IIBA-CCA Reviews Questions

Integritymeans information and systems remain accurate, complete, and protected from unauthorized or improper modification. ThePrinciple of Least Privilegeis a direct integrity protection control because it limits who can change data and what changes they are allowed to make. Under least privilege, users, applications, and service accounts receive only the minimum permissions needed to perform approved tasks, and nothing more. This reduces the chance that an attacker using a compromised account can alter records, manipulate transactions, or change configurations, and it also reduces accidental changes by well-meaning users who do not need write or administrative rights.

Least privilege is commonly enforced through role-based access control, separation of duties, restricted administrative roles, just-in-time elevation for privileged tasks, and periodic access reviews to remove excess permissions. These practices are emphasized in cybersecurity frameworks because integrity failures often occur when excessive access allows unauthorized edits to sensitive data, logs, security settings, or application code.

The other options relate to security but are less directly tied to integrity as the primary objective.Biometric verificationis an authentication method that helps confirm identity; it supports access control broadly, but it does not by itself limit modification capability once access is granted.Anti-malicious code detectionhelps prevent malware that could corrupt data, but it is primarily a detection/prevention tool rather than the foundational control for authorized modification.Backups and redundancyprimarily support availability and recovery after corruption, not the prevention of unauthorized changes.

NIST SP 800-30 describes risk using a classic risk model:risk is a function of likelihood and impact. In this model, a threat-source may exploit a vulnerability, producing a threat event that results in adverse consequences. Thelikelihoodcomponent reflects how probable it is that a threat event will occur and successfully cause harm, considering factors such as threat capability and intent (or in non-adversarial cases, the frequency of hazards), the existence and severity of vulnerabilities, exposure, and the strength of current safeguards. However, likelihood alone does not define risk; a highly likely event that causes minimal harm may be less important than a less likely event that causes severe harm.

The second required component is theimpact—the magnitude of harm to the organization if the adverse event occurs. Impact is commonly evaluated across mission and business outcomes, including financial loss, operational disruption, legal or regulatory consequences, reputational damage, and loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability. This is why option D is correct: NIST’s definition explicitly ties the risk expression tothe resulting impact on the organization.

The other options may influence likelihood assessment or control selection, but they are not the missing definitional element. Detection probability and control assurance relate to monitoring and governance; predisposing conditions can shape likelihood. None replace the

A cryptographic hash function supports data in transit primarily by providingintegrity assurance. When a sender computes a hash (digest) of a message and the receiver recomputes the hash after receipt, the two digests should match if the message arrived unchanged. If the message is altered in any way while traveling across the network—whether by an attacker, a faulty intermediary device, or transmission errors—the recomputed digest will differ from the original. This difference is the key signal that the messagewas modified in transit, which is what option B expresses. In practical secure-transport designs, hashes are typically combined with a secret key or digital signature so an attacker cannot simply modify the message and generate a new valid digest. Examples include HMAC for message authentication and digital signatures that hash the content and then sign the hash with a private key. These mechanisms provide integrity and, when keyed or signed, also provide authentication and non-repudiation properties.

Option A is more specifically about authentication of origin, which requires a keyed construction such as HMAC or a signature scheme; a plain hash alone cannot prove who sent the message. Option C is incorrect because keys are not “converted” from public to private. Option D relates to confidentiality, which is provided by encryption, not hashing. Therefore, the best answer is B because hashing enables detection of message modification during transit.

“Strengthen the security from lessons learned” fits theremediationstage because it focuses on eliminating root causes and improving controls so the same incident is less likely to recur. In incident management lifecycles,responseis about immediate actions to contain and manage the incident (triage, containment, eradication actions in progress, communications, and preserving evidence).Detectionis the identification and confirmation stage (alerts, analysis, validation, and initial classification).Recoveryis restoring services to normal operation and verifying stability, including bringing systems back online, validating data integrity, and meeting recovery objectives.

After the environment is stable, organizations conduct a post-incident review and then implement corrective and preventive actions. That work is remediation: closing exploited vulnerabilities, hardening configurations, rotating credentials and keys, tightening access and privileged account controls, improving monitoring and logging coverage, updating firewall rules or segmentation, refining secure development practices, and correcting process gaps such as weak change management or incomplete asset inventory. Remediation also includes updating policies and playbooks, enhancing detection rules based on observed attacker techniques, and training targeted groups if human factors contributed.

Cybersecurity guidance emphasizes documenting lessons learned, assigning owners and deadlines, validating fixes, and tracking completion because “lessons learned” without implemented change does not reduce risk. The defining characteristic is durable improvement to the control environment, which is why this activity belongs toremediationrather than response, detection, or recovery.