Due to technical and operational constraints, the preferred control to lower the risks identified is to outsource part of IT operations to an external vendor. What type of risk treatment is applied here?
Answer : C
Outsourcing IT operations to an external vendor is a form of risk transfer (C), where the responsibility for managing certain risks (e.g., operational or technical risks) is shifted to the vendor. According to ISO 31000, risk treatment strategies include transferring risk to a third party, often through contracts or outsourcing agreements, where the vendor assumes responsibility for mitigating specific risks.
Sharing (A): Involves distributing risk among multiple parties, not fully transferring it to one.
Retention (B): Means accepting the risk without mitigation, not applicable here.
Modification (D): Refers to changing processes or controls to reduce risk, not outsourcing.
Senior management is concerned fraudulent activities may take place during large financial transactions. To reduce the risk of fraud, it expects the proper controls to be in place. Which security principle is in need of the highest attention?
Answer : C
To reduce the risk of fraud in large financial transactions, the security principle of integrity (C) requires the highest attention. Integrity, as per ISO/IEC 27001's CIA triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability), ensures that data is accurate, complete, and unaltered. Fraud often involves manipulating transaction data, so controls like data validation, checksums, or audit trails are critical to maintain integrity and prevent unauthorized changes.
Confidentiality (A): Protects data from unauthorized access, less directly related to fraud prevention.
Availability (B): Ensures system access, not the primary concern for fraud.
Reliability (D): Not a standard CIA triad principle; may relate to system performance but not fraud.
A new system (application) is developed for the marketing department. Stakeholders have demanded an independent white box test to take place. What are the stakeholders' biggest concern?
Answer : C
A white box test involves testing the internal structure and code of an application, requiring access to its source code. The stakeholders' demand for an independent white box test indicates their primary concern is the quality of the source code (C). This type of testing, conducted by an independent party, ensures the code is well-structured, secure, and free of defects that could lead to vulnerabilities or inefficiencies.
Capacity (A): Refers to the system's ability to handle load, typically tested via performance or stress testing, not white box testing.
Performance (B): Focuses on speed and responsiveness, evaluated through performance testing, not white box testing.
Functionality (D): Is tested via black box testing, which focuses on inputs and outputs without examining the code.
White box testing is a technical process often aligned with SDLC quality assurance practices, ensuring code reliability and maintainability, which is critical for stakeholders concerned about long-term system integrity.
In vendor selection, what is the most important reason for a reference check?
Answer : A
The most important reason for a reference check in vendor selection is to independently verify and validate a vendor's claim (A). Reference checks involve contacting the vendor's previous or current clients to confirm claims about performance, reliability, and service quality, ensuring the vendor can meet contractual obligations. This aligns with vendor management best practices to mitigate risks by validating vendor credibility.
Verify products by other customers (B): Too narrow; reference checks focus on overall performance, not just products.
Obtain financial information (C): Financial data is obtained through financial due diligence, not reference checks.
Identify customers not mentioned (D): Not a primary goal; the focus is on validating provided references.
Your organization considers a job rotation program. What is the main objective?
Answer : A
The main objective of a job rotation program in an IT organization is to support the long-term continuity of the organization (A). Job rotation ensures that multiple staff members are trained across various roles and tasks, reducing dependency on specific individuals and mitigating risks associated with staff turnover or absences. This approach enhances organizational resilience by creating a flexible, cross-trained workforce capable of maintaining operations, aligning with IT organization principles for workforce planning and business continuity.
Train staff on a range of activities (B): While training is a benefit, it is a means to achieve continuity, not the primary objective.
Increase staff job satisfaction (C): Job satisfaction may be a secondary benefit, but it's not the main goal in an IT context.
Allow staff a diversity in responsibilities (D): Diversity in tasks is a byproduct, not the primary focus, which is organizational continuity.
According to human resource management frameworks, job rotation is a strategic tool for ensuring operational stability, particularly in IT environments where specialized skills are critical.
What is the Critical Success Factor (CSF) in IT services review?
Answer : A
A Critical Success Factor (CSF) in IT services review, as per ITIL's service management framework, is to evaluate deliverables before meeting the customer for an IT service review (A). This ensures that the IT service provider has thoroughly assessed service performance, identified issues, and prepared actionable insights or recommendations to discuss with the customer. Pre-evaluating deliverables enables a productive review meeting, ensuring alignment with customer expectations and service level agreements (SLAs).
Suitable location (B): Logistical factors like location are not critical to the success of the review process.
Explain shortcomings and bottlenecks (C): While transparency is important, focusing only on issues without prior evaluation may undermine the review's effectiveness.
Inform customers on improvements (D): Informing about improvements is part of the review but not the CSF; evaluation of deliverables is the foundation for meaningful discussions.
The organization's online retail system popularity has resulted in global demand. To provide customers with a 24x7 option for support in regard to returning products, a virtual assistant is designed providing simple instructions based on pre-defined questions which are commonly asked by customers. Which type of Machine Learning (ML) is applied?
Answer : B
The scenario describes a virtual assistant designed to provide simple instructions for product returns based on pre-defined questions commonly asked by customers. This indicates the use of supervised machine learning (B), where the system is trained on a labeled dataset (e.g., questions paired with correct responses) to predict appropriate answers. Supervised learning is ideal for applications like chatbots or virtual assistants that rely on predefined input-output pairs to handle customer queries efficiently.
Unsupervised (A): Involves finding patterns in unlabeled data (e.g., clustering), not suitable for predefined question-response tasks.
Reinforcement learning (C): Focuses on learning through trial and error with rewards, used in dynamic environments (e.g., robotics), not for static question answering.
Deep learning (D): A subset of supervised or unsupervised learning using neural networks, but the question doesn't specify complex architectures, making supervised learning the broader, correct choice.
Supervised learning aligns with IT strategy for deploying AI-driven customer support tools, as it ensures accurate, predictable responses based on trained data, enhancing user experience in a global retail system.