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CISA—Certified Information Systems Auditor - Part 246

Mary Smith

Mon, 15 Sep 2025

CISA—Certified Information Systems Auditor - Part 246

1. The objective of concurrency control in a database system is to:

A) restrict updating of the database to authorized users.
B) prevent integrity problems when two processes attempt to update the same data at the same time.
C) prevent inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of data in the database.
D) ensure the accuracy, completeness and consistency of data.



2. Which of the following controls would provide the GREATEST assurance of database integrity?

A) Audit log procedures
B) Table link/reference checks
C) Query/table access time checks
D) Rollback and roll forward database features



3. An IS auditor analyzing the audit log of a database management system (DBMS) finds that some transactions were partially executed as a result of an error, and are not rolled back. Which of the following transaction processing features has been violated?

A) Consistency
B) Isolation
C) Durability
D) Atomicity



4. During maintenance of a relational database, several values of the foreign key in a transaction table of a relational database have been corrupted. The consequence is that:

A) the detail of involved transactions may no longer be associated with master data, causing errors when these transactions are processed.
B) there is no way of reconstructing the lost information, except by deleting the dangling tuples and reentering the transactions.
C) the database will immediately stop execution and lose more information.
D) the database will no longer accept input data.



5. In a relational database with referential integrity, the use of which of the following keys would prevent deletion of a row from a customer table as long as the customer number of that row is stored with live orders on the orders table?

A) Foreign key
B) Primary key
C) Secondary key
D) Public key



1. Right Answer: B
Explanation: Concurrency controls prevent data integrity problems, which can arise when two update processes access the same data item at the same time. Access controls restrict updating of the database to authorized users, and controls such as passwords prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of data from the database. Quality controls, such as edits, ensure the accuracy, completeness and consistency of data maintained in the database.

2. Right Answer: B
Explanation: Performing table link/reference checks serves to detect table linking errors (such as completeness and accuracy of the contents of the database), and thus provides the greatest assurance of database integrity. Audit log procedures enable recording of all events that have been identified and help in tracing the events.However, they only point to the event and do not ensure completeness or accuracy of the database's contents. Querying/monitoring table access time checks helps designers improve database performance, but not integrity. Rollback and roll forward database features ensure recovery from an abnormal disruption. They assure the integrity of the transaction that was being processed at the time of disruption, but do not provide assurance on the integrity of the contents of the database.

3. Right Answer: D
Explanation: Atomicity guarantees that either the entire transaction is processed or none of it is. Consistency ensures that the database is in a legal state when the transaction begins and ends, isolation means that, while in an intermediate state, the transaction data is invisible to external operations. Durability guarantees that a successful transaction will persist, and cannot be undone.

4. Right Answer: A
Explanation: When the external key of a transaction is corrupted or lost, the application system will normally be incapable of directly attaching the master data to the transaction data. This will normally cause the system to undertake a sequential search and slow down the processing. If the concerned files are big, this slowdown will be unacceptable. Choice B is incorrect, since a system can recover the corrupted external key by reindexing the table. Choices C and D would not result from a corrupted foreign key.

5. Right Answer: A
Explanation: In a relational database with referential integrity, the use of foreign keys would prevent events such as primary key changes and record deletions, resulting in orphaned relations within the database. It should not be possible to delete a row from a customer table when the customer number (primary key) of that row is stored with live orders on the orders table (the foreign key to the customer table). A primary key works in one table, so it is not able to provide/ensure referential integrity by itself. Secondary keys that are not foreign keys are not subject to referential integrity checks. Public key is related to encryption and not linked in any way to referential integrity.

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