Question

Difficulty: MediumIdentifying Must-Be-True Statements and Valid Deductions

Consider the following corporate IT compliance guidelines:

1. Every software module deployed to the primary server must undergo automated security scanning prior to deployment.
2. Any software module that fails the automated security scan is immediately flagged for manual review and is never deployed directly to the primary server.
3. During yesterday's system release, Software Module X was deployed directly to the primary server.

Statement: Based strictly on the guidelines above, Software Module X must have successfully passed the automated security scan prior to its deployment.

Answer: Answer

Answer

The statement is True. The given premises logically entail that Software Module X underwent and successfully passed the automated security scan prior to its direct deployment.
The statement is logically valid and True. Premise 1 requires that all modules deployed to the primary server undergo automated security scanning. Premise 2 states that failing the scan prevents direct deployment. By contrapositive logic, any module deployed directly to the primary server cannot have failed the scan. Since Module X was deployed directly, it must have undergone and passed the automated security scan.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze Premise 1 regarding deployment requirements.
Deployment to the primary server necessitates undergoing automated security scanning.
Establishes a mandatory prerequisite for any module deployed to the primary server.
2
Formulate the contrapositive of Premise 2.
If a module is deployed directly to the primary server, then it did not fail the automated security scan.
Premise 2 establishes that Fails Scan → Not Directly Deployed. The contrapositive (Directly Deployed → Did Not Fail Scan) is logically equivalent and valid.
3
Apply the factual premise about Software Module X to the derived logic.
Software Module X was deployed directly to the primary server, so it underwent scanning (Premise 1) and did not fail (Premise 2 contrapositive). Therefore, it passed.
Synthesizing the premises produces a 100% guaranteed deduction.

Key Concept

Identifying Must-Be-True Statements using Conditional Logic and Contrapositives
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