Apply Information Security Principles (CIA Triad) - CPA Isc

1. Which of the following best describes the integrity principle of the CIA triad?
   Answer: Ensuring that data is accurate, complete, and protected from unauthorized modification. Integrity is the assurance that data has not been improperly altered, whether through malicious attack, error, or unauthorized access, and that it remains accurate and complete. Answer B is correct. Restricting unauthorized viewing (A) describes confidentiality. System accessibility (C) describes availability. Verifying user identity (D) describes authentication.
2. Which of the following attack types most directly threatens the integrity principle of the CIA triad?
   Answer: A SQL injection attack that modifies records in a production database. SQL injection that modifies database records directly violates data integrity by altering information without authorization. Answer A is correct. Phishing (B) captures credentials, primarily threatening confidentiality. DDoS (C) targets availability. Brute-force attacks (D) threaten confidentiality by enabling unauthorized access.
3. Which of the following controls most directly supports the availability principle of the CIA triad?
   Answer: Redundant data centers with automatic failover capabilities. Redundant data centers with failover ensure that systems remain accessible even if one location fails, directly supporting availability. Answer D is correct. MFA (A) supports authentication and confidentiality. Encryption (B) supports confidentiality. Digital signatures (C) support integrity and non-repudiation.
4. An employee with elevated database privileges modifies financial records without authorization. Which element of the CIA triad is most directly violated?
   Answer: Integrity Unauthorized modification of data violates integrity - the assurance that information is accurate, complete, and has not been improperly altered. Answer B is correct. Availability (A) relates to access, not modification. Confidentiality (C) relates to unauthorized disclosure. Non-repudiation (D) is related but is not a CIA triad component.
5. In the context of the CIA triad, 'non-repudiation' is most closely associated with which principle?
   Answer: Integrity - providing proof that data was sent or received by a specific party, preventing denial of actions. Non-repudiation provides evidence that a specific party performed an action (e.g., sent a message or authorized a transaction), which is most closely aligned with the integrity principle - ensuring the authenticity and origin of data cannot be denied. Answer C is correct. It is not primarily about availability (A), confidentiality (B), or authentication (D).
6. A hospital's electronic health record system experiences an unplanned outage during a critical care situation. This event primarily threatens which CIA triad principle?
   Answer: Availability System unavailability during critical need directly threatens the availability principle - the assurance that authorized users can access information when required. Answer A is correct. Integrity (B) and confidentiality (C) are not compromised by an outage alone. Authorization (D) is a control mechanism, not a CIA principle.
7. The CIA triad in information security refers to which three core principles?
   Answer: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability. The CIA triad is the foundational model of information security comprising Confidentiality (protecting data from unauthorized access), Integrity (ensuring data is accurate and unaltered), and Availability (ensuring authorized users can access data when needed). Answer A is correct. Answers B, C, and D are fabricated acronyms not representing the CIA triad.
8. A company implements SHA-256 hash verification on software downloads to ensure the files have not been tampered with. This control primarily supports which CIA triad principle?
   Answer: Integrity Hash verification confirms that a file's content has not changed since the hash was generated, directly protecting data integrity. Answer C is correct. Availability (A) relates to system uptime. Confidentiality (B) involves restricting access. Non-repudiation (D) involves proof of origin - while related to integrity, it is not the primary CIA principle served here.
9. An organization discovers that an attacker gained access to its network and observed sensitive communications for 60 days without altering any data or disrupting any services. Which CIA triad principle was violated?
   Answer: Confidentiality - sensitive information was accessed and observed by an unauthorized party. A passive eavesdropping attack violates confidentiality even without data modification or service disruption - unauthorized observation of sensitive communications is a confidentiality breach. Answer A is correct. Integrity (B) requires modification. Availability (C) requires disruption. The fact that no data was altered or services disrupted does not mean no principle was violated (D).
10. A financial institution discovers that an attacker intercepted and modified wire transfer instructions during transmission, changing the destination account. Which CIA triad principle was violated?
    Answer: Integrity Modifying data in transit (a man-in-the-middle attack altering transaction data) violates data integrity - the assurance that data has not been improperly changed. Answer B is correct. Availability (A) is not affected. Confidentiality (C) may also be affected if data was read, but the primary violation from modification is integrity. Non-repudiation (D) relates to proof of actions.
11. A company classifies certain systems as 'mission-critical' and implements a recovery time objective (RTO) of four hours for these systems. This classification most directly supports which CIA triad principle?
    Answer: Availability - by defining how quickly critical systems must be restored to ensure access is maintained. RTOs define how quickly systems must be restored after a disruption, directly measuring and managing availability. Answer A is correct. Integrity (B), confidentiality (C), and authentication (D) are not the primary CIA concern addressed by RTO objectives.
12. Which of the following is an example of a control that simultaneously supports all three CIA triad principles?
    Answer: A comprehensive information security program with layered controls covering access management, data protection, and system resilience. A comprehensive layered security program - with access controls (confidentiality), data validation and integrity monitoring (integrity), and redundancy and recovery controls (availability) - simultaneously addresses all three CIA principles. Answer D is correct. Passwords (A) primarily address confidentiality. Backups (B) primarily address availability. Firewalls (C) primarily protect confidentiality and availability but do not directly address integrity.
13. Which of the following best describes a trade-off organizations must manage between the CIA triad principles?
    Answer: Stronger confidentiality and integrity controls (such as encryption and access restrictions) can sometimes reduce availability by adding latency or complexity. Security trade-offs are common: strong encryption improves confidentiality and integrity but can introduce processing latency that affects availability; strict access controls protect confidentiality but may slow authorized user access. Answer B is correct. The principles are not always additive (A), not inherently conflicting (C), and they frequently require trade-off management (D).
14. A company stores backup copies of all critical data in a geographically separate, secure facility. This control primarily supports which CIA triad principle?
    Answer: Availability - by ensuring data can be restored if the primary site is destroyed or compromised. Geographic backup storage ensures that critical data can be recovered and made available following a disaster at the primary site, directly supporting availability. Answer D is correct. While backups may have some integrity value (B), their primary purpose in a DR context is availability. Confidentiality (A) and authentication (C) are not the primary purposes of geographic backup storage.
15. A company implements digital certificates to authenticate the identity of its web server to users. This control most directly supports which CIA triad principle?
    Answer: Confidentiality Digital certificates authenticate the server's identity and enable encrypted communication (TLS/SSL), preventing man-in-the-middle attacks that could expose data - primarily supporting confidentiality. Answer C is correct. Availability (A) is not the primary concern. While certificates also support integrity (B) and non-repudiation (D), their primary role in web server authentication is ensuring secure, confidential communication.
16. An organization implements role-based access controls (RBAC) to restrict employees from viewing payroll records unless they are in the HR department. This control primarily supports which CIA triad principle?
    Answer: Confidentiality Restricting access to sensitive payroll data based on user roles prevents unauthorized disclosure, directly supporting confidentiality. Answer A is correct. Integrity (B) concerns data accuracy and modification. Availability (C) concerns access when needed. Accountability (D) is a related security concept but not a CIA triad component.
17. A company implements an intrusion detection system (IDS) that monitors network traffic for suspicious activity and alerts the security team. This control primarily supports which CIA triad principle(s)?
    Answer: All three - it can detect attacks on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. An IDS monitors for a wide range of attacks - unauthorized access (confidentiality), data modification (integrity), and service disruption (availability) - supporting all three CIA principles. Answer A is correct. Limiting IDS to one principle (B, C, or D) understates its broad security monitoring scope.
18. Which of the following controls most directly supports the confidentiality principle of the CIA triad?
    Answer: Encryption of sensitive data at rest and in transit. Encryption protects data from unauthorized disclosure by making it unreadable without the decryption key, directly supporting confidentiality. Answer D is correct. Redundant power supplies (A) support availability. Hash functions (B) support integrity. Backup systems (C) support availability.
19. Which of the following scenarios represents a violation of the confidentiality principle?
    Answer: An unauthorized employee accesses and reads confidential merger documents stored on a shared drive. Unauthorized access to and reading of confidential documents is a confidentiality violation - sensitive information is disclosed to someone not authorized to view it. Answer C is correct. Server crash (A) is an availability issue. File corruption (B) is an integrity issue. Accidental deletion (D) is primarily an integrity/availability issue.
20. A penetration tester successfully extracts a plaintext database file containing customer names, social security numbers, and financial account numbers. Which CIA triad principle has been violated?
    Answer: Confidentiality Extracting sensitive personal and financial data exposes it to an unauthorized party, violating confidentiality. Answer D is correct. Availability (A) and integrity (B) are not affected by read-only extraction. Non-repudiation (C) is not a CIA triad component.

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