hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
CISM Practice Question: A financial institution has a mature incident…
A financial institution has a mature incident response program. During a security incident, the incident response team identifies that a business-critical application is affected. The team must decide whether to continue containing the incident or allow limited operations to continue. Which factor should be given the HIGHEST priority?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often prioritize minimizing downtime (Option B) or preserving customer trust (Option A) because they focus on business continuity, but CISM emphasizes that regulatory compliance and data protection are non-negotiable and must override operational concerns during a security incident.
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
✓
Regulatory compliance and data protection.
In a mature incident response program, regulatory compliance and data protection take precedence because financial institutions are subject to strict data privacy laws (e.g., GDPR, PCI DSS, SOX) that mandate safeguarding sensitive data during an incident. Allowing limited operations could lead to unauthorized data exposure or breach of legal obligations, resulting in severe penalties and reputational damage that outweigh the benefits of continued uptime.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Maintaining customer trust.
Why it's wrong here
Customer trust is important but is a consequence of proper incident handling, not the immediate priority.
- ✗
Minimizing downtime of the application.
Why it's wrong here
Downtime is important but secondary to legal and regulatory requirements.
- ✓
Regulatory compliance and data protection.
Why this is correct
Compliance and data protection are critical and must be prioritized.
- ✗
Preserving evidence for potential litigation.
Why it's wrong here
Evidence preservation is important but not the highest priority in this decision.
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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.