Test your basic knowledge |

CISA Certified Information Systems Auditor Vocab

Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Files maintained by a system; primarily a database management system; for the purposed of reapplying changes following an error or outage recovery






2. The highest level of management in the organization; responsible for direction and control of the organization as a whole (such as director; general manager; partner; chief officer and executive manager).






3. A policy whereby access is denied unless it is specifically allowed. The inverse of default allow.






4. The outward impression of being self-governing and free from conflict of interest and undue influence






5. The act of capturing network packets; including those not necessarily destined for the computer running the sniffing software






6. A method of selecting a portion of a population; by means of mathematical calculations and probabilities; for the purpose of making scientifically and mathematically sound inferences regarding the characteristics of the entire population






7. A type of service providing an authentication and accounting system often used for dial-up and remote access security






8. A sub-network of the Internet through which information is exchanged by text; graphics; audio and video.






9. Inheritance refers to database structures that have a strict hierarchy (no multiple inheritance). Inheritance can initiate other objects irrespective of the class hierarchy; thus there is no strict hierarchy of objects.






10. A small electronic device that contains electronic memory; and possibly an embedded integrated circuit. It can be used for a number of purposes including the storage of digital certificates or digital cash; or it can be used as a token to authenticat






11. The act of transferring computerized information from one computer to another computer






12. Disconnecting from the computer






13. The specific information subject to the IS auditor's report and related procedures which can include things such as the design or operation of internal controls and compliance with privacy practices or standards or specified laws and regulations.






14. The portion of a security policy that states the general process that will be performed to accomplish a security goal






15. Cooperating packages of executable software that make their services available through defined interfaces. Components used in developing systems may be commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) or may be purposely built. However; the goal of component






16. The accuracy and completeness of information as well as to its validity in accordance with business values and expectations






17. A set of protocols that allow systems to communicate information about the state of services on other systems. It is used; for example; in determining whether systems are up; maximum packet sizes on links; whether a destination host/network/port is a






18. The main memory of the computer's central processing unit






19. An evaluation of an application system under development which considers matters such as: appropriate controls are designed into the system; the application will process information in a complete; accurate and reliable manner; the application will fu






20. A layer within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. It is used in information transfers between users through application programs and other devices. In this layer various protocols are ne






21. These controls deal with the everyday operation of a company or organization to ensure all objectives are achieved.






22. A communication line permanently assigned to connect two points; as opposed to a dial-up line that is only available and open when a connection is made by dialing the target machine or network. Also known as a dedicated line.






23. Analysis of information that occurs on a noncontinuous basis; also known as interval-based analysis






24. The processing of a group of transactions at the same time. Transactions are collected and processed against the master files at a specified time.






25. Hardware devices; such as asynchronous and synchronous transmissions; that convert between two different types of transmission






26. The rules by which a network operates and controls the flow and priority of transmissions






27. The standards and benchmarks used to measure and present the subject matter and against which the IS auditor evaluates the subject matter. Criteria should be: Objective—free from bias Measurable—provide for consistent measurement Complete—include all






28. A file of semipermanent information that is used frequently for processing data or for more than one purpose






29. Performance measurement of service delivery including cost; timeliness and quality against agreed service levels






30. A file format in which the file is divided into multiple subfiles and a directory is established to locate each subfile






31. An entity (department; cost center; division or other group) responsible for entering and maintaining budget data.






32. An edit check designed to ensure the data in a particular field is numeric






33. A sampling technique that estimates the amount of overstatement in an account balance






34. The transfer of data between separate computer processing sites/devices using telephone lines; microwave and/or satellite links






35. A numeric value; which has been calculated mathematically; is added to data to ensure that original data have not been altered or that an incorrect; but valid match has occurred. This control is effective in detecting transposition and transcription






36. Character-at-a-time transmission






37. An authentication protocol; often used by remote-access servers






38. A high-capacity disk storage device or a computer that stores data centrally for network users and manages access to that data. File servers can be dedicated so that no process other than network management can be executed while the network is availa






39. The act or function of developing and maintaining applications programs in production






40. A device that forms a barrier between a secure and an open environment. Usually; the open environment is considered hostile. The most notable hostile environment is the Internet. In other words; a firewall enforces a boundary between two or more netw






41. A 24-hour; stand-alone mini-bank; located outside branch bank offices or in public places like shopping malls. Through ATMs; clients can make deposits; withdrawals; account inquiries and transfers. Typically; the ATM network is comprised of two spher






42. A piece of information; in a digitized form; used by an encryption algorithm to convert the plaintext to the ciphertext






43. In vulnerability analysis; gaining information by performing checks that affects the normal operation of the system; even crashing the system






44. Generally; the assumption that an entity will behave substantially as expected. Trust may apply only for a specific function. The key role of this term in an authentication framework is to describe the relationship between an authenticating entity an






45. Defined by ISACA as the processes by which organisations conduct business electronically with their customers; suppliers and other external business partners; using the Internet as an enabling technology. It therefore encompasses both business-to-bus






46. A set of utilities that implement a particular network protocol. For instance; in Windows machines a TCP/IP stack consists of TCP/IP software; sockets software and hardware driver software.






47. Formal document which defines the IS auditor's responsibility; authority and accountability for a specific assignment






48. The process of feeding test data into two systems; the modified system and an alternative system (possibly the original system) and comparing results






49. A type of LAN architecture in which the cable forms a loop; with stations attached at intervals around the loop. Signals transmitted around the ring take the form of messages. Each station receives the messages and each station determines; on the bas






50. A test that has been designed to evaluate the performance of a system. In a benchmark test; a system is subjected to a known workload and the performance of the system against this workload is measured. Typically; the purpose is to compare the measur