CS0-003 Reporting and Communication Practice Question
Which metric measures the average time it takes to identify a security incident from the moment it occurs?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
MTTD
MTTD (Mean Time to Detect) measures the average time to detect an incident.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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MTTRem
Why it's wrong here
MTTRem, Mean Time to Remediate, measures the average duration from when a vulnerability or incident is confirmed to when it is fully fixed or closed out. It captures the fix timeline, not how quickly the incident was originally identified.
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MTTR
Why it's wrong here
MTTR, Mean Time to Respond, measures how long it takes the response team to act once an incident has already been detected. It starts the clock after detection, so it cannot describe how long detection itself took.
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SLA compliance
Why it's wrong here
SLA compliance is a percentage-based metric tracking how often response or resolution activities meet contractually or internally defined time targets. It is a compliance measure against a threshold, not a direct measurement of the actual elapsed time from incident occurrence to detection.
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MTTD
Why this is correct
MTTD, Mean Time to Detect, is precisely the metric that measures the average elapsed time between when a security incident actually begins and when the security team becomes aware of it, making it the key indicator of detection capability and a primary driver of overall breach cost and dwell time.
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Related to this question
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Security SLAs and SLOs
Key term
Security
Security in IT is the practice of protecting systems, networks, and data from unauthorized access, damage, or theft.
Key term
Metric
A metric is a quantifiable measurement used to assess the performance, health, or status of IT systems, networks, or applications.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CS0-004 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CS0-004 exam.