CISM Incident Management Practice Question
An organization has experienced a ransomware attack that has encrypted critical servers and is causing major business disruption. According to incident severity levels, which priority should this incident be assigned?
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
✓
P1 — Critical
A ransomware attack with major business impact is a critical incident (P1), requiring executive notification and 24/7 response.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
P2 — High
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. P2 is for significant impact but not critical; this scenario describes major business disruption, which is P1.
- ✗
P4 — Low
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. P4 is for minimal impact; this incident is severe.
- ✓
P1 — Critical
Why this is correct
Correct. P1 incidents have major business impact and require immediate 24/7 response and executive notification.
- ✗
P3 — Medium
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. P3 is for limited impact; this incident is causing major disruption.
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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.