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CISA—Certified Information Systems Auditor - Part 321

Mary Smith

Thu, 16 Apr 2026

CISA—Certified Information Systems Auditor - Part 321

1. If the recovery time objective (RTO) increases:

A) the disaster tolerance increases.
B) the cost of recovery increases.
C) a cold site cannot be used.
D) the data backup frequency increases.



2. Due to changes in IT, the disaster recovery plan of a large organization has been changed. What is the PRIMARY risk if the new plan is not tested?

A) Catastrophic service interruption
B) High consumption of resources
C) Total cost of the recovery may not be minimized
D) Users and recovery teams may face severe difficulties when activating the plan



3. When developing a disaster recovery plan, the criteria for determining the acceptable downtime should be the:

A) annualized loss expectancy (ALE).
B) service delivery objective.
C) quantity of orphan data.
D) maximum tolerable outage.



4. A lower recovery time objective (RTO) results in:

A) higher disaster tolerance.
B) higher cost.
C) wider interruption windows.
D) more permissive data loss.



5. Regarding a disaster recovery plan, the role of an IS auditor should include:

A) identifying critical applications.
B) determining the external service providers involved in a recovery test.
C) observing the tests of the disaster recovery plan. determining the criteria for
D) establishing a recovery time objective (RTO).



1. Right Answer: A
Explanation: The longer the recovery time objective (RTO), the higher disaster tolerance and the lower the recovery cost. It cannot be concluded that a cold site is inappropriate or that the frequency of data backup would increase.

2. Right Answer: A
Explanation: Choices B, C and D are all possible problems that might occur, and would cause difficulties and financial losses or waste of resources. However, if a new disaster recovery plan is not tested, the possibility of a catastrophic service interruption is the most critical of all risks.

3. Right Answer: D
Explanation: The recovery time objective is determined based on the acceptable downtime in case of a disruption of operations, it indicates the maximum tolerable outage that an organization considers to be acceptable before a system or process must resume following a disaster. Choice A is incorrect, because the acceptable downtime would not be determined by the annualized loss expectancy (ALE). Choices B and C are relevant to business continuity, but they are not determined by acceptable downtime.

4. Right Answer: B
Explanation: A recovery time objective (RTO) is based on the acceptable downtime in case of a disruption of operations. The lower the RTO, the higher the cost of recovery strategies. The lower the disaster tolerance, the narrower the interruption windows, and the lesser the permissive data loss.

5. Right Answer: C
Explanation: The IS auditor should be present when disaster recovery plans are tested, to ensure that the test meets the targets for restoration, and the recovery procedures are effective and efficient. As appropriate, the auditor should provide a report of the test results. All other choices are a responsibility of management.

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