Isaca CISA Practice Test - Questions Answers, Page 105

The best recommendation to address the problem of missing IT deadlines on important projects because IT resources are not prioritized properly is to implement project portfolio management (PPM). PPM is the process of analyzing and optimizing the costs, resources, technologies, and processes for all the projects and programs within a portfolio. A portfolio is a collection of projects, programs, and processes that are managed together and aligned with the strategic goals and objectives of the organization. PPM can help the organization to:

Prioritize the most valuable and relevant projects and programs based on their alignment with the organizational strategy, vision, and mission.

Balance the portfolio to ensure that the projects and programs are diversified, feasible, and sustainable, and that they meet the needs and expectations of the stakeholders.

Optimize the allocation, utilization, and coordination of IT resources across the portfolio, such as staff, budget, time, equipment, and software.

Monitor and control the performance and progress of the projects and programs within the portfolio, and evaluate their outcomes and benefits.

By implementing PPM, the organization can improve its IT project delivery and avoid missing deadlines. PPM can also help the organization to increase its efficiency, effectiveness, quality, and value. For more information about PPM, you can refer to the following web search results:

Project Portfolio Management (PPM): The Ultimate Guide - ProjectManager1

A Complete Overview of Project Portfolio Management - Smartsheet2

PPM 101: What Is Project Portfolio Management?3

A data warehouse is a centralized repository of data that is collected from various sources and organized for analysis and reporting purposes. A data warehouse can help an organization gain insights into its business performance, trends, and opportunities. However, building a data warehouse requires careful planning, design, and implementation to ensure that it meets the needs of the organization.

One of the best practices that would provide management with the most reasonable assurance that a new data warehouse will meet the needs of the organization is A. Integrating data requirements into the system development life cycle (SDLC).The SDLC is a framework that defines the phases and activities involved in developing a software system, such as planning, analysis, design, testing, deployment, and maintenance1. By integrating data requirements into the SDLC, an organization can ensure that the data warehouse is aligned with the business objectives and expectations, and that it delivers value to the end users.

Some of the benefits of integrating data requirements into the SDLC are:

It helps to identify and prioritize the key business questions and metrics that the data warehouse should support2.

It helps to define and validate the data sources, models, structures, and quality standards that the data warehouse should follow3.

It helps to design and implement the data integration, transformation, and loading processes that the data warehouse should use4.

It helps to test and verify the functionality, performance, and accuracy of the data warehouse before deploying it to production.

It helps to monitor and maintain the data warehouse after deployment and incorporate feedback and changes as needed.

Audit planning is the process of developing an overall strategy and approach for conducting an audit. Audit planning involves identifying the objectives, scope, criteria, and methodology of the audit, as well as the resources, schedule, and reporting requirements.Audit planning also involves performing a risk assessment to identify and prioritize the areas of highest risk and significance for the audit1.

Risk assessment is a systematic process of evaluating the potential risks that may be involved in a projected activity or undertaking.Risk assessment involves identifying the sources and causes of risk, analyzing the likelihood and impact of risk, and determining the level of risk and the appropriate response2.

During audit planning, the IS audit manager is considering whether to budget for audits of entities regarded by the business as having low risk. The best course of action in this situation is C. Validate the low-risk entity ratings and apply professional judgment.

This is because validating the low-risk entity ratings can help to ensure that the risk assessment is accurate, reliable, and consistent with the business objectives and expectations. Validating the low-risk entity ratings can also help to identify any changes or developments that may affect the risk profile of the entities since the last assessment.Applying professional judgment can help to determine whether the low-risk entities should be included or excluded from the audit plan, based on factors such as materiality, relevance, significance, and assurance needs3.

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a document that outlines how an organization will continue its critical functions in the event of a disruption or disaster.A BCP should include the following elements1:

Business impact analysis: This is the process of identifying and prioritizing the key business processes and assets that are essential for the organization's survival and recovery.

Risk assessment: This is the process of identifying and evaluating the potential threats and vulnerabilities that could affect the organization's business continuity.

Recovery strategies: These are the actions and procedures that the organization will implement to restore its normal operations as quickly and effectively as possible after a disruption or disaster.

Recovery objectives: These are the metrics that define the acceptable level of recovery for the organization's business processes and assets. The two main recovery objectives are:

Recovery point objective (RPO): This is the maximum amount of data loss that the organization can tolerate in terms of time. For example, an RPO of one hour means that the organization can afford to lose up to one hour's worth of data after a disruption or disaster.

Recovery time objective (RTO): This is the maximum amount of time that the organization can tolerate to restore its normal operations after a disruption or disaster. For example, an RTO of four hours means that the organization must resume its normal operations within four hours after a disruption or disaster.

Testing and validation: This is the process of verifying and evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of the BCP and its components. Testing and validation can include various methods, such as:

Tabletop exercises: These are discussion-based sessions where team members meet in an informal setting to review and discuss their roles and responsibilities during a disruption or disaster scenario.A facilitator guides participants through a discussion of one or more scenarios2.

Simulation exercises: These are more realistic and interactive sessions where team members perform their roles and responsibilities during a simulated disruption or disaster scenario.A facilitator controls and monitors the simulation and injects events and challenges3.

Full-scale exercises: These are the most complex and realistic sessions where team members perform their roles and responsibilities during a real-life disruption or disaster scenario.A facilitator coordinates and evaluates the exercise with external stakeholders, such as emergency services, media, or customers4.

As an IS auditor, your greatest concern when reviewing the organization's BCP would be A. The recovery plan does not contain the process and application dependencies.

According to the ISACA CISA documentation, one of the requirements for internal audit quality assurance (QA) and continuous improvement processes is to have an external assessment at least once every five years by a qualified, independent reviewer or review team from outside the organization1.This is to ensure that the internal audit activity conforms to the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (the Standards) and the Code of Ethics, and to identify opportunities for improvement2. Therefore, the lack of periodic engagement with external assessors would present the greatest concern during a review of internal audit QA and continuous improvement processes.

Hashing is a technique that transforms data into a fixed-length value, called a hash or a digest, that uniquely represents the original data. Hashing can be used to validate the integrity of data communicated between production databases and a big data analytics system by comparing the hash values of the data before and after the communication. If the hash values match, the data has not been altered; if they differ, the data has been tampered with or corrupted. Hashing is a better security control than encrypting, running and comparing the count function, or hosting a digital certificate for this purpose because:

Encrypting in-scope data sets can protect the confidentiality of the data, but not necessarily the integrity. Encryption algorithms can be broken or bypassed by malicious actors, or encryption keys can be compromised or lost. Moreover, encryption adds overhead to the communication process and may affect the performance of the big data analytics system.

Running and comparing the count function within the in-scope data sets can only verify the number of records or elements in the data sets, but not the content or quality of the data. The count function cannot detect any changes or errors in the data values, such as missing, duplicated, corrupted, or manipulated data.

Hosting a digital certificate for in-scope data sets can provide authentication and non-repudiation for the data sources, but not integrity for the data itself. A digital certificate is a document that contains information about the identity and public key of an entity, such as a person, organization, or device. A digital certificate does not contain or verify the actual data that is communicated between production databases and a big data analytics system.

Ensuring Data Integrity with Hash Codes

Database Security: An Essential Guide

Control methods of Database Security

The organization's software inventory is not complete. This finding would be of greatest concern to an IS auditor assessing an organization's patch management process because:

A software inventory is a list of all the software assets that an organization owns, uses, or manages. A software inventory is essential for effective patch management, as it helps identify the software that needs to be updated, the patches that are available, and the dependencies and compatibility issues that may arise. Without a complete software inventory, an organization may miss some critical patches, expose itself to security risks, and waste resources on unnecessary or redundant patches.

Applications frequently need to be rebooted for patches to take effect. This finding would be of moderate concern to an IS auditor assessing an organization's patch management process because:

Rebooting applications for patches to take effect is a common and expected practice in some cases, especially for operating system or kernel patches. However, frequent reboots may indicate that the organization is not applying patches in a timely or efficient manner, or that the patches are not well-designed or tested. Frequent reboots may also cause disruption to the business operations and user experience, and increase the risk of data loss or corruption.

Software vendors are bundling patches. This finding would be of low concern to an IS auditor assessing an organization's patch management process because:

Bundling patches is a practice where software vendors combine multiple patches into a single package or update. Bundling patches can have some advantages, such as reducing the number of downloads and installations, simplifying the patch management process, and ensuring consistency and compatibility among patches. However, bundling patches can also have some disadvantages, such as increasing the size and complexity of the updates, delaying the delivery of critical patches, and introducing new bugs or vulnerabilities.

Testing patches takes significant time. This finding would be of low concern to an IS auditor assessing an organization's patch management process because:

Testing patches is a vital step in the patch management process, as it helps ensure that the patches are functional, secure, and compatible with the existing software and hardware environment. Testing patches can take significant time, depending on the scope, complexity, and frequency of the patches. However, testing patches is a necessary investment to avoid potential problems or failures that could result from applying untested or faulty patches.

Best practices for patch management

Server Patch Management: Best Practices and Tools

11 Key Steps of the Patch Management Process

Data migration is the process of moving data from one system to another, which may involve changes in storage, database, or application. To perform a successful data migration, it is essential to understand the data structure of the new system, which defines how the data is organized, stored, and accessed. Understanding the new system's data structure will help determine the following aspects of the data migration project:

The scope and requirements of the data migration, such as what data needs to be migrated, how much data needs to be migrated, and what are the quality and performance expectations.

The data mapping and transformation rules, such as how the data elements from the source system correspond to the data elements in the target system, and what transformations or conversions are needed to ensure compatibility and consistency.

The data validation and testing methods, such as how to verify that the migrated data is accurate, complete, and functional in the new system, and how to identify and resolve any errors or issues.

Therefore, understanding the new system's data structure is a crucial first step in a data migration project, as it lays the foundation for the subsequent steps of data extraction, transformation, loading, validation, and testing.

A risk and control framework is a set of principles, processes, and tools that guide an organization in identifying, assessing, managing, and monitoring the risks and controls that affect its objectives and performance.A risk and control framework helps an organization to align its risk appetite and tolerance with its strategy, culture, and values, and to ensure that its security controls are appropriate, effective, and efficient1.

Re-evaluating the organization's risk and control framework is the best recommendation to management because it can help them to:

Review the current risk environment and the sources, causes, and impacts of potential threats and vulnerabilities.

Update the risk assessment and analysis methods and criteria, such as likelihood, impact, severity, and priority.

Reconsider the risk response and treatment options, such as avoidance, reduction, transfer, or acceptance.

Realign the security controls with the risk profile and the business needs and expectations.

Evaluate the performance and effectiveness of the security controls using key indicators and metrics.

Identify the gaps, weaknesses, or inefficiencies in the security controls and implement corrective or improvement actions.

Communicate and report the risk and control status and results to relevant stakeholders.

Re-evaluating the organization's risk and control framework can help management to determine whether the current security controls are excessive or not, and to make informed and rational decisions on how to adjust them accordingly.