CISM Information Security Governance Practice Question
A CISO is reporting to the board of directors. Which metric would BEST demonstrate the effectiveness of the security program in reducing business impact?
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
✓
Security investment vs. loss avoidance
Security investment vs. loss avoidance directly links spending to prevented losses, demonstrating ROI and program effectiveness to the board.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Security investment vs. loss avoidance
Why this is correct
This metric quantifies the financial benefit of security spending.
- ✗
Number of security incidents
Why it's wrong here
Incident count does not show financial impact.
- ✗
Patch compliance percentage
Why it's wrong here
Patch compliance is operational, not strategic for board.
- ✗
Mean time to detect (MTTD)
Why it's wrong here
MTTD measures detection speed, not loss reduction.
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.