats. An IS auditors GREATEST concern should be that
the users may:
68. When an organizations disaster recovery plan (DRP) has a reciprocal agreement, which of
the following risk treatment approaches is being applied?
A. Transfer
B. Mitigation
C. Avoidance
D. Acceptance
69. Which of the following issues should be a MAJOR concern to an IS auditor who is reviewing
a service level agreement (SLA)?
70. An IS auditor should ensure that review of online electronic funds transfer (EFT)
reconciliation procedures should include:
A. vouching.
B. authorizations.
C. corrections.
D. tracing.
71. Which of the following would BEST help to prioritize project activities and determine the time
line for a project?
A. A Gantt chart
B. Earned value analysis (EVA)
C. Program evaluation review technique (PERT)
D. Function point analysis (FPA)
72. Who should review and approve system deliverables as they are defined and accomplished
to ensure the successful completion and implementation of a new business system
application?
A. User management
B. Project steering committee
C. Senior management
D. Quality assurance staff
74. Due to resource constraints of the IS audit team, the audit plan as originally approved
cannot be completed. Assuming that the situation is communicated in the audit report, which
course of action is MOST acceptable?
75. A legacy payroll application is migrated to a new application. Which of the following
stakeholders should be PRIMARILY responsible for reviewing and signing-off on the
accuracy and completeness of the data before going live?
A. IS auditor
B. Database administrator
C. Project manager
D. Data owner