CISM Information Security Programme Practice Question
A CISO is evaluating metrics for an executive security report. Which TWO of the following are lagging indicators?
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
✓
Mean time to detect (MTTD) security incidents.
Lagging indicators reflect past incidents or performance. Breach count and mean time to detect (MTTD) are outcome-based metrics that show what has already happened.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Number of security awareness training sessions held.
Why it's wrong here
Activity metric, not a performance indicator.
- ✗
Patch compliance rate for critical systems.
Why it's wrong here
Leading indicator of vulnerability management.
- ✓
Mean time to detect (MTTD) security incidents.
Why this is correct
Measures past detection performance.
- ✗
Percentage of employees who completed security training.
Why it's wrong here
Leading indicator of awareness.
- ✓
Number of data breaches in the past quarter.
Why this is correct
Lagging indicator of incident history.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CISM practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISACA 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 CISM exam.