What assesses potential loss that could be caused by a disaster? A. The Business Assessment (BA) B. The Business Impact Analysis (BIA) C. The Risk Assessment (RA) D. The Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
The Business Assessment is divided into two components. Risk Assessment (RA) and Business Impact Analysis (BIA). Risk Assessment is designed to evaluate existing exposures from the organization’s environment, whereas the BIA assesses potential loss that could be caused by a disaster. The Business Continuity Plan’s goal is to reduce the risk of financial loss by improving the ability to recover and restore operations efficiently and effectively.
Source: BARNES, James C. & ROTHSTEIN, Philip J., A Guide to Business Continuity Planning, John Wiley & Sons, 2001 (page 57). And: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Chapter 8: Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Planning (page 276).
Which of the following server contingency solutions offers the highest availability? A. System backups B. Electronic vaulting/remote journaling C. Redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID) D. Load balancing/disk replication
Correct Answer: D
Explanation:
Of the offered technologies, load balancing/disk replication offers the highest availability, measured in terms of minutes of lost data or server downtime. A Network-Attached Storage (NAS) or a Storage Area Network (SAN) solution combined with virtualization would offer an even higher availability.
Source: SWANSON, Marianne, & al., National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NIST Special Publication 800-34, Contingency Planning Guide for Information Technology Systems, December 2001 (page 49).
Which of the following is less likely to accompany a contingency plan, either within the plan itself or in the form of an appendix? A. Contact information for all personnel. B. Vendor contact information, including offsite storage and alternate site. C. Equipment and system requirements lists of the hardware, software, firmware and other resources required to support system operations. D. The Business Impact Analysis.
Correct Answer: A
Explanation:
Why is this the correct answer? Simply because it is WRONG, you would have contact information for your emergency personnel within the plan but NOT for ALL of your personnel. Be careful of words such as ALL. According to NIST’s Special publication 800-34, contingency plan appendices provide key details not contained in the main body of the plan. The appendices should reflect the specific technical, operational, and management contingency requirements of the given system. Contact information for recovery team personnel (not all personnel) and for vendor should be included, as well as detailed system requirements to allow for supporting of system operations. The Business Impact Analysis (BIA) should also be included as an appendix for reference should the plan be activated.
Reference(s) used for this question: SWANSON, Marianne, & al., National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NIST Special Publication 800-34, Contingency Planning Guide for Information Technology Systems
Which of the following statements pertaining to the maintenance of an IT contingency plan is incorrect? A. The plan should be reviewed at least once a year for accuracy and completeness. B. The Contingency Planning Coordinator should make sure that every employee gets an up-to-date copy of the plan. C. Strict version control should be maintained. D. Copies of the plan should be provided to recovery personnel for storage offline at home and office.
Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
Because the contingency plan contains potentially sensitive operational and personnel information, its distribution should be marked accordingly and controlled. Not all employees would obtain a copy, but only those involved in the execution of the plan. All other statements are correct.
NOTE FROM CLEMENT: I have received multiple emails stating the explanations contradict the correct answer. It seems many people have a hard time with negative question. In this case the Incorrect choice (the one that is not true) is the correct choice. Be very carefull of such questions, you will get some on the real exam as well.
Reference(s) used for this question: SWANSON, Marianne, & al., National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NIST Special Publication 800-34, Contingency Planning Guide for Information Technology Systems
Which of the following teams should NOT be included in an organization's contingency plan? A. Damage assessment team B. Hardware salvage team C. Tiger team D. Legal affairs team
Correct Answer: C
Explanation:
According to NIST’s Special publication 800-34, a capable recovery strategy will require some or all of the following functional groups: Senior management official, management team, damage assessment team, operating system administration team, systems software team, server recovery team, LAN/WAN recovery team, database recovery team, network operations recovery team, telecommunications team, hardware salvage team, alternate site recovery coordination team, original site restoration/salvage coordination team, test team, administrative support team, transportation and relocation team, media relations team, legal affairs team, physical/personal security team, procurements team. Ideally, these teams would be staffed with the personnel responsible for the same or similar operation under normal conditions. A tiger team, originally a U.S. military jargon term, defines a team (of sneakers) whose purpose is to penetrate security, and thus test security measures. Used today for teams performing ethical hacking.
Source: SWANSON, Marianne, & al., National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NIST Special Publication 800-34, Contingency Planning Guide for Information Technology Systems, December 2001 (page 23).
In which of the following phases of system development life cycle (SDLC) is contingency planning most important? A. Initiation B. Development/acquisition C. Implementation D. Operation/maintenance
Correct Answer: A
Explanation:
Contingency planning requirements should be considered at every phase of SDLC, but most importantly when a new IT system is being conceived. In the initiation phase, system requirements are identified and matched to their related operational processes, allowing determination of the system’s appropriate recovery priority.
Source: SWANSON, Marianne, & al., National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NIST Special Publication 800-34, Contingency Planning Guide for Information Technology Systems, December 2001 (page 12).
and The Official ISC2 Guide to the CBK, Second Edition, Application Security, page 180-185
Which of the following specifically addresses cyber attacks against an organization's IT systems? A. Continuity of support plan B. Business continuity plan C. Incident response plan D. Continuity of operations plan
Correct Answer: C
Explanation:
The incident response plan focuses on information security responses to incidents affecting systems and/or networks. It establishes procedures to address cyber attacks against an organization’s IT systems. These procedures are designed to enable security personnel to identify, mitigate, and recover from malicious computer incidents, such as unauthorized access to a system or data, denial of service, or unauthorized changes to system hardware or software. The continuity of support plan is the same as an IT contingency plan. It addresses IT system disruptions and establishes procedures for recovering a major application or general support system. It is not business process focused. The business continuity plan addresses business processes and provides procedures for sustaining essential business operations while recovering from a significant disruption. The continuity of operations plan addresses the subset of an organization’s missions that are deemed most critical and procedures to sustain these functions at an alternate site for up to 30 days.
Source: SWANSON, Marianne, & al., National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NIST Special Publication 800-34, Contingency Planning Guide for Information Technology Systems, December 2001 (page 8).
Which of the following focuses on sustaining an organization's business functions during and after a disruption? A. Business continuity plan B. Business recovery plan C. Continuity of operations plan D. Disaster recovery plan
Correct Answer: A
Explanation:
A business continuity plan (BCP) focuses on sustaining an organization’s business functions during and after a disruption. Information systems are considered in the BCP only in terms of their support to the larger business processes. The business recovery plan (BRP) addresses the restoration of business processes after an emergency. The BRP is similar to the BCP, but it typically lacks procedures to ensure continuity of critical processes throughout an emergency or disruption. The continuity of operations plan (COOP) focuses on restoring an organization’s essential functions at an alternate site and performing those functions for up to 30 days before returning to normal operations. The disaster recovery plan (DRP) applies to major, usually catastrophic events that deny access to the normal facility for an extended period. A DRP is narrower in scope than an IT contingency plan in that it does not address minor disruptions that do not require relocation.
Source: SWANSON, Marianne, & al., National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NIST Special Publication 800-34, Contingency Planning Guide for Information Technology Systems, December 2001 (page 8).
A contingency plan should address: A. Potential risks. B. Residual risks. C. Identified risks. D. All answers are correct.
Correct Answer: D
Explanation:
Because it is rarely possible or cost effective to eliminate all risks, an attempt is made to reduce risks to an acceptable level through the risk assessment process. This process allows, from a set of potential risks (whether likely or not), to come up with a set of identified, possible risks.
The implementation of security controls allows reducing the identified risks to a smaller set of residual risks. Because these residual risks represent the complete set of situations that could affect system performance, the scope of the contingency plan may be reduced to address only this decreased risk set.
As a result, the contingency plan can be narrowly focused, conserving resources while ensuring an effective system recovery capability. Source: SWANSON, Marianne, & al., National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NIST Special Publication 800-34, Contingency Planning Guide for Information Technology Systems, December 2001 (page 7).
Which of the following enables the person responsible for contingency planning to focus risk management efforts and resources in a prioritized manner only on the identified risks? A. Risk assessment B. Residual risks C. Security controls D. Business units
Correct Answer: A
Explanation:
The risk assessment is critical because it enables the person responsible for contingency planning to focus risk management efforts and resources in a prioritized manner only on the identified risks. The risk management process includes the risk assessment and determination of suitable technical, management, and operational security controls based on the level of threat the risk imposes. Business units should be included in this process. Source: SWANSON, Marianne, & al., National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NIST Special Publication 800-34, Contingency Planning Guide for Information Technology Systems, December 2001 (page 7).
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