ISACA Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield ISACA facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. What is the follow-up phase in the audit process? → Checking implementation of actions
2. An IS auditor beginning a review of a system acquisition should FIRST examine which document? → The business case and requirements specification
3. When implementing COBIT, an organization starts by defining stakeholder needs and translating them into enterprise goals. This step is part of the: → Governance and management objectives cascade
4. The ISACA IS Audit and Assurance Standard requires that IS audit conclusions be based on: → Sufficient and appropriate audit evidence
5. What distinguishes a Information Systems Audit and Control Association Certification certified professional from a non-certified practitioner? → Certification validates competency through standardized assessment against benchmarks
6. An IS auditor reviewing an organization's key management practices should verify that cryptographic keys are: → Generated using approved algorithms and protected throughout their lifecycle
7. In Information Systems Audit and Control Association Certification practice, what is the CORRECT sequence when performing a technical procedure? → Plan, prepare, execute, verify, and document
8. Which approach is MOST important for ISACA professionals when applying technical procedures? → Adhering to established protocols while adapting to specific conditions
9. Which sampling method gives every item in a population an equal chance of selection, making it the most statistically representative? → Random sampling
10. What is the role of an incident response team? → Manage and mitigate incidents
11. Which phase of the audit process involves identifying key risks and controls? → Planning
12. An IS auditor finds that IT management reports to the CFO rather than directly to the CEO or board. What governance concern should be raised? → IT strategy may be overly focused on financial efficiency over innovation
13. What is the PRIMARY purpose of a business impact analysis (BIA)? → Identify critical business functions and their recovery priorities
14. During an audit, what is the importance of sampling? → Test a representative subset
15. ISO/IEC 38500 defines IT governance principles for corporate governance of IT. Which of the following is NOT one of its six principles? → Optimization
16. Which process ensures IT investments deliver expected benefits? → Value management
17. An organization's IT steering committee approves a major ERP implementation but the business case shows negative NPV. An IS auditor should FIRST: → Verify whether non-financial strategic benefits justify the investment
18. In Information Systems Audit and Control Association Certification, what is the PRIMARY purpose of conducting regular safety drills and exercises? → To ensure personnel can respond effectively in emergencies
19. Which COBIT 2019 design factor relates to the organization's current level of capability in its IT processes? → Current IT capability level
20. Which of the following network segmentation techniques BEST isolates a web-facing server from internal corporate resources? → Placing the server in a DMZ (demilitarized zone)
21. Why is regular testing important for business continuity plans? → Verify plan effectiveness
22. Which control is MOST important to verify when auditing a change management process? → Changes are approved by appropriate authority before implementation
23. What is the role of the IT steering committee? → Provide oversight and direction
24. Which of the following is the MOST important characteristic of audit evidence? → It must be sufficient and appropriate to support audit conclusions
25. An organization is evaluating its change management process. Which finding indicates an ineffective process? → Emergency changes are frequently implemented without post-implementation review
26. Why are audit logs important? → Track access and detect breaches
27. A vulnerability assessment differs from a penetration test in that a vulnerability assessment: → Identifies and reports weaknesses without actively exploiting them
28. Which statement BEST describes the relationship between Information Systems Audit and Control Association Certification certification and industry evolution? → Requirements evolve periodically to reflect advances in knowledge and practice
29. What is a physical control in information security? → Locks and guards
30. Which configuration management practice BEST supports an audit trail for system changes? → Maintaining a configuration management database (CMDB)