Free Practice Questions for HITRUST CCSFP Exam

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

Assessors must maintain independence and avoid conflicts of interest.

If David assisted in remediating a gap, he cannot also validate the remediation, as that would compromise objectivity.

HITRUST requires separation of consulting/remediation support from assurance/validation activities.

Extract Reference (HITRUST CSF Assurance Program Independence Standards [0141]):

External Assessors may not validate remediation efforts they directly assisted in, to preserve independence.

HITRUST provides sampling guidance in the CSF Assessment Methodology and scoring rubric for manual controls. Sample sizes are determined by the population of items and the control’s frequency. For a population of 56 items, the expected sample size is 8, following HITRUST’s defined sampling table. This approach is based on statistical sampling principles but simplified for consistent assessor use. The sample must be randomly selected and representative of the entire population to avoid bias. Larger populations require larger sample sizes, but at certain thresholds, the increase is incremental. For example, a population between 26–100 items requires a sample size of 8. This ensures sufficient testing coverage without requiring a full census. Therefore, the correct sample size for 56 items is 8.

For the Measured domain, evidence must exist that controls are being evaluated for effectiveness.

Without documentation, a control cannot be measured, as there is no evidence of monitoring or review activity.

Documentation is the basis for determining repeatability, maturity, and strength in the scoring model.

Extract Reference (HITRUST Scoring Methodology [0126]):

If a control is undocumented, it cannot be evaluated in the Measured domain, as measurement requires documentation of monitoring.

The HITRUST CSF is structured around a hierarchical model:

Control Categories → 14 high-level groupings (e.g., Access Control, Incident Management).

Control Objectives → Define goals under each category.

Control References → Specific implementation requirements aligned to objectives.

This structure ensures traceability from high-level objectives down to actionable control requirements.

Option B describes NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), not HITRUST.

Option A/C include COBIT, which is integrated but not the structural foundation.

Extract Reference (HITRUST CSF Overview, CCSFP Guide [0134]):

The CSF is organized into Control Categories, Control Objectives, and Control References.

When a requirement statement is marked as Not Applicable (N/A) in MyCSF, HITRUST requires the organization to provide a justification. This justification must be entered into the Subscriber Comments field. The rationale explains why the requirement does not apply to the entity’s environment, systems, or data. For example, if a requirement relates to payment card data but the organization does not process credit cards, the Subscriber Comments field should document that no PCI-DSS scope exists. HITRUST QA reviews these justifications to ensure N/As are applied appropriately. Failure to document rationale can result in QA findings or required CAPs. This requirement preserves transparency and prevents misuse of the N/A designation to exclude applicable controls.

HITRUST enforces a strict separation of duties to maintain assessor independence. External assessors are prohibited from remediating controls for their clients. Their role is to evaluate, test, and validate, not to design or implement fixes. If an assessor directly assists in remediation, they compromise their independence and introduce conflicts of interest. This situation undermines the credibility of the assurance program. In the example, because David assisted in remediation, he cannot objectively validate the effectiveness of the same control. The client would need to use separate consulting resources for remediation while retaining the assessor for independent validation. This rule preserves the integrity and impartiality of the certification process.

In MyCSF, organizational performance dashboards are available under the Analytics tab. This section provides interactive reporting features, including trend charts, compliance scores, domain comparisons, CAP summaries, and benchmarking across multiple assessment objects. Unlike the Reference Library or Administration tab, which are used for framework access and account management, the Analytics tab focuses on reporting and visualization. It allows management and assessors to monitor both single-assessment results and enterprise-wide metrics. Importantly, dashboards are not restricted to certified reports; they are a built-in feature of MyCSF, accessible during preparation, readiness, and validated assessments. This makes the Analytics tab essential for organizations using HITRUST as an ongoing governance and risk management tool.

The Offline Assessment function in MyCSF is designed to improve assessor productivity. It allows assessors to download the requirement statements from a specific assessment object into an Excel spreadsheet. This spreadsheet can be used to gather responses, evidence notes, and preliminary scoring while working offline or in collaboration with client teams. Once complete, the responses can be uploaded back into MyCSF for validation and QA preparation. This feature does not allow assessors to download the entire HITRUST CSF framework (that is restricted to the Reference Library), nor does it permit bypassing MyCSF for QA submission. It is a workflow aid, not a replacement for the platform.

Regulatory factors are applied to scope based on legal, contractual, or regulatory obligations.

If an entity is required to comply with six regulatory factors, then all six must be included in the assessment scope.

Excluding any would result in an incomplete or non-compliant scope.

Extract Reference (HITRUST CSF Scoping Guidance [0088]):

All regulatory factors applicable to the entity’s obligations must be included in scope.