CISM Information Security Programme Practice Question
A CISO is evaluating security metrics for reporting to the board. Which TWO of the following are leading 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
✓
Phishing simulation click rate
Leading indicators are proactive measures. Phishing click rate predicts future breaches, and patch compliance indicates current vulnerability posture. Breach count and MTTD are lagging, and number of security tools is not a performance metric.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Mean time to detect (MTTD) incidents
Why it's wrong here
Lagging indicator.
- ✗
Number of data breaches in the past quarter
Why it's wrong here
Lagging indicator.
- ✗
Number of security tools deployed
Why it's wrong here
Not a performance metric.
- ✓
Phishing simulation click rate
Why this is correct
Leading indicator of user awareness.
- ✓
Patch compliance percentage
Why this is correct
Leading indicator of vulnerability management.
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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.