CISSP Practice Question: What would MOST likely happen if a company prioritizes cost-cutting over comprehensive…

Correct Answer: A. Increased security breaches

Explanation (CISSP Manager Logic):

Prioritizing cost-cutting over assessments creates visibility gaps that hide critical vulnerabilities from leadership. Without regular testing, unpatched risks accumulate, directly increasing the probability of a successful exploit and significant financial loss.

By conducting comprehensive assessments, you:

• Identify and remediate vulnerabilities before they are exploited.
• Align security spending with the organization’s actual risk profile.
• Ensure continuous compliance with regulatory and legal obligations.

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

• B: Reducing security overhead creates technical debt and operational fragility that eventually disrupts business.
• C: Security budget cuts do not correlate with satisfaction and often increase stress during inevitable incident responses.
• D: Customer trust relies on data protection; neglecting security investments inevitably leads to trust-eroding breaches.

Think like a manager:

Security is a business enabler and a risk management function. Managers must balance budget constraints against the potential catastrophic impact of a breach to ensure long-term resilience.