CBCP-002 Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) Questions and Answers

Technical risk is the type of risk that is associated with risk of physical assets failing/being damaged or enhanced. Technical risk is the uncertainty or variability of the performance or reliability of physical assets, such as equipment, systems, infrastructure, or data. Technical risk can result from factors such as design flaws, manufacturing defects, maintenance issues, obsolescence, human error, natural disasters, or cyberattacks. Technical risk can affect an organization’s operational efficiency, quality, safety, security, or profitability. Verified References: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/technical-risk.asp https://www.thebci.org/training-qualifications/good-practice-guidelines.html

Milestones are important events in a project that mark the completion of a major deliverable or the achievement of a key goal. They are a good time to check in with employees and management to see how they are feeling about the project, and to get their feedback on how things are going. This is also a good time to reinforce the importance of the project and to get everyone re-committed to its success.

The other three options are not as good times to maximize on the employees' new awareness and management support. Timelines are important, but they are not as important as milestones in terms of getting people's attention. Benchmarks are useful for tracking progress, but they are not as good for getting people's buy-in. Structure is important for organizing a project, but it is not as important as milestones for motivating people.

So, the answer to the question is that the milestones phase of the project is the time to maximize on the employees' new awareness and management support.

Here are some specific things that you can do at the milestones phase to maximize on employee awareness and management support:

Hold a team meeting to celebrate the milestone and to discuss the next steps.

Send out a communication to all employees and managers, highlighting the milestone and thanking everyone for their hard work.

Meet with management to discuss the project's progress and to get their feedback.

Use the milestone as an opportunity to reinforce the importance of the project and to get everyone re-committed to its success.

In Business Continuity Planning (BCP), confidentiality and security of sensitive information are critical considerations when releasing details publicly. According to standard practices outlined in Business Continuity Professional guidelines, such as those from the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI) and ISO 22301, certain elements of a BCP should remain confidential to protect the organization and its stakeholders.

Process flows: These describe how critical processes are maintained or recovered during a disruption. While detailed process flows may be sensitive internally, a high-level overview can often be shared publicly to demonstrate preparedness without compromising operational security. Thus, they are not inherently prohibited from public release.

Contact lists: These contain personal and operational details such as names, phone numbers, and roles of key personnel involved in the BCP. Releasing contact lists publicly poses significant risks, including privacy violations, potential targeting by malicious actors, and operational vulnerabilities. Best practices dictate that contact lists should remain confidential and restricted to authorized personnel only.

BIA results: The Business Impact Analysis (BIA) identifies critical functions, recovery time objectives (RTOs), and potential impacts of disruptions. While detailed BIA results are sensitive, summary-level findings (e.g., critical processes identified without specific vulnerabilities) can sometimes be shared to show due diligence. However, this is not strictly prohibited in public releases if anonymized or generalized.

All of the above: Since process flows and BIA results can be released in a controlled, summarized form, this option is incorrect. The key element that should unequivocally not be released is the contact list due to its sensitive nature.

Therefore, the correct answer isB. Contact lists, as it aligns with the principle of protecting sensitive personal and operational data in public disclosures.

References:

DRI International Professional Practices for Business Continuity Management (2023), Section 6: Business Continuity Plan Development – Emphasizes safeguarding sensitive data like contact details.

ISO 22301:2019, Clause 8.4 – Highlights confidentiality in BCP documentation and communication.

Tolerating risk is where no action is taken to mitigate or reduce a risk. This is true because tolerating risk is one of the possible strategies for managing risk. Tolerating risk means accepting or retaining a risk without taking any further action to reduce it, either because the risk level is acceptable or because the cost or effort of reducing it is not justified. Tolerating risk may be appropriate for low-priority or low-impact risks that do not pose a significant threat to the organization’s objectives. Verified References: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/the-four-ts.asp https://www.thebci.org/training-qualifications/good-practice-guidelines.html

The primary reason for developing and implementing a business continuity plan is to ensure the continuation of a company’s critical functions and processes in the face of a disruption that may otherwise cause severe losses or damage to the company’s reputation, assets, customers, or stakeholders. A business continuity plan can help a company to resume operations asquickly as possible after a disruption, minimize the impact on its performance and profitability, protect its brand and image, and fulfill its legal and contractual obligations. Verified References: https://www.ready.gov/business-continuity-plan https://drii.org/resources/professionalpractices/EN

Threats can be considered any events or situations that can cause harm or disruption to an organization’s functions or processes. Threats can be natural, human-made, or technological in origin. Some examples of threats are water (such as floods, leaks, or spills), technology failure (such as system crashes, cyberattacks, or power outages), and fire (such as arson, accidents, or explosions). Verified References: https://www.iso.org/publication/PUB100442.html https://phoenixnap.com/blog/what-is-business-continuity-management

Risks are diverse and arise from both external and internal sources. This is true because risks are uncertainties that can have positive or negative effects on an organization’s objectives. Risks can arise from various sources that are either outside or inside the organization’s control. External sources of risk include natural disasters, cyberattacks, market fluctuations, customer preferences, competition, regulation, or political instability. Internal sources of risk include human error, fraud, system failure, process inefficiency, organizational culture, or strategic decisions. Verified References: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/businessrisk.asp https://www.thebci.org/training-qualifications/good-practice-guidelines.html

A disaster can also be declared for an illness pandemic where a significant portion of employees are sick. This is true because an illness pandemic is a type of natural disaster that can affect an organization’s ability to continue its normal operations. An illness pandemic can cause absenteeism, reduced productivity, increased costs, supply chain disruptions, customer dissatisfaction, or regulatory compliance issues. Therefore, an organization may need to declare a disaster and activate its business continuity and disaster recovery plan if an illness pandemic impacts its critical functions and processes beyond an acceptable level. Verified References: https://www.ready.gov/business-continuity-plan https://www.csoonline.com/article/515730/business-continuity-and-disaster-recovery-planning-the-basics.html

BIA helps to identify all of the above aspects of an organization’s functions and processes. It helps to identify the critical services and products that the organization delivers to its customers and stakeholders, and the functions and processes that support them. It also helps to identify the critical interdependencies and interested parties that are involved in or affected by the organization’s functions and processes, such as suppliers, partners, regulators, or employees. Moreover, it helps to identify the tangible and intangible impacts of a disruption to the organization’s functions and processes over a period of time, such as financial losses, reputational damage, legal liabilities, or customer dissatisfaction. Verified References: https://www.ready.gov/business-impact-analysis https://drii.org/resources/professionalpractices/EN