CISM Information Security Programme Practice Question
A CISO is planning the security programme budget and wants to justify the investment to the CFO. The organization has a moderate risk appetite and an IT budget of $10 million. What is the most appropriate budget range for the security programme based on industry benchmarks?
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
✓
$1,000,000 to $1,500,000
For a mature security programme, industry benchmarks suggest 10-15% of IT budget. For a $10M IT budget, that is $1M to $1.5M. 0.2-0.5% of revenue is another benchmark but not directly applicable here without revenue data.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
$500,000 to $1,000,000
Why it's wrong here
This is 5-10%, slightly below the mature range.
- ✗
$1,500,000 to $2,000,000
Why it's wrong here
This is 15-20%, above the typical benchmark and may be excessive for moderate risk.
- ✓
$1,000,000 to $1,500,000
Why this is correct
This is 10-15%, the typical range for a mature programme.
- ✗
$200,000 to $500,000
Why it's wrong here
This is 2-5% of IT budget, too low for a moderate risk appetite.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 871 original CISM practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.