CISSP Practice Question: In a financial services firm, what would MOST likely happen if privileged…

Correct Answer: A. Increased risk of data breaches

Explanation (CISSP Manager Logic):

Privileged accounts provide elevated access to sensitive systems, making them primary targets for exploitation. Failing to log and review their creation creates a visibility gap that allows unauthorized access or "backdoor" accounts to go undetected, directly threatening the organization's data confidentiality and integrity.

By logging and reviewing privileged accounts, you:

• Establish accountability for high-level administrative changes.
• Detect unauthorized privilege escalation and insider threats.
• Ensure compliance with financial regulations like SOX and PCI-DSS.

While the other options are relevant, they fall short because:

• B: Logging has a negligible impact on system resources and does not improve performance.
• C: Lack of audit trails increases regulatory non-compliance and legal liability.
• D: Reducing administrative workload at the expense of security creates unacceptable financial and operational risk.

Think like a manager:

Prioritize visibility and accountability over operational convenience. In Identity and Access Management, the absence of an audit trail is a high-impact vulnerability that undermines all other security controls.