Like your highly paid colleagues, if you are also eyeing that gleaming CRISC badge for your LinkedIn profile, you are at the right place. CRISC is more than a fancy acronym. It is truly a golden ticket to the high-stakes world of enterprise risk management. But here’s the kicker: that certification is just your foot in the door. The real test? Nailing that interview. But, if you are thinking, “Great, another stuffy Q&A session”, here’s another bummer: CRISC interviews are anything but predictable.
But hold on before you blindly dive into preparation. We’ve scoured the cybersecurity landscape to pick the brains of industry insiders and compiled a list of CRISC interview questions. Our list of CRISC practice questions is sure to be your cheat code for acing the interview.
CRISC Certification Requirements
Before starting your preparation for their interview, you need to know some things. You must know if you check all the boxes to sit for the CRISC certification exam.
To achieve the CRISC certification for all who pass the exam after August 2021, you must:
- Complete the CRISC exam.
- Submit your certification application within 5 years.
- Accumulate a minimum of 3 years of relevant work experience across at least 2 of the 4 CRISC domains (mentioned below), with one domain being either Domain 1 or Domain 2. All experience should be within the last 10 years.
The four domains are:
Domain 4- Risk Control Monitoring and Reporting
Domain 3- Risk Response and Mitigation
Domain 2- IT Risk Assessment
Domain 1- IT Risk Identification
- Verify your work experience from your supervisor/manager.
The CRISC certification costs are as follows:
- $725 for ISACA members
- $825 for non-members
Top CRISC Interview Questions in 2024
Let’s dive into the most commonly asked interview questions with answers for some of them. We also have a comprehensive list of other questions which you can practice on your own.
- Who falls under the umbrella of risk stakeholders?
Risk stakeholders are essentially anyone affected by our decisions or actions. This could be individuals, teams, or even entire organizations. It’s not a fixed group – stakeholders can change as a project evolves. For example, in one phase it might be senior management, in another it could be end-users. The key is to identify and manage these stakeholders effectively. By addressing their concerns, we can often improve the chances of a project’s success and acceptance.
- Can you explain the concept of information security risks in short?
Information security risks are potential threats that arise when dealing with information systems and can be harmful to both the company and its stakeholders. We are looking at a wide range here – everything from software attacks and data breaches to physical threats (like equipment theft). It might also be something like intellectual property theft. The critical point is that these risks are diverse and constantly evolving, which means our approach to managing them also needs to be equally dynamic.
- Describe traceroute. Why is it used?
Traceroute is a diagnostic tool that shows us the path data takes from source to destination. It is useful when we are troubleshooting connectivity issues. It works by sending out ICMP packets and tracking how they travel through different routers. This gives us visibility into where data might be getting stuck or lost.
- What is a three-way handshake?
The three-way handshake is the method TCP/IP uses to establish a connection between a client and a server. It is a bit like a formal introduction in networking terms. First, the client says ‘hello’ with a SYN packet. The server responds with ‘hello back, and nice to meet you’ using a SYN-ACK. Finally, the client confirms with an ACK, essentially saying ‘Great, let’s talk.’ This process ensures both sides are ready to communicate and agree on initial sequence numbers.
- What is data leakage? What are some factors that cause it?
When sensitive information escapes from within an organization to somewhere it should not be, we call it data leakage. It’s a major concern in information security. There are various causes – some technical, some human. On the technical side, we might see system misconfigurations, inadequate security controls, or even a hacker breach. Human factors include things like employees copying data to unsecured devices or simply human error. Other factors could be poorly secured backups or insecure interfaces in custom applications.
- What is phishing? How can you stop it?
Phishing is the term used when attackers try to trick people into revealing sensitive information like credit card details or passwords. To combat them, we should follow a multi-layered approach. Technical measures like strong spam filters and firewalls are crucial. But equally important is user education. We need to train people to be skeptical of unexpected requests for information, to verify sender identities, and to go directly to websites rather than clicking on links in emails.
Here is a list of additional CRISC practice questions that you should prepare:
- Have you ever performed gap analysis?
- Which risk analysis tool would you use to analyze monetary loss in a company?
- What can you tell about buffer overflow attacks?
- What do you know about the OSI model in cybersecurity?
- How is ALE calculated?
- Can you describe blind spots?
- What do you know about Key Control Indicators (KCIs) and Key Risk Indicators (KRIs)?
- Are you familiar with the Risk Matrix?
- Are you familiar with the concept of Diffie-Hellman?
- What is the CIA triad?
- Can you share some ways to stop phishing?
- What are Zero-Day Exploits? Who are the targets for it?
- What is the bow-tie diagram?
While these are some of the common CRISC interview questions with their answers, their interviews are very unpredictable and require a thorough knowledge of multiple difficult topics. From a preparation point of view, you can get help from CRISC training providers to ensure you are not missing out on anything.
Conclusion
Seeing the trends in how CRISC interviews are conducted, it would not be wrong to say that it will surely take a lot of time to reach a level of confident preparation. Especially for those who are not in touch with the concepts for some time, you will certainly have to devote time to brush up your game. Their interview questions are quite unpredictable although there is nothing to panic about as there are plenty of CRISC training courses available today to help you pass your exam on the first try.
EducationNest is one such top-notch cybersecurity training provider with years of experience in preparing candidates for various cybersecurity certifications. With a focus on the organization’s growth through addressing its employees’ learning needs, their courses have been designed by industry experts to help all kinds of professionals – from beginners to intermediates!
