ISO/IEC 27002 recommends that audit testing should be planned and agreed upon between the tester and appropriate management. The purpose is to obtain assurance without creating unnecessary disruption, exposure, or operational risk. Audit tests can involve access attempts, vulnerability checks, sampling, transaction tracing, configuration review, log review, or control validation. If such activities are unmanaged, they may overload systems, expose sensitive information, interrupt services, conflict with change windows, or create false incident signals. Option B is incorrect because ad hoc assurance testing can be risky and inconsistent unless properly authorized and controlled. Option C is incorrect because audits should not normally require stopping operational systems and business processes; rather, they should be designed to minimize disruption while preserving evidence quality. ISO/IEC 27002 treats audit and assurance activities as important but controlled. Planning should define scope, timing, method, responsibilities, data handling, access requirements, and communication. The verified answer is option A because it balances assurance with operational security and business continuity. References/Chapters: ISO/IEC 27002:2022, Control 8.34 Protection of information systems during audit testing; Control 5.35 Independent review of information security.

Confidentiality is breached when information is made available or disclosed to unauthorized individuals, entities, or processes. Option A is the correct answer because employees from all departments have access to colleagues' personal data, even though such access should normally be restricted to authorized roles such as HR, payroll, compliance, or designated management. Internal users can still be unauthorized users when their role does not justify access. ISO/IEC 27002 addresses this through access control, access rights management, classification, privacy protection, and information access restriction. Option B is an availability issue because a department cannot access needed customer phone numbers due to equipment failure. Option C is an integrity issue because banking information was accidentally modified. The confidentiality principle is specifically about limiting disclosure and availability of information to authorized parties only. Personal data requires additional care because privacy obligations may apply, and excessive internal access can create legal, ethical, and reputational harm. The verified answer is therefore option A. References/Chapters: ISO/IEC
27002:2022, Control 5.15 Access control; Control 5.18 Access rights; Control 5.34 Privacy and protection of PII; Control 8.3 Information access restriction.

Control 7.9, Security of assets off-premises, belongs to the physical control group. ISO/IEC 27002:2022 organizes controls into four themes: organizational controls, people controls, physical controls, and technological controls. Controls in Clause 7 are physical controls, and Control 7.9 specifically addresses protection of organizational assets when they are outside the organization's premises. This includes laptops, mobile devices, storage media, documents, portable equipment, and other assets used during travel, remote work, home working, customer visits, supplier sites, or field operations. Off-premises use increases physical risk because assets may be exposed to theft, loss, damage, unauthorized viewing, insecure storage, or uncontrolled environments. Although technological measures such as encryption and remote wipe may support this control, the control itself is placed in the physical theme because its focus is the secure handling and protection of assets outside controlled facilities. Option A is incorrect because organizational controls are in Clause 5. Option C is incorrect because technological controls are in Clause 8. References/Chapters: ISO
/IEC 27002:2022, Clause 7 Physical controls; Control 7.9 Security of assets off-premises; Clause 4 Structure of the standard.

When using cryptography, organizations should consider roles and responsibilities for key management.
Cryptographic controls are only effective when keys are properly generated, stored, distributed, rotated, backed up, revoked, destroyed, and protected from unauthorized access. Weak key management can defeat strong algorithms because compromise of the key can expose encrypted information or allow unauthorized signing, decryption, or impersonation. ISO/IEC 27002 Control 8.24, Use of cryptography, guides organizations to define rules for effective cryptographic use, including protection of confidentiality, authenticity, integrity, and non-repudiation where relevant. Key management responsibilities must be assigned clearly so that ownership, custody, approval, recovery, and emergency access are controlled. Option B relates to project security management, not cryptographic implementation specifically. Option C relates to network security and filtering, not cryptographic key governance. Cryptography requires policy decisions about algorithms, key lengths, certificate management, lifecycle handling, legal restrictions, and separation of duties. The exam's correct answer is therefore option A because key management is a central technical and governance constraint of cryptographic protection. References/Chapters: ISO/IEC 27002:2022, Control 8.24 Use of cryptography; Control 5.15 Access control; Control 5.17 Authentication information.