hardMultiple Choice
CISM Practice Question: A financial institution is designing its…
A financial institution is designing its information security governance to comply with multiple regulations. The board has limited risk appetite. Which approach BEST ensures effective governance while minimizing conflict?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates think separate teams or committees provide deeper specialization, but CISM emphasizes that governance must be integrated and risk-aligned, not fragmented, to avoid control conflicts and inefficiencies.
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
✓
Implement a harmonized control framework that maps to all regulations
A harmonized control framework (e.g., ISO 27001, NIST CSF) maps common controls across multiple regulations (e.g., GDPR, PCI DSS, SOX), reducing duplication and conflict. This aligns with the board's limited risk appetite by providing a single, consistent set of controls that satisfy all requirements, avoiding the inefficiency and potential gaps of siloed approaches.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Assign different compliance teams for each regulation
Why it's wrong here
Separate teams per regulation fragment governance, producing duplicated controls and conflicting interpretations rather than the harmonised approach the board's low risk appetite demands. Per-regulation teams are tempting where regimes differ sharply, but a unified control framework mapped to each regulation resolves overlap without duplication.
- ✓
Implement a harmonized control framework that maps to all regulations
Why this is correct
A harmonised framework maps controls once against every regulation, eliminating duplicated and contradictory requirements. This satisfies the limited risk appetite by reducing control gaps and overlap, while removing the conflicting interpretations that fragmented, regulation-by-regulation governance creates.
- ✗
Adopt a single regulatory framework and ignore others
Why it's wrong here
Adopting one framework and ignoring the rest leaves the institution non-compliant with the remaining regulations, contradicting the requirement to comply with multiple regimes. Single-framework adoption is tempting where one regime dominates and duplication seems wasteful, but it cannot satisfy overlapping mandatory obligations.
- ✗
Create separate governance committees for each regulation
Why it's wrong here
Splitting governance into per-regulation committees duplicates oversight and creates conflicting mandates, directly amplifying the conflict the board's low risk appetite seeks to avoid. It is tempting because dedicated committees suit organisations facing one dominant regime, where specialised expertise outweighs coordination overhead.
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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.