Certified Information Systems Auditor Practice Exam

The systematic backup of critical data and software files primarily functions as a preventive control in risk management. This type of control is designed to foresee and mitigate potential risks before they manifest into actual incidents. By regularly backing up important data and software, organizations can maintain the availability of vital information and reduce the impact of unforeseen events such as data corruption, hardware failure, or cyberattacks. In this way, backups help to prevent data loss and its associated consequences, ensuring that critical functions can continue with minimal disruption.

Although some may consider backups as corrective controls when they restore data after a loss, the primary intent behind systematic backups is to prevent loss in the first place. Corrective controls typically refer to measures implemented after an incident has occurred to recover operations or rectify issues, which is not the main purpose of backups. Other options such as detective controls are used to identify irregularities or breaches, while compensatory controls provide alternatives in the absence of primary controls but do not directly correlate with the regularity and intent of data backups. Thus, the role of systematic backups in risk management aligns best with being a preventive control.