〇：Completing the Business Impact Analysis

Of the steps listed in this question, completing the Business Impact Analysis is the highest priority. The BIA is essential in determining the most critical business functions and identifying the threats associated with them. Qualitative and quantitative data must be collected, analyzed, interpreted, and presented to management.

×：Test and Drill Plan

Test and drill is wrong because it is part of the last step in disaster recovery and contingency planning. Because the environment is constantly changing, it is important to test your business continuity plan on a regular basis. Testing and disaster recovery drills and exercises should be performed at least once a year. The exercises should be done in sections or at specific times that require logistical planning, as most firms cannot afford these exercises to disrupt production or productivity.

×：Determining alternatives for off-site backup facilities

This is incorrect because it is part of the contingency strategy that is done in the middle of the disaster recovery and contingency planning process. In the event of a major disaster, an alternate off-site backup capability is required. Typically, contracts are established with third-party vendors to provide such services. The client pays a monthly fee to retain the right to use the facility when needed and then pays an activation fee when they need to use that facility.

×：Organize and prepare related documentation

This is incorrect because the relevant documentation is organized and created around the time the disaster recovery and contingency planning process is completed. Procedures should be documented. This is because time-consuming schedules are confusing when they are actually needed. Documentation should include information on how to install images, configure the operating system and server, and install utilities and proprietary software. Other documentation should include call trees and contact information for specific vendors, emergency agencies, off-site facilities, etc.

Copyright applies to books, art, music, software, etc. It is granted automatically and is valid for 70 years after the creator’s death and 95 years after creation. Therefore, the correct answer is “75 years”.

The Health Insurance Interoperability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has three rules: the Privacy Rule, the Security Rule, and the Breach Notification Rule. The rules mandate administrative, physical, and technical safeguards.

Sabotage is an attack by an insider.

〇：Level of insurance required to cover assets.

This question is about choosing what is not used. There are several ways to calculate asset value (AV, Asset Value): the market approach, which refers to similar assets in the market, the income approach, which measures it by the profit it will earn in the future, and the cost approach, which measures it by the cost spent on the asset. The level of insurance needed to cover an asset is a decision made after identifying the asset value and conducting an appropriate risk analysis, allowing the organization to more easily determine the level of insurance coverage to purchase for that asset. Therefore, the correct answer is “level of insurance required to cover the asset”.

×：Value of the asset in the external market.

The technique of referring to similar assets in the market is known as the market approach.

×：Initial costs and outlay for purchasing, licensing, and supporting the asset.

The method of measuring by the cost spent on an asset is known as the cost approach.

×：The value of the asset to the organization’s production operations.

The method of measuring by the profit that will be earned in the future is known as the revenue approach.

〇：Security Management Committee

Steve serves on the Security Steering Committee, which is responsible for making decisions on tactical and strategic security issues within the company. The committee consists of individuals from across the organization and should meet at least quarterly. In addition to the responsibilities outlined in this question, the Security Steering Committee is responsible for establishing a clearly defined vision statement that supports it in cooperation with the organizational intent of the business. It should provide support for the goals of confidentiality, integrity, and availability as they relate to the business goals of the organization. This vision statement should be supported by a mission statement that provides support and definition to the processes that apply to the organization and enable it to reach its business goals.

Each organization may call it by a different name, or they may be entrusted with a series of definition-to-approval processes for security. In this case, the term “operations” is the closest that comes to mind.

×：Security Policy Committee

This is incorrect because senior management is the committee that develops the security policy. Usually, senior management has this responsibility unless they delegate it to an officer or committee. The security policy determines the role that security plays within the organization. It can be organizational, issue specific, or system specific. The Governing Board does not directly create the policy, but reviews and approves it if acceptable.

×：Audit Committee

Incorrect because it provides independent and open communication between the Board of Directors, management, internal auditors, and external auditors. Its responsibilities include the system of internal controls, the engagement and performance of the independent auditors, and the performance of the internal audit function. The Audit Committee reports its findings to the Governing Board, but does not fail to oversee and approve the security program.

×：Risk Management Committee

Incorrect as it is to understand the risks facing the organization and work with senior management to bring the risks down to acceptable levels. This committee does not oversee the security program. The Security Steering Committee typically reports its findings to the Risk Management Committee on information security. The risk management committee should consider the entire business risk, not just the IT security risk.

〇：Trademarks

Intellectual property can be protected by several different laws, depending on the type of resource. Trademarks are used to protect words, names, symbols, sounds, shapes, colors, or combinations of these, such as logos. The reason a company registers one of these trademarks, or a combination of these trademarks, is to represent their company (brand identity) to the world. Therefore, the correct answer is “trademark”.

×：Patent

A patent is a monopoly right to use a technology for something that is very difficult to invent, such as a medicine.

×：Copyright

A copyright is a right to something that is not technical, such as music or a book, but something that is thought up and created.

×：Trade Secrets

Trade secrets are information that is useful and confidential as a business activity, such as customer information, product technology and manufacturing methods.

〇：Considering an architecture that can handle health information.

Carol is a systems engineer and is expected to explore systemic realities. It is likely that she is deviating from her role to preemptively explain why it cannot be done systemically, to modify approvals other than the system configuration, or to initiate legal work. The correct answer, therefore, is, “Think about an architecture that can handle health information.” The correct answer would be

×：To address the dangers of handling health information in the system.

The basic stance of a system engineer is to obtain feasibility as a system. Although it is necessary to supplement the danger to the proposed idea, appealing the danger should not be the main purpose.

×：Obtaining permission to entrust health information from a medical institution.

A contract should be signed and the legal scope of responsibility should be clarified. This is outside the scope of the system engineer’s scope.

×：To prepare a written consent to use for handling health information.

It is necessary to obtain consent for end users before using the service, and the scope of legal responsibility needs to be clarified. This is outside the scope object of the system engineer’s scope.

〇：Data Protection Directive

In many cases, the European Union (EU) takes personal privacy more seriously than most other countries in the world and therefore adheres to strict laws regarding data considered personal information based on the European Union Principles for the Protection of Personal Data. This set of principles addresses the use and communication of information that is considered private in nature. These principles and how to comply with them are contained in the EU Data Protection Directive. All European states must comply with these principles, and all companies doing business with EU companies must follow this directive if their business involves the exchange of privacy-type data.

×：Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

Image B is incorrect because the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an international organization that brings together different governments to help address the economic, social, and governance challenges of a globalized economy. For this reason, the OECD has developed national guidelines to ensure that data is properly protected and that everyone adheres to the same kinds of rules.

×：Federal Private Sector Bill

The Federal Private Bill is incorrect. There is no official bill by this name.

×：Privacy Protection Act

The Privacy Protection Act is the wrong answer. There is no official legislation by this name.

The EU Data Protection Directive is a very aggressive privacy law. Organizations must inform individuals how their data is collected and used. Organizations must allow people to opt out of data sharing with third parties. Opt-in is required to share the most sensitive data. No transmissions from the EU unless the recipient country is found to have adequate (equivalent) privacy protections, and the U.S. does not meet this standard.

Risk is the multiplication of threats and vulnerabilities. If the threat is at least as great as the vulnerability is fatal, it is a significant impact, or risk. Therefore, the best illustration of the relationship between the four rules is the multiplier.

Measures have been implemented to reduce the overall risk to an acceptable level. However, no system or environment is 100% safe, and risks remain with all countermeasures. The residual risk after countermeasures have been taken is called residual risk. Residual risk is different from total risk. Total risk is the risk of not implementing countermeasures. While total risk can be determined by calculating (threat x vulnerability x asset value = total risk), residual risk can be determined by calculating (threat x vulnerability x asset value) x control gap = residual risk. The control gap is the amount of protection that the control cannot provide.

〇：Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime

The Council of Europe (CoE) Convention on Cybercrime is an example of an attempt to create a standard international response to cybercrime. It is the first international treaty to address computer crime by coordinating national laws and improving investigative techniques and international cooperation. The treaty’s objectives include creating a framework to bind the jurisdiction of the accused and the perpetrators of the crimes. For example, extradition is possible only if the case is a crime in both countries.

×：World Congress Council on Cybercrime

The World Congress Council on Cybercrime is misleading and therefore wrong. The official name of the Convention is the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime. It establishes comprehensive legislation against cybercrime and serves as a framework for international cooperation among the signatories to the Convention to guide all countries.

×：Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

Image C is wrong because the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an international organization that brings together different governments to help address the economic, social, and governance challenges of a globalized economy. For this reason, the OECD has developed national guidelines to ensure that data is properly protected and that everyone adheres to the same kinds of rules.

×：Organization for Cooperation and Development in Cybercrime

Organization for Cooperation and Development of Cybercrime is the wrong answer. There is no formal entity of this name.

Service Organization Control (SOC) is a rule established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to assure the internal control of the party contracted to perform services. Sometimes, work is contracted out to other firms. In order to guarantee the quality of its own work, the company that is contracted to perform the work must also have appropriate controls in place. For this reason, we check the internal control of the outsourcing company to which the work is outsourced.

• SOC-1 (Internal Control over Financial Reporting (ICFR)) Audits the accounting of the trustee company.
  SOC-2 (Trust Services Criteria): Checks security and other controls other than accounting for the fiduciary company. Usually takes six months to complete.
  SOC-3 (Trust Services Criteria for General Use Report) Confirms security and other controls other than accounting for unspecified persons (users).

〇：Risk Mitigation

Risk can be addressed in four basic ways: transfer, avoidance, mitigation, and acceptance. Sue reduces the risk posed by her e-mail system by implementing security controls such as antivirus and anti-spam software. This is also referred to as risk mitigation, where risk is reduced to a level considered acceptable. Risk can be mitigated by improving procedures, changing the environment, erecting barriers to threats, and implementing early detection techniques to stop threats when they occur and reduce damage.

×：Risk Acceptance

This is inappropriate because risk acceptance does not involve spending on protection or countermeasures such as anti-virus software. When accepting a risk, one should be aware of the level of risk faced and the potential damage costs and decide to keep it without implementing countermeasures. If the cost/benefit ratio indicates that the cost of countermeasures exceeds the potential losses, many companies will accept the risk.

×：Risk Avoidance

Wrong because it would mean discontinuing the activity that is causing the risk. In this case, Sue’s firm decides to continue using e-mail. A company may choose to terminate an activity that introduces risk if the risk outweighs the business needs of the activity. For example, a company may choose to block social media websites in some departments because of the risk to employee productivity.

×：Risk Transfer

This is incorrect because it involves sharing risk with other entities, as in the purchase of insurance to transfer some of the risk to the insurance company. Many types of insurance are available to firms to protect their assets. If a company determines that its total or excess risk is too high to gamble, it can purchase insurance.

This is a “non-ethics item” question.

A statement is made by the Internet Activities Board (IAB) to those who use the Internet about the correct use of Internet resources.

• Attempting to obtain unauthorized access to Internet resources.
• Disrupting the intended use of the Internet.
• Wasting resources (people, capabilities, and computers) through such activities.
• Destroying the integrity of computer-based information.
• Violating the privacy of users.

〇：Cessation of activities that pose a risk.

This question is about choosing what is not included. Discontinuing an activity that introduces risk is a way to address risk through avoidance. For example, there are many risks surrounding the use of instant messaging (IM) within a company. If a company decides not to allow the use of IM because there is no business need to do so, banning this service is an example of risk avoidance. The risk assessment does not include the implementation of such measures. Therefore, the correct answer is “discontinue the activity that poses a risk”.

×：Asset Identification

This is incorrect because identifying the asset is part of the risk assessment and is required to identify what is not included in the risk assessment. To determine the value of an asset, the asset must first be identified. Identifying and valuing assets is another important task of risk management.

×：Threat Identification

This is incorrect because identifying threats is part of risk assessment and requires identifying what is not included in the risk assessment. A risk exists because a threat could exploit a vulnerability. If there are no threats, there are no risks. Risk links vulnerabilities, threats, and the resulting potential for exploitation to the business.

×：Risk analysis in order of cost

Analyzing risks in order of cost or criticality is part of the risk assessment process and is inappropriate because questions are asked to identify what is not included in the risk assessment. A risk assessment examines and quantifies the risks a company faces. Risks must be addressed in a cost-effective manner. Knowing the severity of the risk allows the organization to determine how to effectively address it.

〇：Due Care

Confidentiality means that the company does everything it could reasonably have done to prevent a security breach under the circumstances and takes appropriate control and action in the event of a security breach. In short, it means that the company is acting responsibly by practicing common sense and prudent management. If a company has a facility that is not fire-immune, its arsonist will be only a small part of this tragedy. The company is responsible for providing fire-resistant building materials, alarms, exits, fire extinguishers, and backup fire detection and suppression systems, all critical information specific areas that could be affected by a fire. If a fire were to burn the company’s building and all records (customer data, inventory records, and information needed to rebuild the business) were to disappear, the company would not take precautions to ensure that it is protected against that loss. For example, it would be possible to back up to an off-site location. In this case, employees, shareholders, customers, and anyone else affected could potentially sue the company. However, if the company has done all that is expected of it in terms of the points mentioned so far, it is difficult to sue without success if proper care (dee care) is not taken.

×：Downstream Liability

Is wrong because one firm’s activities (or lack thereof) may have a negative impact on other firms. If either company fails to provide the required level of protection and its negligence affects the partners with whom it cooperates, the affected company can sue the upstream company. For example, suppose Company A and Company B have built an extranet. Company A has not implemented controls to detect and address viruses. Company A is infected with a harmful virus, which infects Company B through the extranet. The virus destroys critical data and causes a major disruption to Company B’s production. Company B can therefore sue Company A for negligence. This is an example of downstream liability.

×：Liability

Incorrect, as it generally refers to the obligation and expected behavior or actions of a particular party. Obligations can have a defined set of specific actions required, which is a more general and open approach that allows parties to determine how to fulfill specific obligations.

×：Due diligence

A better answer to this question. Liability is not considered a legal term as with the other answers. Due diligence is because the firm has properly investigated all of its possible weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Before you can understand how to properly protect yourself, you need to know that you are protecting yourself. To understand the real level of risk, investigate and assess the real level of vulnerability. Even after these steps and assessments have been made, effective controls and protective measures can be identified and implemented. Due diligence means identifying all potential risks, but an appropriate response is one that actually mitigates the risk.

〇：Creating Data Collection Techniques

Of the steps listed, the first step in a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is to create a data collection technique. The BCP committee will use questionnaires, surveys, and interviews to collect key person information on how different tasks are accomplished within the organization, along with any relevant dependencies of processes, transactions, or services. Process flow diagrams should be created from this data and used throughout the BIA and planning and development phases.

×：Risk calculations for each different business function

This is incorrect because the risk for each business function is calculated after the business function has been identified. And before that happens, the BCP team needs to collect data from key personnel. To calculate the risk for each business function, qualitative and quantitative impact information must be collected, properly analyzed, and interpreted. Once the data analysis is complete, it should be reviewed with the most knowledgeable people in the company to ensure that the results are relevant and to explain the actual risks and impacts facing the organization. This will flush out any additional data points that were not captured initially and allow for a full understanding of all possible business impacts.

×：Identifying Critical Business Functions

Image B is incorrect because the identification of critical business functions is done after the BCP committee has learned about the business functions that exist by interviewing and surveying key individuals. Once the data collection phase is complete, the BCP committee conducts an analysis to determine which processes, devices, or business activities are critical. If a system stands on its own, does not affect other systems, and is less critical, it can be classified as a Tier 2 or Tier 3 recovery step. In other words, these resources are not processed in the recovery phase until the most critical (Tier 1) resources are up and running.

×：Vulnerability and Threat Identification to Business Functions

This is not the first step and is incorrect because it identifies vulnerabilities and threats to business functions toward the end of the business impact analysis. It is the last of the steps listed in the answer. Threats can be man-made, natural, or technical. It is important to identify all possible threats and estimate their likelihood of occurring. When developing these plans, some issues may not be immediately apparent. These issues are best addressed by groups conducting scenario-based exercises. This ensures that when the threat becomes reality, the plan will have an impact on all business tasks, departments, and critical operations. The more issues that are planned for, the better prepared you will be should these events occur.

〇：Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

Almost every country has its own set of rules regarding what constitutes private data and how it should be protected. With the advent of the digital and information age, these different laws have begun to adversely affect business and international trade. Thus, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) created guidelines for different countries to ensure that data is properly protected and that everyone follows the same rules.

×：COSO

An organization that studies fraudulent financial reporting and which elements lead to them is fraudulent because the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) was established in 1985. The acronym COSO refers to a model of corporate governance that addresses IT at the strategic level, corporate culture, and financial accounting principles.

×：COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology)

Incorrect, as this framework defines control objectives to ensure that IT is properly managed and that IT is responsive to business needs. It is an international open standard that provides control and security requirements for sensitive data and reference frameworks.

×：International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

Incorrect because it is an international standards organization composed of representatives of national standards bodies. Its purpose is to establish global standardization. But its standardization goes beyond the privacy of data moving across international borders. For example, some standards address quality control; others address assurance and security.