The longest step is not the five-minute miss | Rapid course Security governance, risk and compliance

Open, free learning for anyone who wants to protect people and technology. No account is required to read this text or its worked answers.

Lesson map

Lesson 06. Map, example, EX060.

flowchart TD
  T["Total 245 against 240"] --> M["MISSED by 5"]
  L["Largest single step is 70"] --> D["Database restore"]
  M --> G{"Does shrinking 70 on paper retire the miss?"}
  G -->|No| K["The approved work is three other items"]

The maximum and the gap answer different questions.

Logical drawing

comparison
    245 against 240, miss of 5
maximum
    restore scheduling database, 70 min
approved improvements
    protected place for instructions and credentials
    scripted web host configuration
    identity reconnection written into the procedure
        |
        +-- none of those three is "cut 5 minutes off the 70"
        +-- a pencilled 70 does not isolate a copy

Learning outcomes

After this chapter, you should be able to:

Separate the five-minute miss from the longest step.
Name the three improvements without adding a fourth.
Refuse a paper cut to the database minutes.

6.1 Two readings, and a shortcut that is neither

The running total is what the program compares with 240. The maximum looks only at each step's own minutes and lands on restoring the scheduling database. A classmate proposes to write 65 over that 70 so the miss disappears. That edit is not one of the three improvements the director accepted. Those are a known protected place for the instructions and the backup credentials, a scripted web host configuration, and the identity reconnection written into the procedure. None of them is a homemade reduction of the database line. The engineer does not replace 70 in the published output.

6.2 Worked example

Lesson table; scroll horizontally to read all columns →

Proposal	Which question it pretends to close	Decision
Leave 70 as the longest step	The maximum	Accept the reading
Treat 70 as the reason the sum missed	The comparison, which uses every step	Refuse the swap
Write 65 in place of 70	A paper total	Refuse
Do the three named improvements, then retest	The approved option	Still future work

Synthetic case. The figure 65 is a classmate's mark. It is not a timed database restore.

Errors and limits

Naming the longest step still matters for the procedure. It does not, by itself, explain the five minutes.

Apply

EX060 — Which number would you rewrite? Someone says the miss is the database step, and writes 65 where the log says 70. Which comparison actually produced the miss, and which three improvements stay the approved work?
Show marking criteria
Rubric: 3 = the miss is 245 against 240; the maximum is the 70-minute database restore and is a different fact; the approved work is the protected location, the scripted web host and the written identity step; do not replace 70;; 2 = the miss and the maximum stay distinct;; 1 = one of those;; 0 = none.