easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
CISM Practice Question: An incident response plan (IRP) is being tested
An incident response plan (IRP) is being tested. Which metric is MOST indicative of the team's effectiveness during an exercise?
⚠ Common exam trap
ISACA's CISM exam emphasizes that detection speed (MTTD) is the primary indicator of proactive incident response capability, not operational metrics like cost or log volume.
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
✓
Mean time to detect (MTTD)
Mean time to detect (MTTD) is the most indicative metric of team effectiveness during an IRP exercise because it directly measures how quickly the team identifies a security incident. A lower MTTD reflects faster detection, which is critical for minimizing dwell time and limiting attacker impact. In contrast, cost, tool count, or log volume do not measure detection speed or response quality.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Total cost of the exercise
Why it's wrong here
Cost is a resource metric, not effectiveness.
- ✗
Number of tools used
Why it's wrong here
More tools do not necessarily mean better response.
- ✓
Mean time to detect (MTTD)
Why this is correct
MTTD measures how quickly incidents are identified.
- ✗
Volume of logs generated
Why it's wrong here
Log volume does not measure response quality.
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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.