Isaca Updated CISA Exam Questions and Answers by mikayla

 The primary factor to determine system criticality is the maximum allowable downtime (MAD), which is the maximum period of time that a system can be unavailable before causing significant damage or risk to the organization. TheMAD reflects the business impact and the recovery requirements of the system, and it can be used to prioritize the systems and allocate the resources for disaster recovery planning. The other options are not as important as the MAD, and they may vary depending on the system characteristics and the recovery strategy. The recovery point objective (RPO) is the maximum amount of data loss that is acceptable for a system. The mean time to restore (MTTR) is the average time required to restore a system after a failure. The key performance indicators (KPIs) are metrics that measure the performance and effectiveness of a system. References: CISA Review Manual (Digital Version) 1, page 468-469.

QUESTIO NO. 704

Which of the following would provide the BEST evidence that a cloud provider ' s change management process is effective?

A. Minutes from regular change management meetings with the vendor

B. Written assurances from the vendor ' s CEO and CIO

C. The results of a third-party review provided by the vendor

D. A copy of change management policies provided by the vendor

Answer: C

The results of a third-party review provided by the vendor would provide the best evidence that a cloud provider’s change management process is effective, because it would be an independent and objective assessment of the vendor’s compliance with best practices and standards for managing changes in the cloud environment. A third-party review would also include testing of the vendor’s change management controls and procedures, and provide recommendations for improvement if needed.

Minutes from regular change management meetings with the vendor would not provide sufficient evidence, because they would only reflect the vendor’s self-reported information and may not capture all the changes that occurred or their impact on the cloud services. Written assurances from the vendor’s CEO and CIO would also not provide sufficient evidence, because they would be based on the vendor’s own opinion and may not be verified by external sources. A copy of change management policies provided by the vendor would not provide sufficient evidence, because it would only show the vendor’s intended approach to change management, but not how it is implemented or monitored in practice.

 The most important thing to determine when conducting a post-implementation review is whether success criteria have been achieved. A post-implementation review is a process of evaluating the results and outcomes of a project or initiative after it has been completed and implemented. The success criteria are the measurable indicators that define what constitutes a successful project or initiative in terms of its objectives, benefits, quality, performance, and stakeholder satisfaction. The IS auditor should verify whether the success criteria have been achieved by comparing the actual results and outcomes with the expected or planned ones, and by assessing whether they meet or exceed the expectations and requirements of the stakeholders. The IS auditor should also identify any gaps, issues, or risks that may affect the sustainability or scalability of the project or initiative, and provide recommendations for improvement or remediation. The other options are not as important as determining whether success criteria have been achieved when conducting a post-implementation review, because they either focus on specific aspects or components of the project or initiative rather than theoverall value proposition, or they are part of the pre-implementation or implementation phases rather than the post-implementation phase. References: CISA Review Manual (Digital Version)1, Chapter 4, Section 4.2.3

The auditor’s next action after finding that there is an informal unwritten set of standards in the IS department is to document and test compliance with the informal standards. This is because the auditor’s role is to evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of the existing controls, regardless of whether they are formal or informal, written or unwritten. The auditor should also assess the risks and implications of having informal standards, such as lack of consistency, accountability, or traceability. The auditor should not make recommendations, postpone the audit, or finalize the audit without performing the audit procedures. References:

CISA Review Manual (Digital Version), Chapter 2, Section 2.21

CISA Online Review Course, Domain 1, Module 1, Lesson 12

Data caching is the most likely cause of poor performance, data inconsistency and integrity issues in an IT application, because it involves storing frequently accessed data in a temporary memory location (cache) to reduce the latency and bandwidth consumption of retrieving data from the original source. However, data caching can also introduce problems such as stale data (when the cache is not updated with changes made to the original source), cache coherence (when multiple caches store copies of the same data and need to be synchronized), and cache corruption (when the cache is damaged or tampered with).

Database clustering is not a likely cause of poor performance, data inconsistency and integrity issues, because it involves distributing data across multiple servers or nodes to improve availability, scalability and load balancing of database operations. Database clustering can also enhance data consistency and integrity by using replication and synchronization mechanisms to ensure that all nodes have the same view of the data.

Reindexing of the database table is not a likely cause of poor performance, data inconsistency and integrity issues, because it involves rebuilding or reorganizing indexes on tables or views to improve query performance and reduce fragmentation of index pages. Reindexing can also improve data consistency and integrity by ensuring that indexes reflect the current state of the data in the tables or views.

Load balancing is not a likely cause of poor performance, data inconsistency and integrity issues, because it involves distributing workloads across multiple servers or resources to optimize resource utilization, throughput and response time of applications. Load balancing can also enhance data consistency and integrity by using algorithms and protocols to route requests to the most appropriate server or resource based on availability, capacity and performance.