Unauthorized Access Risks and Control Measures

Unauthorized Access Risks and Control Measures

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Question

An organization has recently hired a large number of part-time employees.

During the annual audit, it was discovered that many user IDs and passwords were documented in procedure manuals for use by the part-time employees.

This situation would be considered:

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Explanations

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A. B. C. D.

D.

The situation described in the question is considered a risk. A risk is defined as the possibility of an event occurring that will have an impact on an organization's objectives. The use of documented user IDs and passwords in procedure manuals is a potential risk to the organization's security posture, as it could result in unauthorized access to sensitive data.

The use of documented user IDs and passwords creates a vulnerability in the organization's security controls. A vulnerability is a weakness in an organization's security controls that can be exploited by a threat actor. In this case, the use of documented user IDs and passwords creates a vulnerability that could be exploited by an attacker to gain unauthorized access to the organization's systems and data.

The situation described in the question is not an incident. An incident is defined as a security event that results in the violation of an organization's security policy. While the use of documented user IDs and passwords is a violation of the organization's security policy, it is not an incident in and of itself. An incident would occur if an attacker were to use the documented user IDs and passwords to gain unauthorized access to the organization's systems and data.

The situation described in the question is not a threat. A threat is defined as an event or action that has the potential to exploit a vulnerability and cause harm to an organization's assets. While the use of documented user IDs and passwords creates a vulnerability, it is not a threat in and of itself. A threat would be a malicious actor attempting to use the documented user IDs and passwords to gain unauthorized access to the organization's systems and data.

In summary, the situation described in the question is considered a risk because the use of documented user IDs and passwords creates a vulnerability in the organization's security controls that could be exploited by an attacker to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data.