CIS-Risk and Compliance Management Interview Questions

The concept of survival of the fittest has begun to dominate the business world. You can get your dream job, but keeping it has become more difficult. Keeping up to date has become critical in this day and age when new types of technology emerge every hour. To demonstrate your dedication to your job, you must continue to take certification courses in order to stay current. The CIS – Risk and Compliance exam validate that a successful candidate possesses the skills and knowledge required to contribute to the configuration, implementation, and maintenance of Policy and Compliance, ServiceNow Risk, and Audit Management applications. Let’s start with the Risk and Compliance Management interview questions.

Advanced Questions

Here are some common interview questions for a position in CIS-Risk and Compliance Management:

What can you tell us about the compliance regulations such as HIPAA, SOC 2, and PCI-DSS?

HIPAA is a set of regulations established by the US Department of Health and Human Services that governs the handling and protection of protected health information (PHI) by covered entities and their business associates. It includes requirements for administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect PHI from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. Compliance with HIPAA is mandatory for healthcare providers, healthcare clearinghouses, and healthcare plans.

SOC 2 is a set of standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) that sets out requirements for the security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy of customer data. It is commonly used by organizations that handle sensitive customer data and need to demonstrate that they have robust controls in place to protect that data. Compliance with SOC 2 is voluntary but can be useful for organizations that want to demonstrate to customers and partners that they take data security seriously.

PCI-DSS is a set of standards established by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council to ensure that organizations that accept, process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment. Compliance with PCI-DSS is mandatory for any organization that accepts credit card payments and it includes requirements for network security, access controls, and regular security testing.

How to stay current on changes to compliance regulations and industry best practices?

Organizations and individuals can stay current on changes to compliance regulations and industry best practices by:

1. Monitoring official government websites, such as the Department of Health and Human Services (HIPAA), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (SOC 2), and the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI-DSS) for updates and changes to regulations.
2. Following industry publications and thought leaders for updates and analysis on new regulations and best practices.
3. Attending relevant conferences and seminars to stay informed about the latest developments in the field.
4. Hiring experts to stay updated on the regulations and assist with compliance.
5. Participating in compliance-related training and education programs to stay informed about the latest best practices and trends in the field.

It’s important to note that compliance regulations are constantly changing, and organizations must be proactive in keeping up with the latest developments in order to remain compliant and protect sensitive information.

How do you prioritize and manage risk in your current or past role?

We can prioritize and manage risks in the following ways:

1. Conduct a risk assessment: This involves identifying and assessing potential risks to the organization and its assets, including data, systems, and personnel. The assessment should consider the likelihood and potential impact of each risk, and should be reviewed and updated regularly.
2. Prioritize risks: Based on the results of the risk assessment, prioritize risks based on their likelihood and potential impact. This will help the organization focus on addressing the most significant risks first.
3. Develop a risk management plan: Once risks have been identified and prioritized, develop a plan to mitigate or manage them. This may include implementing security controls, developing incident response plans, or creating procedures for monitoring and reporting risks.
4. Implement the plan: Put the risk management plan into action, implementing the necessary controls and procedures to mitigate or manage the identified risks.
5. Monitor and review: Regularly monitor and review the effectiveness of the risk management plan, and adjust as necessary to address new or changing risks.
6. Communicate with stakeholders: Keep stakeholders informed about risks and the steps being taken to manage them. This helps to ensure that everyone is aware of the potential risks and is taking the necessary precautions to protect the organization.

It’s important to note that risk management is an ongoing process that requires continuous monitoring, review, and adaptation to changing circumstance

How to handle a non-compliance issue, and how you resolved it?

in general, organizations can handle non-compliance issues by taking the following steps:

1. Identify the non-compliance issue: Clearly define and document the non-compliance issue and its impact on the organization.
2. Investigate the cause of the non-compliance: Determine the root cause of the non-compliance issue, and whether it was due to a lack of understanding of the regulations, a failure of internal controls, or some other factor.
3. Develop a plan to address the issue: Based on the investigation, develop a plan to address the non-compliance issue, including the steps that will be taken to prevent it from happening again.
4. Implement the plan: Put the plan into action, implementing the necessary controls and procedures to prevent the non-compliance issue from happening again.
5. Communicate with stakeholders: Keep stakeholders informed of the non-compliance issue and the steps being taken to address it.
6. Review and report: Review the effectiveness of the plan and report on the steps taken to address the non-compliance issue and prevent recurrence.

It’s important to note that non-compliance issues can have serious consequences, including fines, penalties, and damage to an organization’s reputation. Therefore, it is essential to handle non-compliance issues quickly and effectively, to ensure that the organization is able to meet its compliance obligations and protect sensitive information

How do you ensure that your team is aware of and adhering to compliance requirements?

We can ensure that their teams are aware of and adhering to compliance requirements by taking the following steps:

1. Provide training and education: Provide regular training and education to team members on compliance requirements, including the regulations and best practices that apply to their roles. This can be done through in-person training sessions, online courses, or written materials.
2. Establish clear policies and procedures: Develop and communicate clear policies and procedures that outline the compliance requirements that team members must adhere to. Make sure that these policies and procedures are easily accessible and that team members understand them.
3. Assign a compliance officer or team: Appoint a compliance officer or team who will be responsible for monitoring compliance and answering questions from team members. This person or team should be knowledgeable about the regulations and best practices that apply to the organization.
4. Monitor compliance: Regularly monitor team members to ensure that they are adhering to the compliance requirements. This can include spot-checks, audits, and reviews of documentation.
5. Encourage reporting: Encourage team members to report any compliance-related issues that they may encounter. This can be done through an anonymous hotline or an email address specifically for compliance issues.
6. Reward compliance: Recognize and reward team members who demonstrate a commitment to compliance. This can help to foster a culture of compliance within the organization.

It’s important to note that compliance is an ongoing process and requires the commitment of the entire organization to be successful. By keeping team members informed, trained and aware of the requirements, organizations can minimize the risks of non-compliance and protect sensitive information.

How to perform incident response and disaster recovery planning?

Incident response and disaster recovery planning involves preparing for and responding to unexpected events that could disrupt business operations or compromise sensitive information. Organizations can perform incident response and disaster recovery planning by taking the following steps:

1. Develop an incident response plan: Identify the potential incidents that could disrupt business operations and develop a plan for responding to them. The plan should include roles and responsibilities, communication protocols, and procedures for containing and mitigating the incident.
2. Conduct incident response drills: Regularly conduct incident response drills to test the incident response plan and ensure that team members are familiar with their roles and responsibilities. This will also allow the organization to identify any gaps or weaknesses in the plan that need to be addressed.
3. Develop a disaster recovery plan: Identify the potential disasters that could disrupt business operations and develop a plan for recovering from them. The plan should include procedures for protecting critical information and systems, restoring operations, and communicating with stakeholders.
4. Conduct disaster recovery drills: Regularly conduct disaster recovery drills to test the disaster recovery plan and ensure that team members are familiar with their roles and responsibilities. This will also allow the organization to identify any gaps or weaknesses in the plan that need to be addressed.
5. Review and update plans: Review and update incident response and disaster recovery plans regularly to ensure that they remain effective in the face of new risks or changes in the organization’s operations.
6. Communicate with stakeholders: Communicate incident response and disaster recovery plans and procedures to stakeholders, including customers, partners, and external organizations, to ensure that everyone understands the organization’s capabilities and procedures for responding to incidents and disasters.

It’s important to note that incident response and disaster recovery planning is an ongoing process that requires regular review and testing. Organizations should be prepared to adapt their plans in response to changing risks and business needs.

How do you measure the effectiveness of your compliance and risk management program?

Measuring the effectiveness of a compliance and risk management program involves evaluating the program’s ability to meet its objectives and protect the organization from compliance violations and risks. Organizations can measure the effectiveness of their compliance and risk management program by taking the following steps:

1. Set clear and measurable objectives: Define clear and measurable objectives for the compliance and risk management program that align with the organization’s overall goals and objectives.
2. Collect data: Collect data on key compliance and risk management metrics, such as the number of compliance violations, the number of security incidents, and the cost of compliance and risk management activities.
3. Analyze data: Analyze the data to identify trends, patterns, and areas for improvement. Compare the data against established benchmarks and standards.
4. Evaluate controls: Evaluate the effectiveness of the controls and procedures in place to protect against compliance violations and risks. This can include testing the controls, reviewing documentation, and conducting audits.
5. Communicate findings: Communicate the findings of the evaluation to relevant stakeholders, including management, compliance and risk management teams, and external auditors.
6. Implement improvements: Based on the findings, implement improvements to the compliance and risk management program to address any areas of weakness or inefficiency.
7. Repeat the process: Regularly repeat the process of setting objectives, collecting data, analyzing data, evaluating controls, communicating findings, and implementing improvements to ensure that the program remains effective over time.

It’s important to note that measuring the effectiveness of compliance and risk management program is an ongoing process that requires regular review and adaptation. Organizations should be prepared to adapt their program in response to changing risks and business needs.

What are security controls such as access controls and data encryption?

Security controls are measures put in place to protect against unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction of information. Two important security controls are:

1. Access controls: Access controls are measures put in place to ensure that only authorized individuals or systems can access sensitive information. Examples of access controls include user authentication (e.g., passwords or biometrics), access permissions, and data encryption.
2. Data encryption: Data encryption is the process of converting plaintext data into encoded (ciphertext) data, which can only be decrypted with a specific key or password. This makes it more difficult for unauthorized individuals to access or read the data.

Access controls are important because they help to ensure that only authorized individuals or systems can access sensitive information, which can help prevent data breaches and unauthorized access. Data encryption is important because it helps to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access or disclosure by making it unreadable to anyone without the decryption key.

Examples of access controls include:

• User authentication: This is the process of verifying the identity of a user before allowing access to a system or resource. User authentication can be done through a variety of methods, such as passwords, security tokens, or biometrics.
• Access permissions: This is the process of granting or denying access to specific systems or resources based on an individual’s role or position within the organization. Access permissions can be set at the user, group, or system level.
• Data encryption: This is the process of converting plaintext data into encoded (ciphertext) data, which can only be decrypted with a specific key or password. This makes it more difficult for unauthorized individuals to access or read the data.

It’s important to note that security controls are not a one-time implementation but an ongoing process that requires regular review, testing and adaptation to changing risks and business needs.

How do you integrate compliance and security requirements into the software development process?

Integrating compliance and security requirements into the software development process helps to ensure that the software meets the necessary regulations and standards while also protecting sensitive information. Organizations can integrate compliance and security requirements into the software development process by taking the following steps:

1. Identify relevant regulations and standards: Identify the regulations and standards that apply to the software being developed, such as HIPAA, SOC 2, or PCI-DSS.
2. Incorporate compliance and security requirements into the software development process: Incorporate the compliance and security requirements into the software development process by including them as part of the requirements gathering, design, development, testing, and deployment phases.
3. Perform regular security testing: Perform regular security testing to identify and address potential vulnerabilities in the software. This can include penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, and code review.
4. Implement secure coding practices: Implement secure coding practices to ensure that the software is developed with security in mind. This can include training developers on secure coding practices, using secure coding libraries, and incorporating security testing into the development process.
5. Document compliance and security requirements: Document the compliance and security requirements for the software, including the regulations and standards that apply, the specific requirements that must be met, and the controls that are in place to meet those requirements.
6. Monitor and review: Monitor and review the software development process to ensure that compliance and security requirements are being met. This can include regular audits and assessments to identify and address any issues.

It’s important to note that compliance and security requirements are not a one-time implementation but an ongoing process that requires regular review, testing and adaptation to changing risks and business needs. Integrating them into the software development process is the best way to ensure that the software meets the necessary regulations and standards while also protecting sensitive information.

How do you collaborate with other departments and stakeholders to ensure compliance and risk management?

Collaborating with other departments and stakeholders is important for ensuring compliance and risk management within an organization. Organizations can collaborate with other departments and stakeholders by taking the following steps:

1. Communicate regularly: Communicate regularly with other departments and stakeholders to ensure that they are aware of the compliance and risk management program and their role in it. This can include regular meetings, updates, and training sessions.
2. Assign a compliance officer or team: Assign a compliance officer or team who will be responsible for monitoring compliance and answering questions from other departments and stakeholders. This person or team should be knowledgeable about the regulations and best practices that apply to the organization.
3. Involve other departments and stakeholders in the risk assessment process: Involve other departments and stakeholders in the risk assessment process to ensure that all risks are identified and considered. This can include seeking input from different departments and stakeholders during the risk assessment process.
4. Establish clear policies and procedures: Establish clear policies and procedures that outline the compliance and risk management requirements that other departments and stakeholders must adhere to. Make sure that these policies and procedures are easily accessible and that other departments and stakeholders understand them.
5. Encourage reporting: Encourage other departments and stakeholders to report any compliance-related issues or risks that they may encounter. This can be done through an anonymous hotline or an email address specifically for compliance issues.
6. Reward compliance: Recognize and reward other departments and stakeholders who demonstrate a commitment to compliance and risk management. This can help to foster a culture of compliance within the organization.
7. Monitor and review: Monitor and review the compliance and risk management program regularly to ensure that it remains effective over time.

It’s important to note that compliance and risk management is a shared responsibility that requires the collaboration of the entire organization. By involving other departments and stakeholders in the process, organizations can ensure that compliance and risk management is integrated into all aspects of the business and that all risks are identified and considered.

Basic Questions

1.What exactly is a risk matrix? Why is it significant?

A risk matrix is a methodology used to map the outcomes of a risk assessment process for proper handling. Risk treatment is typically implemented by an organization’s management for “Extreme” and “High” risks. The risk appetite of the organization is usually used to determine “medium” risks.

2. What security standards have you worked on?

Make sure you have an answer ready for this question, as it is frequently asked in compliance interviews. Make sure to mention the ones specifically mentioned in the Job Description, and go over the domains of these standards to use as keywords if asked. ISO 27001 is the most fundamental standard for information security and risk management profiles. Understanding the fundamentals of 22301, COBEC, and GDPR will also be beneficial.

3. What do you mean by Gap Analysis?

A security gap analysis identifies the gaps between your organization’s current state of information security implementation (as-is) and its ideal state (to-be). The analysis results show the areas for improvement for the organization to achieve the desired target state, and organizations can devise the necessary budget and action plan to accomplish the same.

4. What is the distinction between process, guidelines, and policies?

• Policy: A high-level document outlining senior management’s intent on security directions.
• Procedure: A detailed step-by-step list of tasks (SOP) that must be completed in order to achieve the desired outcome.
• The term “guideline” refers to a list of recommendations/best practises that are optional to follow.

5. How do you reduce risk in CIS-Risk and Compliance Management?

Prioritizing risk control and reducing those that can have a significant impact on an organization is the best strategy. Risk reduction entails anticipating disasters and devising strategies to mitigate their consequences. The needs of business employees are taken into account in risk mitigation. Furthermore, risk mitigation entails identifying potential risks in the business, analyzing the impact of each risk, and ranking risks based on their impact on the business.

6. How can you ensure risk monitoring and control?

Monitoring and controlling risks entails a variety of processes such as tracking identified risks, implementing response plans, improving risk management processes, and effectively responding to new risks.

7. What is the definition of risk breakdown structure?

A risk breakdown structure, or RBS, is a hierarchical representation of risks. An RBS starts with higher-level risks and works its way down to the lowest-level risks. It is easier to streamline risks when there are different levels. Furthermore, by focusing on specific risk categories, it is easier to identify risks categorically.

8. Briefly describe the risk management process.

Although different terms are used to describe the risk management process, the main steps are as follows:

• Identifying risk – this is the process of identifying and describing potential risks to the business.
• Risk analysis entails the risk manager examining each identified risk to determine the magnitude of its impact on organisational goals.
• Risk evaluation is the process by which risks are ranked based on the negative impact they have on an organisation.
• Deal with risks – the risk manager develops preventive, contingency, and risk-mitigation strategies. You will respond based on the risks that pose a high risk to the business.
• Risk monitoring entails tracking and reviewing risks at this stage.

9. What is the difference between risk probability and risk impact?

A risk impact is the effect or result of a risk event on project objectives. Impacts can be beneficial or detrimental to a project’s objectives. While the impact scale may vary, a five-point scale ranging from very low to very high is commonly used to indicate the level of risk.

The possibility of a risk event is referred to as risk probability. This possibility can be represented quantitatively as well as qualitatively. Risk probability is expressed qualitatively with words like rare, possible, and frequent. Frequencies, percentages, and scores are used in the numerical expression.”

10. What exactly are risk matrices?

Risk matrices will not be required in the majority of businesses. They can, however, be used to help you determine the level of risk associated with a specific issue. They accomplish this by classifying the likelihood of harm and the potential severity of the harm. This is then represented in a matrix (please see below for an example). The risk level dictates which risks should be addressed first.

A matrix can help you prioritize your actions to control risk. It is appropriate for a wide range of assessments, but it excels in more complex situations. To accurately judge the likelihood of harm, however, expertise and experience are required.

11. What are the most important risks?

Significant risks are those that are not trivial in nature and are capable of posing a genuine threat to one’s health and safety, which any reasonable person would recognize and take precautions against. What is deemed ‘insignificant’ will differ from site to site and activity to activity, depending on the circumstances.

12. What exactly is a risk assessment throughout the life cycle?

The primary goal of RA is to identify and quantify the risks associated with the release of chemicals into the environment, as well as the subsequent exposure of humans and ecosystems.

1. The primary goal of LCA is to quantify the health and environmental impacts of products over their entire life cycle.

13. Define Risk Lifecycle in CIS-Risk and Compliance Management.

End-to-end risk identification, assessment, management, monitoring, and reporting systems and processes If such a thing exists, this is the “bread and butter” of risk management. It is the pivot around which an organization attempts to understand and manage its risks.

14. Explain Risk Scoring.

Risk scoring is the process of calculating a score that tells you how serious a risk is based on several factors. Without a standardized model for risk scoring, risk and security teams would struggle to communicate internally about how to allocate resources appropriately in order to minimize costs and business impact.

When it comes to risk scoring, there are two types of data to consider: quantitative and qualitative. These two types are easily distinguished by whether the data is numerical or not. Quantitative data is quantifiable, whereas qualitative data is more explanatory. While that is a high-level overview, let’s dig into some specifics.

15. What do you understand by GRC Entities Architecture?

Governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) is a management strategy for an organization’s overall governance, enterprise risk management, and regulatory compliance. Consider GRC to be a systematic approach to aligning IT with business goals while effectively managing risk and meeting compliance requirements.

A well-planned GRC strategy has numerous advantages, including better decision-making, more efficient IT investments, the elimination of silos, and reduced fragmentation among divisions and departments, to name a few.

16. What is GRC in CIS-Risk and Compliance Management?

GRC (for governance, risk, and compliance) is an organizational strategy for managing governance, risk management, and regulatory compliance. GRC can also refer to an integrated suite of software capabilities for implementing and managing a GRC program in an enterprise.

The GRC set of practices and processes provides a structured approach to aligning IT with business goals. GRC assists businesses in effectively managing IT and security risks, reducing costs, and meeting compliance requirements. It also improves decision-making and performance by providing an integrated view of how well a company manages its risks.

17. Explain Compliance management.

Compliance management refers to the ongoing process of monitoring and assessing systems to ensure they meet industry and security standards, as well as corporate and regulatory policies and requirements.

18. What is the definition of a derived role in GRC?

The already existing roles are referred to as derived roles. They are commonly viewed as a menu structure containing specific functions to provide services such as transactions, reports, Web-links, and so on. An existing role, on the other hand, can only inherit as a menu or function if it has never been assigned with transaction codes until now.

They have a very proper way of maintaining roles, and now those roles do not differ in functionality; such as the menus and functions provided by them. When they come into contact with people at different levels of the organization, they simply exhibit different behaviors.

19. What is the Composite role in GRC?

A composite role is a container that contains a collection of several different roles. It is also known as a role. These roles no longer deal with authorization data. So, to change the authorizations represented by the composite roles, we simply need to maintain each role separately for data maintenance, which is time-consuming.

20. Explain the application of GRC risk management.

GRC Risk Management is used to manage and control all types of risks that are currently or will be in the future. GRC Risk Management has a variety of applications. Here are a few examples:

• The primary focus of Risk Management is on organizational alignment with regard to various factors such as risks that require immediate attention, risk mitigation, and associated thresholds.
• Risk management systems analyze risks qualitatively and quantitatively in order to determine the level of risk and decide whether or not to accept it for the organization.
• It also includes a variety of risk-reduction strategies.
• Next, it identifies risks in a company.
• It employs both preventive and investigative mitigation control methods.

21. What are the key activities that Process control and Access control have in common in GRC?

• Risk control is required as part of compliance and regulation practice in order to mitigate risk in an organization.
• A critical component of risk management in an organization is clearly defining responsibilities, managing role provisioning, and managing access for the superuser.

22. What exactly is the Audit Risk Rating (ARR)?

Audit Risk Rating is used to define the criteria for an organization so that risk rating can be found and ranking for risk rating can be established. Each audible entity is rated in Audit Risk Rating based on management feedback (ARR). ARR can be used to complete the following tasks:

• It is possible to determine the set of audible entities as well as the risk factor.
• Each auditable entity’s risk score for a risk factor can be defined and evaluated.
• The auditable entity can be rated according to its risk score.
• Users can generate an audit plan from Audit Risk Rating by comparing risk scores for different auditable entities (ARR).

23. Define is Internal Audit Management (IAM).

Internal Audit Management enables a user to process information from risk management and process control in order to use it in audit planning. When necessary, audit proposals can be transferred to audit management for processing, and issues for reporting can be generated using audit items. Internal Audit Management gives users a place to complete audit planning, create audit items, define the audit universe, and create and view audit reports and audit issues.

24. Describe how to use the Report and Analytics Work Center in GRC.

The Reports and Analytics Work center is shared by process control, risk management, and access control. Access Dashboards, Access Risk Analytics Report, Security Reports, Role Management Reports, Audit Reports, and Superuser Management Reports are some of the main areas of focus for the Risk and Analytics Work Center. This section completes a specific set of tasks before submitting a report to the board for analysis. This body serves as a hub for displaying reports and dashboards such as user analysis and other reports.

25. What are the advantages of GRC?

GRC has a variety of benefits and applications, including:

• Since GRC is less complex, activities can be easily managed.
• It aids in risk identification, risk evaluation, and risk management activities.
• It contributes to the development of planning strategies that aid in corporate management and policymaking.
• Measures to ensure compliance with laws, policies, and organizational formalities.
• GRC is a broad set of activities rather than a single activity designed to achieve high standards.

26. What exactly is UME and how does it work?

The user management system is abbreviated as UME. When a user attempts to access a tab whose access is not with them, the tab does not display. A user can only access a function if a UME action has been assigned to a tab for that user. All of the available standard UME actions for CC tabs can be found in the Admin user’s tab “Assigned Actions.”

27. Define Preventive Mitigation Controls.

Preventive mitigation control measures are used to reduce the impact of risk even before the risk occurs. This process includes the following activities: configuration, user exits, security, workflow definition, and custom objects. Preventive mitigation aids in the implementation of release strategies and authorization limits.

28. What do you understand by Detective Mitigation Controls?

Detective Mitigation Controls are used when a risk alert has already been generated, i.e. when the risk occurs. This process requires various activities such as activity reports, alert information, budget reviews, and comparisons between plans made and reviews generated. Detective Mitigation Controls aid in the identification and analysis of various risks.

29. Describe how to use the Report and Analytics Work Center in GRC.

The Reports and Analytics Work center is shared by process control, risk management, and access control. Access Dashboards, Access Risk Analytics Reports, Security Reports, Role Management Reports, Audit Reports, and Superuser Management Reports are some of the main areas of focus for the Risk and Analytics Work Center. This section completes a specific set of tasks before submitting a report to the board for analysis. This body serves as a hub for displaying reports and dashboards such as user analysis and other reports.

30. What exactly is an Audit Universe?

The Audit Universe is the space that contains audit entities such as business units, lobbies, and departments. Audit entities define audit planning strategies, which can be linked to process control and risk management to identify risks, controls, and so on.